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RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT! (Read 13919 times)
Mark
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RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
May 5th, 2011, 2:38pm
 
Hello RLR.

I had a run of SVT today and it's been my third episode.

The first episoes I ever experienced with SVT was back in '08 and it occured right after eating. I bent ofver to do something and it happened.
The second episodes happened last year with the same explanation. The first episode lasted only 30 seconds while the second episode lasted for like 5-6 minutes.

The most rescent episode happened today and it really worries me. My acid reflux has been acting up since yesterday after I ate a Tuna Sandwhich. This morning woke up and my reflux was still bad. I had chest pressure, burping, and gagging.

Anyways for lunch I ate chicken and rice but don't even let me tell you how oily it was. As soon as I finished eating after like 15 minutes, I felt a weird feeling in my chest and I put my had on my pulse only to realize that I was hving an episode again. This one lasted about a minute though. I was so nervouse about it that I felt warm and started sweating and belching like crazy.

I've had so many ecg's and an echo and blood work and xrays and they all came back normal. Please tell me that this is normal with reflux.

My epiodes ONLY HAPPEN (Knock on wood) when my reflux is bad or if I bend over when I have gas or i  just ate. Could this damage my heart or cause me to die. I'm so petrified right now and I'm really hoping you can give me some advice. :'(

I'm scared it's Ventricular Tachycardia because of my constant googling but I try to convince myself of otherwise because I've read of a lot of people having SVT with reflux as well as only bending over. I even read on your site that bending over can trigger palps. I never have pain, shortnessof breath or diziness but at the start of these palps, I do get a weird feeling in my chest(I guess that's normal) and i get panicky.

Thanks again.
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« Last Edit: May 05th, 2011, 5:57pm by Mark »  
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RLR
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Re: RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
Reply #1 - May 6th, 2011, 9:20pm
 
Hi Mark,

First of all, you need to take a deep breath and relax. The tone of your posting would suggest that your fears have you on a runaway train.

It is an extremely common presentation for palpitations to arise as a consequence of esophageal inflammation. It should interest you to know that for virtually every patient who undergoes surgery associated with the esophagus, the monitor reveals broad changes in heart rate and the presence of palpitation events. This activity is the consequence of vagus nerve stimulation.

Changes in body position, ie bending over, induce compression due to the effects of gravity and whenever the diaphragm is disturbed in such a manner, it can produce the same general effect. Although I naturally am unable to discern what variant of tachycardia you have been experiencing, your description of placing your hand on your chest and subsequently realizing that your heart was racing sounds like supraventricular tachycardia, or in other words atrial tachycardia, the most common and benign variant.

I think that a lot of your GI difficulty may be associated with the present level of apprehension and worry you demonstrate regarding clinical concerns that have no basis in fact. It's very common for persons searching the internet to stumble across symptoms that they misconstrue and being similar to their own, albeit a perspective made in the entire absence of the requisite medical education and training.

The sweating and sensations of heat are simply the result of an epinephrine (adrenaline) spike produced by fear.

The infrequent tachycardia will never place you at risk of any kind, certainly not death and it's not going to transform into some deadly arrhythmia. Again, your fears are running away with you.

You're going to be just fine. I'd suggest that you work with your primary care physician or gastroenterologist to seek out the root cause for your GI difficulties for the simple reason that reduction in GI symptoms will universally correlate with a commensurate reduction in the type of gastro-cardiac response you've been infrequently experiencing.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)
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Mark
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Re: RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
Reply #2 - May 6th, 2011, 10:08pm
 
Thank you for taking the time once again for replying to me RLR. I was literally hovering over my computer waiting for you to respond lol.

Anyways this was my third time I experienced this. The first being in '08, the second last year('10) and the most resent one yesterday. The episodes were very very short.

I mentioned it to my gp and she said that bending over can cause what you said and she told me as long as I don't feel pain then I'm ok. I explained to her as well as to you that the 3 episodes all occurred on a full stomach after eating very oily foods.

On top of the reflux, she thinks I may have a hiatus hernia which is pressing on my chest because I have a weird chest pressure that causes almost constant belching right in the middle of my chest. She prescribed oleprozam to ease the reflux and see if it'll reduce my palps. I also get ectopics because of the acid reflux. The chest pressure and belching only acts up when I eat oily foods as well.

It's just that they don't happen often at all(thank god) but when it does, it terrifies me that I may die. I know deep down due to your website that I know my heart is structurally normal with me having a normal echo, and that gas can interfere with the vagus but I'm always terrified I have some sort of arrythmia RLR that will kill me one day. :'(

I know I sound crazy being only 21 but yea, anxiety sucks.

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Re: RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
Reply #3 - May 6th, 2011, 10:33pm
 
In the more than 40 years I was in practice as a physician and specialist, I never encountered or even heard of a patient subcumbing to any type of cardiac event as a result of the sort of difficulty you are now experiencing. Not one. Your runaway fears are due to a misunderstanding of what is actually taking place.

