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this is ruining my life

Posted , 14 users are following.

love87
love87

Hi everyone, as you all know I suffer from dropped heartbeats (pvcs) I also get booms bangs and flutters. All very scary. But this last week I have noticed my heart beats fast after meal and will stay fast for a couple of hours after. I also feel a fullness in my chest. Not painful just uncomfortable. My heart rate stays around 100bpm with some skips thrown in.for good measure. These heart episodes are ruining my life. Doctors cant find anything wrong apart from the pre mature beats. Im scared to do anything and now Im even scared to eat meal! Im taking bisoprolol 1.25 mgs but this does nothing. (Was taking 2.5 mgs but I was feeling the skips much more so we reduced it) has anyone experienced this before? How did you cope with it?

2 likes, 26 replies

26 Replies

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  • Catarenna
    Catarenna love87

    Posted

    Hi, your heart rate will always increase after eating because your body is using more energy to digest food. Try eating smaller meals. Also keep an eye on what you are eating as it could be something in the food that is making it worse. Drink lots of pure water as dehydration can cause them and take magnesium Suppliments if you need them as they will help and have an iron study done, low iron and aniemia can cause them. Also try to relax and don't panic it makes it worse. I know how hard it is, they are scary but very common and in time there is a chance they will disappear.
  • diana06006
    diana06006 love87

    Posted

    Hello.  I totally sympathise with how you are feeling.  I have been suffering from ectopic beats, missed beats, flutters and rapid beating for the past 48 years!  I am 71 years of age and my heart problems started with my daughter's pregnancy.  I have had every test under the sun and, like you, take bisoprolol.  I have been told it is common, even athletes get it.  Also told it is just something my heart likes to do.  But believe you me, it never fails to really frighten me and I have sent for an ambulance three times in the past 5 years!  But having wired me up in the hospital all they say is that I am having a panic attack - all very frustrating.  Lately I have taken to deep breathing exercises or moving around a bit so that my heart rate overrides it.  Distraction therapy is useful too.  Maybe you think I'm bonkers, but Paul McKenna's tapping technique also helps (specific parts of the body are targetted).  Also tapping down the side of your hand is another technique.  I hope this helps but I totally understand how you are feeling - there are so many of us suffering this appallingly frightening dilemma - don't think the experts take us seriously enough really.  Finding this site helps and has a calming influence because you are not alone.
  • love87
    love87

    Posted

    Thanks for your replies. Its just so debilitating. I feel like my quality of life is gone. Im scared of everything bacause im afraid going to get a heart attack.
  • diana06006
    diana06006 love87

    Posted

    Right now I am having a very bad spell - I am shaking, so nervous I can barely type.  My heart is beating all over the place and just won't go back to normal.  Like you, feel I am going to have a heart attack or something.  This can't be good for the system.  Gone all day and heart has been fine and then suddenly out of the blue whilst watching TV I became aware my heart is not beating properly.  It certainly does absolutely ruin your life.
    • love87
      love87 diana06006

      Posted

      Oh it is so hard isn't it? Especially trying to ignore it as it's impossible. My husband tells me to ignore it and doesn't understand that I can't. I feel so helpless, all I can say is try to keep calm, and try to get through it.
  • lizzieozkiwi
    lizzieozkiwi love87

    Posted

    For your own peace of mind, try and work out if you have eaten something a little different when this happens. You may have built an intolerance to something that you have been eating for ages, so it's worth starting a series of food eliminations to see what is upsetting you. If you have been cleared by doctors, then it's time to look at alternatives. I have found that bread will cause my heart to bounce around nowadays, perhaps there is something different in the yeast that bakers are using now? perhaps it's just that my body is now telling me it dosen't cope with yeast products so well now. I love a piece of toast, but can't do that any more. We are all different and so different triggers will set off our own symptons. As you know, it's very important to get your doctors/specialists to let you know your heart has no underlying problems first - but then, it's worth keeping lists of when this happens, what you have eaten, or done, before your heart is reacting. And I don't believe it will take so long before you can put your finger on something that you can either cut down on, or cut out. Good luck with it, Lizzie

     

