Holter Monitor today

[messtafarian]

So today I am wearing a holter monitor that will watch my heart rate for the next 48 hours. It will monitor my frequent bouts of tachycardia and check to see if there is any fibrillation.

I've ruled out diabetes, heavy metal poisoning, and all kinds of other things since my endless investigation started in December.

There are only a couple things left it could be.

Thyrotoxicosis
Hyperadrenergism due to either spinal cord injury or shock.
carcinoid tumors
POTS due to trauma

My new theory is that when I blew out SIX discs when I took a wrong step in December, my autonomic nervous system essentially blew up. I am clearly hyperadrenergic and I also think that I have a mild traumatic brain injury from the interruption of normal CSF flow when this happened. I keep getting different symptoms but consistently:

Vagal neuropathies having to do with eating food or voiding ( chills, burning, etc).
Fast heart rate. All the time. Never below 90
Tremor some time after being awake for a few hours and I think after food. This is a whole body tremor relieved by lying down. Just lying down, that is the only cure- although I notice when I supplement potassium in massive quantities they do not seem as strong.
Low belly pain, ibs, frequent/overactive bowel.
Sometimes a morning migraine, headaches behind the eyes and occipital running up right side.
Something like dementia when I get tired. Lose my train of thought, reading words backwards, fast scanning such as a sentence that reads " like you" and I will get "you like" -- have to go back over and reprocess.
Hot flashes milder with lower sugar diet
Night sweats.
Flushing.

So now I'm doing the cardiac/neurosurgeon thing.

Taking:
Multivitamin
Allithiamine, benfotiamine, b1 in different combinations and high doses. I figure if there is neuropathic damage this might help somewhat.
Additional b complex( b right)
occasional b12 sublingual - levels are testing high in my blood so I am taking it easy with that but actually do not care if my b12 levels are high if my spine is under stress.
pregnenolone ( helps a little with mental clarity but increases migraine sometimes)
progesterone.
Aspirin 2x 325 ( regular dose)
Amlodipine
Valium 1x at night for sleep.

I need to get my adrenaline down. I've been offered cymbalta -- which I haven't succumbed to even though there are raves about this for hyperadrenergic syndromes online -- and I'm thinking about asking to switch my bp med from amlodipine ( calcium channel blocker) to a beta blocker.

Any other suggestions besides pregnenolone?

 

[tara]

Hi messtafarian,
Sounds rough.
I don't know if this is relevant, but the bit about tremors made me wonder if there could be a link to just down right terror from your traumatic injury still needing to be released by physical trembling.

I think of trembling (and sometimes more vigorous shaking) as being one of the bodies natural ways to release itself from a physical state of fear.

Maybe your body is trying to get around to understanding that the acute danger is over, and it's now safe to not have adrenaline etc so constantly high. I wonder what would happen if you were able to relax and let lots of that trembling happen, and whether it would relieve some of the high stress symptoms. Probably better if you have company with you who is able to be relaxed about it.

 

[barefooter]

I do wonder if it's all caused by high adrenaline that won't let up. I had some similar symptoms over the last couple months which came from a repeated physical/psychological stress over the course of a week or two. Even when I was able to remove myself from the stressful situation, my body seemed to be stuck in a high adrenaline panicked state. That was 1.5 months ago, and I'm still recovering from it, although mostly back to normal now.

I had high heart rate, very minor tremors, ibs, minor delirium esp. when tired, nightmares, and shortness of breath.

Do you harbor any conscious fear when walking, since the injury was while walking. I'm wondering if you may need to retrain your body that walking is indeed good and safe in some way.

 

[tara]

Maybe also get with family or friends to watch comedies, or do anything that will make you laugh a lot? Can also help release old fear held in the body. Yawning may help too.

 

[messtafarian]

Thanks.

