I STOPPED MY PALPITATIONS AND SVT

I hope that works for you too. I had been making my own, ready to use powder mix, with just non-fat dried milk and cocoa powder. Commercial mixes may not be as strong since they mix in sugar and other ingredients. I never had heard of the theobromine in cocoa prior to getting curious and searching the internet. I also searched with google scholar and found medical reports of people winding up in the emergency room with tachycardia after overdosing on other forms of chocolate.

Interesting. I too have started drinking cocoa but only recently after hearing of the benefits of Flavanoids contained in pure cocoa and 70% plus dark chocolate.

I must say i had Ectopics years before starting on Cocoa which I generally drink in the afternoon, not first thing, but as we all know ectopics seem to be triggered by different things in different people and often there seems to be no trigger at all.

It will be interesting if Neil can report back on what happened when he cut out cocoa.

Tony, you are right about different triggers for different people. I had been drinking 3-4 cups of cocoa in a day, partly because I don't tolerate coffee, etc. well. I still eat small amounts of dark chocolate to get the taste and the flavonoids. Otherwise I have had 7 months without any more palpitations (except for the common occasional momentary premature beat) and 3 months since I finished tapering off from Metoprolol.

I had a poor day yesterday-stress possibly due to a family bereavement- and once the ectopics started i could not bring them under control, although deliberately burping often helps as it stimulates the vagus nerve.

Today so far has been very good. But in 5 minutes I might have a different opinion! It is this random out of the blue attacks that are so bizarre.

Being overweight seems to be a factor (or at least having a large waist) as does eating the wrong foods or drinking the wrong drinks, but sometimes this seems to be true and sometimes it doesn't.

I will give up chocolate for a week, but have done that before during Lent and I don't think it made any difference.

It would be good to see a proper scientific study carried out but the medical profession don't seem to take the problem seriously

Yes, one reads that most physicians get little training in nutrition. My physician knew I was drinking cocoa rather than something caffeinated, but just said that sounded benign. From what I can make out from the internet, theobromine seems to be highest in cocoa powder, and gets diluted when it is mixed with other ingredients for hard chocolate, etc.. One cardiologist that I saw did urge me to "stay hydrated" and I make sure to drink eight cups of liquid (water in my case) a day even when I am not thirsty. Best of luck.

One other category of food and drink to watch, along with minimizing theobromine and staying hydrated, is tyramine. It is present in certain aged foods like certain cheeses, overripe fruit, fermented foods and drinks, and some other foods. It is described as increasing blood pressure and heart rate, causing tachycardia at times. Some people are apparently more sensitive to it than others. For 11 months now I have been free of any symptoms except for a couple of instances of a minute or so of tachycardia when I could identify I had eaten several foods that were sources of tyramine in one meal. Small amounts of tyramine or theobromine at one time seem to be tolerable. I am now about six months off from any palpitations related medication and no significant heart rate problem.

Hi Lilly,

I had read that one should not suddenly stop taking a beta blocker and I read some notes on Patient where people had tapered carefully, so I cut my Metoprolol in half for a couple of weeks, then I cut those halves in half for the next two weeks. While I was tapering I had one tachycardia episode for a couple of minutes. Otherwise I have been without any heart issues at all for six to seven months without heart related medication and with good hydration and avoidance of high theobromine or tyramine foods or caffeine. I do see at drugs.com that rapid heart rate and palpitations are listed possible side effects for Atenolol. Best of luck in sorting things out for your own heart.

Thank you for your reply. its encouraging . Was your Metoprolol scored so you could divide it ? my Atenolol isnt scored so Im not sure Im suppose to divide it? Did you have any other side effects while weaning off of Metoprolol? Are you off the drug for good now ? How do you feel?

Thank you again for replying to me!

I forgot to ask what dosage you were on of Metoprolol?

Hi Lilly,

I was on 25 mg. of Metoprolol. It was scored, so cutting it in half was easy. I was using one of those plastic pill cutters with a blade in it, so when I cut the half dose in "half" there was no scoring so the result was roughly 6 mg. . I had no other side effects other than the one brief tachycardia episode I mentioned above, which could also have come from too much food with tyramine at one time. So now I have simply had normal heart rates for about seven months and no heart rate problems. There are, of course, some medications that disperse unevenly if the pill or capsule is split, so you might check with a pharmacist or online to make sure Atenolol is not one of those. I hope that helps you.