  • Caterina26101
    Caterina26101 love87

    Posted

    You are describing me to a t. I had to see my cardiologist a couple of weeks ago for another monitor and discussion. He told me they are benign etopics, but this time after I told him I get them nearly after every evening meal he agreed that yes after a meal the stomach presses on lower part of heart and can throw off etopics. I also asked WHY am I getting these things now after so many years of being free from them. He said that unfortunately sometimes the electrics in the heart go a bit off balance causing these but not to worry they are benign. Easy for him to say. I then decided that I really needed to do something to try and ease these things as it was affecting my quality of life, always worried.  I have cut out all caffeine and try and have a small evening meal no later than 6.00pm.  To my surprise these etopics have eased, I am only feeling a couple of them at night when sitting and relaxing watching TV. I have also taken up knitting to try and distract my thoughts when I am not active.  My cardiologist said that he would repeat an echo in 6months to check heart again, to reassure me.  I do feel for you as I have also rushed to ER with these horrible beats when they go craxy, they are extremely scary and unless you experience them unfortunately others cannot sympathise with our fears.  Hopefully you have a good specialist that you can go to as many times as you need for reassurance, as I have because this is so important to our wellbeing.  Also try making time to go for a walk with some nice music in your ears when you feel these things at their worst, I have found this helps.  Good luck, and know you are not alone.
    • derek76
      derek76 Caterina26101

      Posted

      Exercise helps. A friends wife goes for a three mile run most mornings and never has ectopics during it. She is mid 60's and hers only started about two years ago. She knows they wont kill her and no longer takes Bisoprolol.
  • lizzieozkiwi
    lizzieozkiwi love87

    Posted

    I really liked Diana06006 post, and the fact that she is now 71 and has had these for many years should ease some younger peoples anxiety. I am 65 and have also had these for many years, and they never cease to make me a bit anxious when they happen. But as I wrote in my last post, start trying to eliminate what could be triggers for your own "blips" as I call them. Generally mine happen after a meal,(although I can get them when I'm hungry too, another pointer to stomach gas being the cause) so I now eat small and fairly often, avoiding bread and a lot of dairy, although I do enjoy cheese on a cracker. I had a piece of fish yesterday, in batter - gosh I did enjoy it. Within an hour the blips had started and kept on all afternoon. I can eat a piece of fish just grilled with lemon juice, but obviously not in batter. So, that's another thing I will now eliminate. It's a learning curve for all of us of course. Also, I have found that if I eat a more alkaline diet, I get less blips, perhaps for some of you that's another option. Like the rest of us though, it's so good to read that I'm not alone, and if I can help someone else to stop worrying about these, then that is great. Lizzie
    • derek76
      derek76 lizzieozkiwi

      Posted

      Do you suffer from GERD/Acid Reflux/Bloating after eating? Many on this Forum connect them with irregular heart beats and  AF. My GP confirms the connection between them.

      I am 80 and have have ectopic beats for very many years that I just ignore. In the past three years due to heart valve surgery and other triggers I have had AF that was twice cured by cardioversion. Now since the end of March I have been in permanent AF and am off in an hour to have a seven day ECG monitor fitted.   

    • diana06006
      diana06006 derek76

      Posted

      Hello Derek76.  I started suffering acid reflux a couple of years ago and my doctor has put me on Lanzoparole although no suggestion was given to me as a connection to my ectopic heartbeats.  My consultant said I do not need cardioversion or a pacemaker and that I should just "forget about it" (the irregular beating).  Reading all the comments on this site it is a job to know who to believe or what to think.  I have eliminated caffeine from my diet, don't drink or smoke - it has made no difference whatsoever.  My consultant asked me "what do you think is going to happen when you have these episodes".  I replied "I think I am going to die".  He then said "do you worry about that"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I replied "yes, I'm really scared".  He then said "well, you are not going to know anything about it"!  I haven't forgotten this conversation in all the ten years or so ago since I saw him.  Flippant or what?  I want help not a total lack of understanding.  What can I do to stop these flippin beats (not in the literal sense).  I want to enjoy my life instead of being getting up each morning wondering what sort of day I am in for.  These strange heartbeats never fail to frighten the living daylight out of me.
    • diana06006
      diana06006 lizzieozkiwi

