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Palpitations and perimenopause (Read 19654 times)
beadbabe
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Palpitations and perimenopause
Dec 16th, 2007, 9:36am
 
Hi RLR
What's your thinking on palpitations and perimenopause?
I am starting to think that my palpitations are at their worst mid-cycle but I have noticed my periods starting to fluctuate a bit over the last few months which they have never done before. About a month ago I had a very bad bout of ectopics - three days non-stop and it has just started again at a similar point in my cycle.
I am 40 next year and my mum had her menopause at 48 so is this possible?
And how does this time of life affect your heart?
bead x
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DianaJJ
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #1 - Dec 27th, 2007, 6:53am
 
Beadbabe,

I read your post but I was waiting for RLR to respond, but since he hasn't,  I just wanted to give you my personal experience with perimenopause and palpitations.

Starting at about age 45 I started having infrequent palpitations that gradually became worse.  I did notice that the palps did vary according to my cycles.  Menopause began at about 53 for me and since then the palps have tapered off but I still have them occasionally.

Perimenopause and menopause change many things especially about the nervous system and seem to make it much more sensitive.  I went through a very anxious period when I had panic attacks but that is (hopefully) behind me now.

I would really like to know what RLR thinks about this subject and I look forward to his comments.

DJ
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beadbabe
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #2 - Dec 29th, 2007, 2:04am
 
My palpitations are so bad at the moment - I guess I am just searching for a reason. My anxiety is not worse - in fact my anxiety is much better than a year ago when i was having panic attacks every day now it is only one little one per week and sometimes even one per month that I can remember. so not too bad. But it's the palpitations that get to me - they make me really uncomfortable because they are all day and night and two or three times per minute so I feel yuk at the moment.
I can't find anything anywhere about people having palpitations so contantly and long term (it's a question I have never dared ask the doctors).
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suzie
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #3 - Jan 3rd, 2008, 3:53am
 
I have posted on this site before about how long I have had palpitations but it was a while ago and thought it might re assure you if I spoke again about it.

I can remember them right back into my teens and I am now fifty six - I associated them then with my period because they always occured before that.  Then in my early twentys I started with panic attacks and agrophobia - I literally couldnt leave the house and if I did had a panic attack and my husband had to get me home, they subsided during two pregnancies and put that down to hormones and then  as I approach the menopause which I started when I was about 46 they came back with a vengeance - I think I have tried everything, reading about it, drugs, alternative drugs and at the moment taking nothing.  I think I am now through the menopause but still get them and have accepted I will always have them. They can come when I feel ill with a cold or flu and sometimes its a real bang inside me and they will go on for days.  But I am still here and relatively healthy, I have had a heart scan and  ECGs about six years ago when I really thought this is it when they were so very bad - I have to say  coming onto this site has been amazing - the advice from RLR and all of us who are suffering has helped me so much - so please dont feel isolated in your feelings about these palpitations - we sadly do suffer from them and I think a lot of the time it is how we cope with them.  You are going through a particularly bad time at the moment but they will get better - I think a lot of it is to do with our subconscious and certain triggers.  My biggest concern is that I have managed to pass on my problems to my daughter as she suffers from obssessive compulsive disorder and she is battling to deal with that.  Take care.
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beadbabe
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #4 - Jan 3rd, 2008, 5:57am
 
Hi Suzie
Thanks for your reply.
Well it is good to hear although no matter how many times I hear it I keep thinking well they don't seem to have as many ectopics as me and maybe it's not the same.

Even when I had all my tests my ectopics were bad but not all day and night like they are now. I find it quite limiting because they make me feel out of condition (when I know I am not really as I have started going to the gym).

also I worry because previously the ectopics mostly went away at the gym but now they don't go away at all - everywhere I read this is a bad sign.

Now I've read that if you have thousands of ectopics a day over a long time it can lead to other problems like a weak heart.

You are obviously alright though - so I am delighted to hear that. I am sorry to hear about your daughter too - it's not your fault she has this though - I understand that anxiety disorders have a genetic component so she hasn't necessarily learned it from you. Although this is something that concerns me too as I have two young boys and one of them is of a very anxious disposition and I want to teach him how to handle his emotions. The other one is as laid back as they come though and they're both born from me and brought up the same  Huh

Thanks for your words
bead
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suzie
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #5 - Jan 3rd, 2008, 3:33pm
 
I know what you are saying about whatever re assurances you get, when you get the feeling of palpitations  your thoughts are  focused on yourself and how bad they make you feel.  After all these years I still feel that way and get really really bad days - I worry that it must be affecting my heart but I do take a lot of support from what RLR says about this condition  - I suppose I try to focus on the positive more than the negative but believe me every now and then I do take a dip and the negative takes over from the positive - I have been to some pretty sad depths in my life over these palpitations  BUT I am here to tell the story.  I wish that I could say that I had lived my life without them but  sadly that isnt the case.  Explaining them to people who have never even heard of them is the worst - I want to say to them 'you just dont know what it is like, how frightening they can be!'
Ive got them now as I write this - try and remain positive, we are all here for you. take care.
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beadbabe
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #6 - Jan 4th, 2008, 3:22am
 
Thanks Suzie for your kind words.

I also think that is makes it harder if we are having palpitations badly and we are with friends / family and having palpitations and feel awful. They either take it too flippantly and scoff you or they give you a look like - that can't be normal, can it? have you had it checked out? And then they always add something about somebody they know who had a pacemaker / nearly died / did die who had a heart condidion. And each time it starts up my anxiety again because most people have not heard of this kind of so called benign heart condition. They can't believe it exists, and I suppose that's why I find it hard to believe and accept.

