Hiatus Hernia and Palpitations

Hi. Yes, I now have heart palpitations too, after hh from physical trauma. Medium to large hh. Pain swallowing for 2.5 years!!! Severe cyclic gastro issues went undiagnosed during all that time even though i was seen by teams of "doctors". No picture taken after trauma of organs. All started after i was flung, flipped, and slammed to ground feet first from 4.5 feet high! Pain in left side as if rib broken or dislocated. Severe neck, shoulder, left side head and left shoulder blade pain. Left side came down first according to a physicist who worked out the problem. Clearly vagus involvement. Several hands on practitioners said so. Conventional bullies clueless (or pretended). Difficulty breathing led to machine for CPAP. Stupidity. Set too high; it hurt me more. They wouldn't listen.one chiro feigned ignorance. One chiro/AK helped me, allot. But a mass in left lung was then found. Biopsy detailed malgnant tumor. I don't smoke, or drink alcohol, and I have eaten organically for 30+ years, while taking excellent care if the body God gave me. Immune system clearly compromised. Doctors who feign ignorance had best repent, turn to God, while they have breath. I surrendered to God's knowledge of all the deceit and that is helping me. Also, a pist mentioned exercises that help. I am interested in learning those

I have read all the replies to this post and understand what all of you are going through. Of course the Hiatal Hernia is hitting the Vegas Nerve and also the heart.. I have the same thing.... for the doctors to say it isn't the hernia, is ridiculous. I have been to a chiropractor who pulls my stomach down. But it won't stay down. That is the issue. I try doing it myself. I am trying hard to avoid the surgery.... but we all are not living a normal life with a hernia. It is miserable. I pray for all of you here... hopefully you will find a doctor who admits the real problem. It isn't your heart or anything else. It is the hernia. I don't think they have an anwer or don't want to do the risky surgery. so they say it isn't the hernia. ugh.............. good luck to all of you here.

Perhaps I will be a good test subject. I have had a heart attack in past and diagnosed with CHD but I also have a HH. Been experiencing constant chest pain so now have another Angiogram lined up at end of month which may show I have one or more artery blockages blockages but I a firm believer the HH does irritate the Vagus nerve so if heart given all clear then points even more to the HH as the cause of my chest pain, palps, occasional back pain and slight breathlessness. Will then put this to my cardiologist but gastroligist has in past resisted the suggestion of the HH/Vegus nerve connection ( like so many others appear to have experienced). I will post updates idc. Also going to try the carrot/ginger/spinach juicing. 

Hi I have palpitations all day but at night I can't sleep all the same as above I look u don't know what to do

I have virtually the same symptoms as you except do not have any real problem with acidity.   Chronic twitching under left breast, rampantly high BP, sweating.  I also had Endoscopy last year which showed no particular problem.   Went to GP yesterday, told to take an Amiodipine tablet twice a day and she is going to phone me on Friday to see if it has brought down my BP.   I find these symptoms quite frightening and obviously this doesn't help the situation but GP's seem to not want to get to the bottom of ones symptoms to find out the cause and we just get shoved off with different pills and yet continue to suffer.    I realise in the current NHS situation they can't send everyone off for tests and further investigation but I do feel that when you have seen GP a few times with the same worrying symptoms that if they don't know what it is, you should be sent to someone who can sort the matter out and to save a lot of distress worrying about it not only for yourself, but family as well.

 

For all on this thread, please look up ROEMHELD SYNDROME. It is not well known by the medical field but is a definite condition. It triggers cardiac symptoms as a result of gastrointestinal issues. It is NOT an imagined condition. The gastrointestinal issues can be caused by a multitude of foods, drinks. You'll need to determine your sensitivities yourself. Top ones are gluten, dairy, alcohol. Hiatal hernias are known to aggravate the condition. Obviously ensure that there are no underlying cardiac issues first. Then find a doctor who is familiar with Roemheld. Good luck. You are not alone.

I suffer hernia hiatal too. It was happened since 2008 when I surpressed my anger, i feel my stomach was going up and since then I always feel strangled and trembled on the epygastrum side all the time. At the time, I didn't know that it was caused by hernia hiatus, but later in 2016, when i searched my suffering symptoms on internet, i found that it's caused by hernia hiatus. the symptoms can be one of this, which i also experienced:

1. suffering thightness inside epygastrum (like being choked / strangled).

2. suffering hard & quick palpilation inside epygastrum, which i think is caused by gastric motililty (gastric motility = stomach contraction movement to crush the food inside the stomach) on the hiatus hole where the stomach was trapped at.

3. can't take full deep breathing. i can only take full breathing about 80%-85%, not 100%. sometimes i just can take short breathing that make me think that i suffer asthma.

4. Hernia hiatal causing the vagus nerve pinched. And i think it could impact to another body part, such as blood circulation in our head. Sometimes i could feel sharp palpilation in my head. For me who have sinusitis, the present of hernia hiatal makes my sinusitis worse.

5. feeling bloated after eating.

The symptoms are always there 24 hours X 7 days. I can't live anymore like this. If you find that you suffer from the symptoms that i have described above, you may put specific attention about the illness's cause to hernia hiatal, the cause is not heart problem, head problem, asthma, cholesterol, blood pressure, gastric ulcers, or roemheld syndrome, but the root cause maybe is hernia hiatus.

THE SURGERY is the only option to heal hernia hiatus. There is no other way to heal this illness, except by surgery. I my self plan to undergo surgery, but i am still searching a competent doctor who have good experience on this illness.

i know how pain in living with hernia hiatus condition because i suffer from it now. This illness has ruined my life so bad, both physically, spiritly, and mentally. I just like a dead man alive with my condition now.

