Heart Palpitations Forum

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Heart Palpitations Forum >> Symptoms and other concerns >> question for RLR
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Message started by suzie on Oct 27^th, 2007, 10:19am

Title: question for RLR
Post by suzie on Oct 27^th, 2007, 10:19am

Hi
I have been on this site before but a long long time ago - I tend to use it if I am particularly anxious about my palpitations.
I have had them for many years - sometimes going for quite a while without them and not even realising that they aren't there which I suppose is good, but boy do I know when they are there !

I know I get periods of IBS in my life if there are stresses and anxieties and one thing I have noticed that hunger pangs and palpitations do go together with me - the palpitation is sort of a flip and feels really strong as though a beat has been missed but when I feel my pulse it doesn't feel that strong. I think it is all connected to my stomach - I take tablets to stop me making acid but sometimes I think my overwhelming anxieties get the better of me. I have had checks on my heart, I swim two or three times a week and had these for so many years that if there were something radically wrong then I wouldn't feel as fit as I do now, there is no breathlessness or dizziness but another thing I do get sometimes when I am like this is a flicking eyelids, sometimes one, sometimes both eye lids.

I think I have accepted that I am always going to be prone to this and maybe it is me that has made them as bad as they are because I am always thinking about them, when I wake up I literally start thinking, 'well I wonder when they are going to start' they usually do and then I start to panic.

So really my question is to do with the hunger thing and palpitations and also the connection with this flicking eye lid that I often get at the same time.

Many thanks.

Title: Re: question for RLR
Post by saab on Oct 27^th, 2007, 1:06pm

Hi Suzie,

RLR will probably be along tomorrow to give you an answer on this, but I just wanted to say that in the past I have definitely found my anxiety to be more pronounced when I am hungry and/or tired - and the anxiety can then affect the palpitations/ectopics you get. Many people on here find they get their heart sensations more frequency after heavy meals or certain foods. I think this is because digestion can affect the vagus nerve which in turn can affect your heart's rhythm (in a harmless, but alarming way). I know RLR often recommends frequent, lighter meals rather than heavy meals eaten later on at night.

When I was working and stressed I would get a very slight twitch of the muscle under my eye - totally involuntary, couldn't do anything to stop it. Funnily enough I don't get this when I am anxious. Is this the kind of thing you mean? If so, I'm pretty sure it is stress related and nothing to worry about. Best wishes.

Title: Re: question for RLR
Post by suzie on Oct 28^th, 2007, 2:20am

Thank you for your reply Saab - yes I thought it may be to do with the vagus nerve - I think the problem with palpitations is that although we tell ourselves that when we get them there is always an explanation, anxiety, panic, etc because they don't go after thinking all this we tend to, well I tend to get a bit low, I actually envy those people who don't suffer from them. I think they do affect my quality of life sometimes because when they are bad they seem to restrict what I do because I am frightened of going out and they come on and being on my own when they come on, but strangely if my husband is off with me and we go away on holiday or we stay at home I don't get them and I use these times to sort of recharge my batteries and think more logically about them.
Sorry for rambling - with my flicking eye it is generaly my eye lid that flicks and I think that has got a lot to do with stress.

Title: Re: question for RLR
Post by RLR on Oct 29^th, 2007, 8:52am

The twitching of the eyelid, or blepherospasm, is typically the consequence of stress or fatigue and is usually not a direct consequence of palpitations.

Remember that while GI disturbances such as IBS can cause the Vagus nerve to become stimulated and result in palpitations, it has nothing to do with the heart itself from the standpoint of any type of problem. The heart is simply responding to an impulse by the Vagus nerve and the resulting sensation can be felt in various ways depending upon precisely when the signal is superimposed upon the normal cardiac cycle. The palpitations are entirely harmless, but do invoke fear.

Feeling hunger pangs can sometimes be a confusing symptom for folks with IBS and may sometimes be a consequence of spasms rather than a true sensation of hunger. An empty stomach in the presence of IBS can sometimes be compounded by hypergastric secretions from stress that can produce gas in the lumen of the intestines, subsequently causing palpitations to occur on occasion.

You'll be fine. Your tests confirm it. Palpitations of this type are merely a symptom and not a signal that the heart is in any type of trouble whatsoever.

Best regards and Good Health