Quit smoking/ Bad heart palps

Hi i will like to enquire if you had episodes of shortness of breath/breathing problem after quitting smoking?

Fiz,

I have not had the shortness of breath now that I have quit but I hear it is common though. The lungs are trying to repair by removing toxins and it’s suggested to drink lots of water. Deep breathing exercises and exercising in general is also suggested to help with that. Now this is all information that I have been told. I personally have lots of heart palps and irritability since I have quit. I feel that my breathing has gotten better and I am more calm then I was before yet more irritable lol. I know that sounds strange but it’s the best way I can describe that.  So how old are you and how many years have you smoked? Do you have asthma or heart issues?

Can I ask how old are you, I also had some really scary episodes of these that would last for days, used to make me feel really I'll, I do believe that some of us are prone to them, I have had echocardiograms and have worn heart monitor which I hated but all came back fine except for the tachycardia which cardiologist said was nothing bad, do you still have low potassium etc and also get your vitamin D levels checked, mine were extremely low.

Alexandria,

Funny thing is I was thinking about my vitamin D lately. In the past mine was extremely low but it was fixed easily. I had a sonogram of my heart less than a year ago, bloodwork, stress test, lung testing and all kinds of stuff when I went to the hospital. Everything came back great except that my potassium and magnesium levels were super low. They pumped me with magnesium and potassium  IV’s and my sinus rhythm suddenly went back to normal just like that.  I think you are right about being prone to them but I also believe something is triggering them. I have been drinking a lot of hot chocolate lately so this could be contributing. Since hot chocolate doesn’t have caffeine I took to that as opposed to tea and coffee. 

Oh I forgot to add that I am 41

I should definitely get vit D level's checked as they can contribute to heart rhythm being off kilter, its excellent all your tests have come back normal, this is really all that matters, have you tried a banana a day? Also the cough test, it works sometimes for me, chocolate does contain caffeine but only a baby amount but does contain more fat, I have decaffeinated drinks now and try to drink more water, dehydration causes them too

It sounds like we just have to stay on top these things constantly. Funny how I thought that the palps were bad when I was smoking and now they are much worse lol. My cardiologist said that they shouldn’t have anything to do with my most recent quit but I am thinking otherwise. Since I quit I have had them everyday all day for almost 2 weeks straight and they never ran a course that long as a smoker. I will never go back to smoking again so no worries there. As soon as I can maintain these things I will be good 

It's not easy dealing with them is it, but as its a part of our lives we only have one option, thats to live with it as best we can, do you do much exercise and hopefully the answer to this next question will be no, do you drink green tea

I do exercise almost every morning but they still remain. Now before I quit,  exercise would minimize them. I do not drink any tea at all because of the magnesium and potassium deficiency I had before. 

Did you know that exercising heavily can cause them, so if you have stopped certain drinks what and how much do you drink per day, I'm trying to find a reason for continues PVCs

Well I do about 4 miles a day as an average depending on my anxiety level. Every morning I wake up with anxiety. Doctor doesn’t know quite why but says it’s common. I haven’t really stopped anything recently except smoking. However I do drink hot chocolate every morning. Maybe that is causing these. Just got bloodwork done and a monitor attached this morning

I don't know about you but having the monitor fitted into overdrive anxiety, still it came back OK, where are you, have you considered a temporary beta bloca I'm not keen on taking meds but I did once for about a year to give me some peace.

I may need to take a beta blocker but I hate medicines also. The monitor is not really bothering me but I don’t think it will catch anything. I think my bloodwork will reveal stuff if anything 

I think meds are OK if taken for the correct reasons.

What makes you think nothing will show on the holter, if it doesn't you could look at another possible reason, a hiatus hernia causing the diaphragm to push up and cause the sensation of PVCs

I was thinking hernia because I have been having stomach issues for a year now. I have silent reflux and burning hunger pains to which it could be ulcers. I have to take a test to determine what I have. I was thinking the same thing as you but my cardiologist says that they are not linked. 

Acid reflux and hunger pangs could point to anxiety or like I said hiatus hernia, they never see the link but I spoke to a Dr once on the phone in the middle of the night and he agreed with me that the vagus nerve can be irritated and cause the sensation of PVCs tachycardia and heart flutters and he specialized in cardiology, was maybe 20+ years ago but I totally agree.

Yes and if I sit a certain way at work it triggers all kinds of palps and crazy stuff.  I think the Vagus nerve is playing a huge part

So do I, did you try the cough trick, let's see what shows or doesn't show on holter, keep me posted if you want too

I have tried coughing but it doesn’t work all that well. Sometimes I try to hold my breath while blowing internally if you know what I mean. That sometimes helps but if I sit a certain way it triggers it. My palps are not even here hardly at all today. Go figure right? I know tomorrow when I go back to work they will be back again. I also did not drink hot chocolate yet today. I will have a cup tonight for sure. Need to get to the bottom of these lol. 

Ok so I have an update. The bloodwork for magnesium and potassium, thyroid and cholesterol all came back normal. Awaiting results from the monitor

That's a good result to start with, did they do vitamin D?? Mine came back today, cholesterol OK, vitamin D going down again so having to increase dosage, glucose levels not know yet, gamma gt still high but stable so retest in two months, never ends does it. Do they do your liver function

Meant to ask how's it been today

They did bloodwork for my liver earlier this year and also a sonogram and concluded that my liver, heart and kidneys look beautiful. That is what the lady testing said hahaha. They did not test me for vitamin D which I really think that I should get tested for. I am worn out and have crazy heart palps so that would make sense to me. Well I am glad that you got some good test results back.  Yesterday my palps were calm for the most part and today they are better than what they have been lately but still around. I will prob ask the doctor to put me on meds for these. 