Hernia hiatus is still unfamiliar and unconcerned topic in medical world and medical practitioners. Many of doctors are still overlooking or looking trivial to this illness, although hernia hiatus is the root cause of the pasient's illness. The pasient's complain about hernia hiatus is often unbelieved by the doctors, because the doctors haven't ever suffer from this illness. If the doctors have ever suffer fom this illness, i am sure that the doctors will put more respect to the pasient's complain about what they suffering.

I hope that the medical world can focus to discover this illness and find a total solution to heal this illness, because this illness has caused so many pain in the sufferer's body and life. Yes, i experienced this too, soooo bad, really !

Apologies a late update to my note 2 months ago. Have had the Angiodram which pretty much dismisses cardiac issue being behind my upper chest issues so it does look like the HH is the cuprit.  I am now being progressed to a fresh gastroscopy which my consultant surgeon is going to undertake personally and then we are going to discuss possibility of re-doing the Nissen Fundoplication which was original done c 2005. Been told that whilst the wrap is still in place the muscle atrophies over time and allows reflux to be more serious. Also told unfortuantely the 2nd time round the success rate is far lower but when I have attacks  my quality of life is so diminished I am thinking a 2nd operation is worth doing in hope I will see a major improvement. Luckily my consultant surgeon is regarded as one of the best in the hospital and it was he who attend to me in 2005 albeit on a Private basis that time. This time its on the good ol NHS. He is very very experienced in this type of procedure. Anyway rhats the update but pleased to hear if anyone has had the Nissen op redone and how it went? 

keep punching fellow sufferers. 

So I know that this is an old post but, recently I've been getting alot of palpitations. Strong extra beats. Not the fluttery kind. Kind of takes my breath away. They are happening more frequently now. I've also noticed that I have strong acidity constantly. And I usually get the palps after I eat. I guess I could have a hiatal hernia. I'm trying to make an appt with a cardiologist. I've never had any health issue since I was 8 i'm 48 now. And I'm a Registered Nurse so I know all of the things it "could be" well i've become a bit of a hypochondriac of late. Most Cardiologist will never ever say that acid reflux or hiatal hernias can be the cause of palps unfortunately. They always write it off as stress or anxiety if there is not real heart issue like a heart block. 

My gosh everyone here says the same thing I do..I'm not nuts!!! I have a sliding hiatal hernia, and a day doesn't go by where I don't get a palp. Very scary indeed. I've had 2  seizures in my life..in 1986 and in 2006, and it was just after the 2006 version that I started to get a lot of palpitations. I've had all the brain tests, all the heart tests, including a 30 day monitor. All was okay..chest X-rays, 2 echoes, bloodwork, and all was well. The ONLY thing I can think of is that I have a damaged vagus nerve..I really don't know. Another thing that's really weird,with me is that since 1991 I have very slowly had a harder and harder time breathing. I was scared when I was younger because I thought I had lung cancer or something, but finally got brave 2 years ago and went to the doctor. I was given a chest x Ray and was tested for asthma. I tested positive for asthma, but it's weird. I went on the most,powerful medication but it didn't even TOUCH it..very depressing. I know the vagus nerve is strongly connected to our breathing...I don't know what to do. I don't know,how I would react if I,had a day where I could breathe right and not have palpitations. Sorry to,ramble on.

The connection between abnormal heart rhythms and acid reflux is becoming more recognized by cardiologists. The problem is that it is a tough problem to deal with. The culprit is typically an irritated vagus nerve which can cause inappropriate disruptions to NSR. Until recently, mainstream medicine would fail to recognize this connection and either treat the arrhythmia with medications or ignore it as a "non life threatening condition. Anyone who has suffered from this knows how the problem gets in the way of normal daily activities and creates stress. Sadly, the stress only aggravates the condition. This creates a vicious circle and here we are.

My story is very similar to many of the posts on this thread except for one key symptom, which I will get to in a moment. This symptom was a blessing and a curse. About 25 years ago I began to experience palpitations that gradually got worse. They seemed to come and go but I noticed a strong connection to my gut. It seemed that the palpitations got worse when my guts were upset or after eating big meals. Certain foods made it worse. After every medical test known to man, I was told my heart was fine and not to worry. So my unique symptom? As time went on I developed a 100% connection with palpitations upon swallowing. It didn't matter if it was good, drink or a dry swallow. This is apparently very rare but they now have an acronym for it SIAT or Swallowing induced atrial tachycardia. A curse because eating and drinking became a nightmare. A blessing because doctors could target something to study. A barium swallow test showed I had significant reflux despite having little or no reflux symptoms. They treated me with a proton pump inhibitor medication which, after a month, brought me total relief. I stayed on this medication for 15 years with zero palpitations.

I was told PPI's have long term risks so I went off them last May. Sadly the Palpitations returned with a vengeance. I saw an electrophysiologist who decided to try an ablation. On Dec 14th, 2016 I had the ablation procedure done without sedation (not fun). The doctor asked me to swallow and then mapped the location of the SIAT. I was able to reproduce the SIAT every time I swallowed which really helped him. He eventually isolated the location to the point where the pulmonary veins attach to the left atrium. He eventually put me under to finish a full Pulmonary vein isolation ablation. The great news is that when I woke up I had zero palpitations and have remained that way for the past 4 months. This doctor had never seen a case like this but fully recognized how the vagus nerve was causing the problem. He plans to write this up in the medical literature.

So in the end I believe many people writing on this thread have a similar problem with the vagus nerve causing palpitations. In my case, for whatever reason, the problem was fixed because I gave the doctor a target to ablate which each swallow. It is my hope that this area of medicine will continue to advance so that the large number of sufferers can find a permanent cure for this problem. Sorry for such a long post.