Does anyone know what I mean by this? sorry to go on, but without talking it through I am really struggling with these petrifying palps!

bead
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zeus34
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #7 - Jan 4th, 2008, 5:50am
 
OH yes, I know what you mean.  If I read or hear on the news about any heart condition it shoots my anxiety up for a while.  I avoid the news and reading the news online... I am really sensitive to this as well.  In addition, I'm careful what I watch on TV.  I remember when my friends were saying I had to watch Grey's Anatomy and I did twice and both times, I ended up very anxious for days.  I'm sure it's a great show, but I couldn't handle the medical drama in it.  

Funny how you are worse right now, as I am, right after the holidays, I was doing ok, might have a day here or ther, but bam.

I will admit though, the third week of December I had to put my dog of 11 years to sleep.  He was my baby (pre marriage days) and while it was very hard to do and I was a mess, it seems like the palps are starting now, weeks after this event.  I know it's hard to understand like you.  I'm sitting down relaxing, watching TV or out somewhere having fun and they start up.
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beadbabe
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #8 - Jan 4th, 2008, 6:01am
 
Hi Zeus
oh poor dog! I am sure you are having a period of mourning for your little canine friend! Especially if he/she has been around for you for so long. Maybe that's what has got you worse.

I am not sure how good things seem to set off our palps - that doesn't seem fair to me! Spend all our time battling the negative stuff, then get to doing good stuff and the palpitations come anyway!  Wink

Like you - I can't watch anything medical on the telly as it really upsets me. I used to be a big ER, Casualty and Holby city fan and even that one with Hugh Laurie in it, but I had to stop watching them all as they really got my anxiety levels up. I used to feel really disturbed watching them. And best to avoid the news due to young people dying all the time from heart complaints previously undiagnosed (last week it was some football captain.)

Take care of yourself
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seffie
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #9 - Jan 13th, 2008, 6:33am
 
Hi Bead,
been meaning to reply to this post for some time!
I've mentioned in other posts that I'm going through the perimenopause & have been I think, since about 41, I'm 44 now.
I'm not sure what RLR's view is on this but I feel sure that my fluctuating hormones have made my palps much worse over the past few years.

The palps tend to be much worse around mid & end cycle & I have had really bad palps on day 1 of my cycle so I feel sure there's a link.
I have just had about 3 months where the palps had really calmed down, maybe just the odd flutter or afew seconds of an irregular beat but hardly any ectopics-I was even eating chocolate again!!
Anyway, for the past couple of weeks I've been noticing more flutters & afew ectopics but in the past I think getting anxious about them has made them much worse so I'm going to try really hard not to add anxiety to them. I have also noticed that I get hot flushes with the palpitations.

I have had these palp-free periods before & what I think is happening is that every so often my hormone levels drop & then my body has to adapt & this is when the palps appear. Then my body adjusts or the levels balance out again & I go through a palp-free period for 2 or 3 months.

Although you may be too young for the menopause I wouldn't say you were for the peri stage. I think a lot of womens hormones start to fluctuate from their late 30's & this is when they start to notice symptoms.

I go on an excellent site called Powersurge & there is a thread just for palpitations. I do think that many of these women may also have anxietry &/or digestive issues but many of them say they never had any palpitations until they hit peri.

Anyway just wanted to say that I do think thee is a link but I don't really understand the science behind it!!
Hope you're feeling better!
love Seffie xx
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #10 - Jan 24th, 2012, 5:47am
 
I know this is a very old thread, but as someone who is battling the palps through peri I would be very grateful to hear from any of you who have posted on here previously to know how you are doing now. Whether its good or bad, I just want to know what to expect in the years ahead. I am now almost 51 but still not menopausal, and have been having really bad bouts of bigeminy either mid or end of cycle on and off for three years now. Hoping to hear from you! Smiley
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kiwiblue
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #11 - Feb 1st, 2012, 9:05pm
 
Hi...I just came to this site from the Power-Surge site.  I have the palps, too, that started in peri.  I am now 63 and still get them although not as often.  That said, I have been going thru a serious round of them the last couple of days.  My system is super sensitive since peri.  The wrong kind of food, stress of any kind, a break in routine, emotional upset, viruses and flus, GERD, etc., can set them off.  Although all these things get set them off for days on end, the IBS and GERD help them to happen the most.   Shocked  RLR has given me some sound information and advice.  I come here often just to read and get reassurance from all the other posters and RLR's replies to them.  It's been about 20 years, and I'm still here and actually doing a lot better than when this all started.
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amber1
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Re: Palpitations and perimenopause
Reply #12 - Feb 2nd, 2012, 2:29am
 
Hi Kiwiblue,

Many thanks for posting. It is good to know that things have lessened for you over the years, although your system is extra sensitised. I have the same suspicions as I seem to  get them now also when I am nervous about something or if I have heartburn for a few days it tends to herald a bad time of them too. My gynae said that often in our early to mid-sixties our hormones do a little dance again and can set them off again then for a while so hope yours soon take a rest again! Thanks so much for taking the trouble to write - it is so reassuring to hear of others who  have gone through this. My cardiologist on the one hand says he doesn't believe these things have anything to do with hormones and then in the next breath tells me that its funny but he sees a lot of women of my age with palpitations! Hmmm!!!
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