Hi, I'm so glad you have had a better day, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, Christmas seems to have taken over, I'm struggling a little as well so excuse my lapse, yes you need to get D checked out, I think maybe yours will be low too, are you set for Christmas

Sorry about not getting back myself. Christmas and work has rendered me crazy busy lol. Hope that you had a great Christmas?  Ok so the cardiologist’s office called me this morning pertaining to the heart monitor I wore for 24 hours. The nurse told me that the doctor said the test revealed some palpitations and a couple episodes of fluttering but it looks normal. I said what???  She told me that the fluttering escalated my heart rate up to 101 beats a minute for a very brief amount of time.  So I asked her what does that mean? She said I don’t know you will have to ask the doctor. She then asked if I have gotten worse. I told her this was a good day because I have had this everyday now for over 2 weeks straight. I said that they have been much more active every day except of course  when I wore the monitor that day. So she is going to have the doctor call me back.  I am not sure what to think at this point. Perhaps it’s tachycardia and I need to be on meds. I do have enough stress and anxiety paired with a unhealthy dietary intake lol. My job gets very stressful at times as well. Grrrrrr

Good afternoon, domt worry so long as its eased a bit, your cardiologist is completely right, heart flutters are usually called extra systolic beats, they will show up on a monitor, nothing to worry about, I was told that 90% of the population have them but dont feel them, I once went to hospital with them and he told me that it was OK and that my anxiety was exasperating them, also every one gets tachycardia and it is OK so long as its a stead beat, speed is OK.

I would except it as a good result and I would say once you except it it will get better, sometimes just knowing its OK you don't tend to notice it so much, how did Christmas day go, are you uk or America

Thanks for responding back and I live in the U.S.  The issue that I am having is that it’s not getting better it is an everyday thing until later in the evening. Ever since I quit smoking over 2 weeks ago it has been steady. Before I quit it was nowhere near as bad as it is now. The flutters and extra beats are very noticeable to me. It’s hard to concentrate at work when my heart just starts doing weird stuff all day long. I find that when I sit in certain positions it just goes bizarre. None of that was captured on the monitor because it didn’t happen that day I wore it. I can’t help but think something else is going on 

Ok the doctor just callled and explained that the monitor picked up on pvc’s and pac’s but that they looked benign. She said if these are followed by multiples of these then there is an issue. She is putting me on a 2 week monitor because she thinks that the 24 hour is not showing everything that I am describing to her. So I am in limbo once again lol

Hi you I did reply but was at dil and lost signal so it didn't post it, that makes me so mad, did you hear anything else, I'm sure its all benign from what your saying but always best to sort it out till your settled in your head, I just got back from shopping, got new top for new year so happy LOL went DR's this morning with flank pain, he says its gerd so got to take ranitidin once a day till I get back on healthy diet next year, I wow message is still there, it crashed again, thought I'd lost it again

It’s all good I know about signal and WiFi screw ups. The heart monitor place called me and are sending a 30 day monitor to my house. My doctor said to only take it for 2 weeks and if something bad  happens while I am wearing it, I will be notified immediately. I have to wait a week and a half just to get it lol. It’s a wonder that thousands of people haven’t died before they receive a diagnosis lmao. Or maybe they have 🙄

No that's not going to happen I'm sure, do you drink plenty of water, just plain and see if it helps, what are you doing new years eve x

It probably won’t happen I know but just saying lol. I am not sure what I am doing on New Years, how about you?

In the UK if they remotely think its something more urgent they send you to hospital,

We are going to daughters she has a big house with a large party room and does it every year, its good and me being on crutches its better than a pub, hope your nights good, you could buy a monitor to wear that tells you if you have afib etc

Why are you on crutches?

Last year I was climbing over a fence and got my foot, landed on my knee which pushed the head of femur(ball of hip) into pelvis, so it fractured the neck of the femur and the pelvis and left me unable to weight bearon left leg, I can maybe manage 60% now but no more, I have bad osteoporosis as well and I am waiting for that to improve so I can possibly have a hip replacement, if not maybe stem treatment, knee was damaged as wellso overall not good

Yikes that is not good at all! I think that I forgot to ask your age so how old are you?

I'm 65 next week, told I don't look it and until accident I danced and swam every week and loved it, line dancing is my favorite, now I do daily exercise regime and hydro and physio every week. I have put a bit of weight on which I need to lose ASAP would love to be back walking again soon

Taking a fall like you did will put anyone out for a while and weight gain is almost inevitable. I will have to start exercising more as soon as I figure out what’s going on with the ticker. Absolutely hate this stuff

It does but it has to get better, it could be so much worse, I see really sick people and I count myself lucky, I'm off to bed now, what time is it there, you sleep well and speak tomoz x

Good night it’s 5:50 pm

Its 10 to 11 at night here nite

Hey how have you been? I just wanted to update you on my testing. I have been wearing a heart monitor and supposed to for about a month. Yesterday I had these really weird flutters to which I thought it was palps or pac’s. Well they got worse and suddenly my heart started beating at 170. After 20 minutes or so it stopped and went back to normal Rythmn.  My monitor captured the episode and my cardiologist asked me this morning. I was diagnosed with a condition called Atrial Flutters. I have to go see a specialist. At least I know what I have