      Posted

      Hello Lizzieozkiwi.  Thank you so much for your kind words.  Can I please ask what is an "alkaline diet" - ie what sort of foods?  I had an awful day with my ectopic beats yesterday ending in a full-blown panic attack in the early evening.  Yet all I had was a salad with a fishcake.  I am trying to diet so left out having breakfast and lunch.  Since my ectopic heartbeats started during pregnancy 48 years ago I have always wondered about the stomach being pushed up nearer to the heart as being a cause or a connection with the vagus nerve (which also lies in the stomach area).  Sometimes I am also aware of holding my breath for some reason so could the heart be reacting to that - goodness knows why one would hold one's breath but I don't think any of us really breathe properly!  On Strictly, the professionals are always shouting "don't forget to breathe"!!!!!!  Same with learning to ride a horse!  So every evening I do some deep breathing exercises which has a lovely calming effect.  When the heartbeats get really bad I resort to "distraction therapy" (don't let the mind over matter beat you), get up, do something else, walk around a bit or do some "tapping" therapy.  I have even resorted to giving the upper area of my tummy a good thump - take that, leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!  It is good to have found this site for some reassurance from others - you don't feel so alone.  Diana
    • derek76
      derek76 diana06006

      Posted

      You more or less have it there with the vagus nerve! After having a cardioversion when having AF after heart surgery I thought it was gone forever although I still had ectopic beats. I then had a colonoscopy that stimulated my vagus nerve and I went back into AF and had another cardioversion. About ten months ater I had a DRE (digital rectal exam for my enlarged prostate) Thart also stimulated my vagus nerve and I went back into AF.After a week on bisoptolol I went back into sinus rhythm but about six weeks later back into AF this time for an unknown reason but probably because I have had terrible digestion problem  since then.

      If you Google 'acid reflux and ectopic beats' you will find many with your problem and it certainly will not be the death of you.

    • lizzieozkiwi
      lizzieozkiwi diana06006

      Posted

      Hi there Diana - well, if I ate fishcake and salad, I'd be in for it too. I avoid anything with white flour, particularly bread. I'm not certain of your fishcake recipe but normally it would have flour, egg etc. Lettuce gives me blips, occasionally I eat it but have learned to avoid it in the main. I have quite a restrictive diet, and I know what to eat to minimize the "blips". An alkaline diet is basically a non-acidic one, just google that. It's very interesting, because you'd think lemon juice was acidic, right? well, it is but once it's inside our tums, it becomes alkaline. Another good alkaline food is tomatoes, again they are acidic, but once digested they become alkaline. Eggs are acidic and stay acidic, the yolk anyway - and so does yoghurt or milk, I've always thought if my tum was playing up at night, get up and have a spoonful of yoghurt. BAD DECISION lol......My blips have decreased markedly since I began eating much more carefully. Porridge in the morning is a good start, get the traditional variety of rolled oats, no added sugar - I add a dsp of honey to mine (honey is acidic but the goodness in honey is a good sweet balance and you have to have some sugar), and a tbsp (total) of crushed linseed/pshylium husk/flaxseeds, this adds good fibre. For me, a low sugar low alkaline diet keeps me much more free of the blips, but I still have some each day after food anyway. As you eliminate things from your diet, you will see what your own triggers are. Someone wrote that a friend of theirs runs 3 km each morning, and has no ectopics during that time. Well, too many other people have said that strenuous excercise triggers their ectopics, and since I'm not a fitness freak anyway at this age, I'm not about to start that,  however, that's  a personal choice. But Diana, it's not good that you are not eating breakfast or lunch - small meals and often, it's working for me and plenty of others. Goggling an alkaline food chart will clarify some stuff for you too, that can be a tad confusing but just be sensible and try to find balance and you'll find it okay. And you are right about breathing, practice breathing deeply, one hand on your tummy and one on your chest, feel your tum rise and fall. When you are anxious, just concentrate on your breaths, this is called "mindfulness" and many therapists are now teaching this, and it does work, your'e on the right track, but please eat something for breakfast and lunch, going without these meals won't make you slim nor stop the blips, but it will stress your body and you don't want that.....regards Lizzie
  • david82643
    david82643 love87

    Posted

    Hi...After 40+ years (On and Off) of similar  to your own description, and I'm now with Atrial Fibrillation and have recently had Cardioversion, which worked for 36 hours before my heart rhythm went back into AF...I've tried many things over the years.

    I'd also suggest eating smaller meals..and eat more slowly...And again as Catarenna says...Sip cold water very slowly and continually when these uncomforatable episodes happen.   Finally...try learning the 'Tapping' technique to relieve the anxiety you feel on these occasions....which can also work for other uncomfortable situations.   Hope this helps...Good Luck....Dave

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