RLR
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Okay, welcome to the forum. I've read your complaint.
Indeed the palpitations do not originate from the heart at all, but rather through vagus nerve stimulation as a consequence of the GI disturbance you are experiencing.
I'd inquire at this point what specific drug your doctor has prescribed in order to "cut acid reflux." Please tell me the name of the drug and the dose being prescribed. Also please provide me with a general history of your GI difficulty and whether the vomiting event was the onset.
Poor quality sleep can exacerbate hyperacidity in the stomach, as well as produce a phenomenon known as hypnogogic reaction, which is essentially a sudden lurching or startle sensation as one drifts off to sleep. The events can either entail mere sudden awakening or also include hypnic jerks, or the sudden flailing of an arm or leg. The events which awaken you during sleep are known as night terrors, which are basically an anxiety threshold event that results in being startled to the waking state.
Depending upon the drug being taken for acid reflux, if symptoms persist longer than another two weeks, then it's advisable to seek referral to a gastroenterologist for more definitive testing and treatment. It's important to realize that the vagus nerve innervates the GI tract as the pneumogastric nerve, so any significant GI disturbance is capable of producing inappropriate stimulation of the vagus nerve that results in benign palpitation events.
It's also critical for you to completely understand that this kind of cardiac disturbance is entirely incapable of causing your heart to stop, or otherwise damage the heart in any manner whatsoever. While the sensations are understandably unnerving, they place you at no risk of a cardiac event regardless of how "terrible" they become. It's sort of the equivalent of a muscle twitch elsewhere in the body, so be reminded that the heart is as much a muscle as it is an organ.
You're going to be just fine. No need to be frightened that something terrible is going to happen. I was a physician and specialist for more than 40 years and in all that time, I never once even heard of a person subcumbing to benign palpitations in any manner at all. Never.
Feel free to visit and talk with other members here, many of which share your symptoms. You'll find that you're far from being alone in your predicament and you'll also see that no one here has ever encountered a heart problem or even risk to their health as a result of the presence of benign palpitations.
Best regards,
Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)
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