Again, you're in no danger whatsoever. Take a breath and relax. The events are entirely incapable of causing you any actual harm. That's a medical fact.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)
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Mark
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Re: RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
Reply #4 - May 8th, 2011, 5:41pm
 
Thans again RLR.

I do have one more question though. I Lets say I do have a hernia and of course acid reflux, could these things produce gas to cause pressure on the heart and make me have a heart attack or something?

I know I sound crazy but I was doing a bit of research on hernias and one site stated that hernias can put pressure on the heart and lungs which can cause asthma and heart disease. :'(

I mean reading this has only terrified me because I know  a person who's had a hernia for 20 years and she's absolutely fine.

Yet I'm sitting here with palps, head feels funny, and I can't breathe properly. I'm confused as to whether anxiety is causing this or my acid reflux or possible hernia.

Thanks again for your time.
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Re: RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
Reply #5 - May 8th, 2011, 7:42pm
 
Actually, both factors are producing the palpitations. Regardless, it is impossible for you to suffer a cardiac event as a consequence of this type of disturbance, which is roughly the equivalent of a muscle twitch elsewhere in the body.

Performing "research" is a bit misleading. I believe what you are actually suggesting is that you are seeking out medical literature on the internet and are making far-reaching presumptions, which have no basis on your symptoms. You are frightened because you don't understand precisely what is taking place and prefer to err on the side subjective beliefs.

Hiatal hernia is rare and even when it does occur, it will not produce the consequences you suggest. I'm uncertain where you've read such information and if you wish to post it, I'll go have a look.

The patterns demonstrated here are highly consistent with other persons suffering intense health anxiety. There is typically an effort to produce the farthest reaching consequences possible in order to gain increasing reassurance in the presence of symptoms which will not abate. I'm constrained to point out that the more intense the apprehension, the more the symptoms will be exacerbated because they are the result of fear and not something wrong with your heart.

You need to pause for a moment and peruse this site a little more thoroughly. You'll find that there are a number of members and guests who have strived in the same manner in order to achieve reassurance and some method for quelling their fears. Not a single person here has actually suffered harm of any kind whatsoever, not to their heart or any other aspect of their health. Your case is no different than theirs and at some point, you'll need to decide whether the underlying cause is as you suspect, or alternatively the mere consequence of intense anxiety.

I'll certainly be around if you need me, but there is nothing of your symptoms to even remotely suggest that you are at any risk of harm.

I will also remind you that the internet is not a resource bound by accuracy, but rather a melting pot of countless views and opinions couched in every theme from pure science to pure science fiction. It is entirely up to you which direction you proceed, but regardless of how far you search, the truth will be waiting for you at the starting line. If you believe that a physical cause underlies your difficulty, then sometimes the only course to proceed is to exhaust every possible avenue until you are either out of scenarios or out of money, whichever comes first.

I provide my limited time here to provide a medical explanation for what is taking place with respect to symptoms for which no organic cause can be identified. It does not mean that it's evading detection or that the medical community is overlooking or missing the cause, unable to identify it or even that we're just not competent enough to locate it.

The persistence of symptoms does not in any way exist as proof that something is physically wrong. It simply means that you are unable to accept that the cause exists in the form of physiological response to anxiety and stress.

Speak with others here who have long since made the troublesome journey you are now encountering and I think you see that there is ultimately nowhere else to turn but to the reality of what is actually taking place.

Best regards and Good Health

Take a breath and relax
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Mark
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Re: RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
Reply #6 - May 8th, 2011, 8:28pm
 
Thank you for taking the time to reply RLR.

I can't find the website at the moment but I'll defnintely post it as soon as I do.

I really do appreciate you taking the time to respond. My GP is very confident that nothing is the matter with me. And frankly, I have a huge fear of doctors and when I was in the hospital last year, it was pure hell for me. I don't want to go back at all. I had so many ecgs, an echo, many xrays and I can't even count how much blood and urine samples were taken from me.

My GP even told me that urine samples were sent to another state to test me for some rare disease(test came back negative).

With my most resent check-up, all she can find is anxiety and acid reflux. SHE THINKS i MAY HAVE A HIATUS HERNIA but is not sure yet. She wants me to try the acid reflux meds she gave me first.

Thanks again for responding, though. It's just that I think back sometimes to where this all started in '08. I had reflux and gastritis and my heart was pounding like crazy. It was since that day I've been obsessed with my heart and can't let go. I always think at the back of my mind that's something wrong despite the normal tests I've had. Undecided

But with every palpitation I get, it's always triggered by anxiety and reflux. If only I can believe that in my head. I'm always thinking, "what if" the docs missed something, or they lied about me being normal.
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jothenurse
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Re: RLR-Acid Reflux and SVT!
Reply #7 - May 9th, 2011, 6:23pm
 
First of all, they would never lie to you about your health.  Secondly, you have had many tests and if there was anything wrong, they would have found it in the tests they took.
Like RLR says, try to relax and know that there is nothing wrong with your heart.  I know this is very difficult to do, because I have tachycardia a lot, and I get panicky when it happens.  But, you need to believe what your doctor has told you.
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