I have been wondering if it's something like a protracted PTSD. The tremors are maddening; they have absolutely no correlation to anything, and I've looked at everything. At first I thought it might be hypoglycemia but I used up 100 test strips in three days watching every symptom. My blood sugar was going a little high in the beginning but it's never been under 90 in those three days and I've been suppressing the highs with more protein and smaller meals.

Also watching my heart rate, which spikes when I stand up but never goes over 115 and settles down a bit after getting used to upright posture. Down into the 70s at times, walking around. I've also been experimenting with salt loading and a high salt diet -- doesn't seem to affect the tremors, or the hot flashes, which do not necessarily come together but both are wrenching and devastating. Night sweats, I'm waking up drenched and intensely thirsty because of it. Tried stopping all caffeine and it made no difference.

Really at a loss. Blood values are normal. Potassium is a little low, but Ive been supplementing and it falls in range. Chloride is normal. Blood sugar is (somewhat) normal. Hba1c is normal. Hemoglobin is now normal. Checked out by a neuro, no signs of nerve damage on physical exam. Checked out by a rheumatologist; I had a positive ANA but no real disease he can find. Glomular filtration, liver values, CRP, sed rate-- all normal. I'm taking a calcium channel blocker but haven't had any problems with it before.

I'm nearly bedridden and burning out my adrenals lying flat on my back. what. the. hell.

 

[mas]

Hi Messtafarian,

Just wanted to say that I understand the adrenaline/tachy horror and my experienes in my own quest for solutions.

First take a good look at your medical history from childhood to present. In my case I had mono, eczema, teenage allergies which kept getting worse and springtime hay fever would have me congested for months, migraine (with aura) that would come every few months, cold all the time, alternating diarrhea and constipation, easily tired, anxious and high-strung due to hypoglycemia. This sure seems like a classic low thyroid, estrogen-serotonin dominant picture that no doctor ever could piece together.

It all hit me hard around menopause and I was getting progressively more exhausted with the tachy/adrenaline, night sweats, chills, etc… and I went to my doctor and was told nothing “wrong” with tests, (especially Thyroid which Ray thinks are missed frequently) but was told I had this “CFS”. Not any meds worked ( didn’t do well on Beta-Blockers and all) and I was dysfunctional for years. I was on a Gluten Free Forum and found Ray Peat’s website. From then on, I was on a healing quest and still am trying to find my way.

So I am working on my obvious leaky gut and trying to lower serotonin and estrogen.

What has helped:

NutriPak Thyroid: Helpful but I still feel cold and may go to something stronger like Thiroid because my hands and feet get really cold

Cyproheptadine 1-4 mg varies Lower serotonin

Aspirin: 2-3 daily

Cascara Sagrada: 200 mg (This is laxative and helps with constipation and endotoxin . Ray said that this contains emodin and can help with intestine inflammation and swelling and gets the intestinal tone back. When the gut leaks in the intestine, fluid gets lost in the vascular system and this can cause palps, tacky and fibrillation.

Progest-E , Pregnenolone

Some vitamins, minerals and Peat inspired diet with minimal grains. I am always learning and seeking.

___________________________________

I also still have issues with reactive hypoglycemia sometimes after eating I tremble, sweat, and tachycardia and it is totally horrible. You are right- all you can do is to lie down until it calms down. I think that it may be an issue with the pancreas where insulin secretion is screwed up along with all the other metabolic estrogen/serotonin issues. Some people get the “Dumping Syndrome” like you mentioned and food leaves the stomach fast. On the other hand, some people have food sitting in their stomach a long time at the other extreme. I don’t think that the medical arena has much knowledge about reactive hypo or Dumping Syndrome or anything of that nature.

Hope you get some helpful information soon.

It is a long road

 

[mas]

Proarrhythmic effects of reactive hypoglycemia.

ABSTRACT A patient with refractory atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia is reported in whom it was possible to document that reactive hypoglycemia was the trigger for aggravation of arrhythmia. Over a period of 6 years, a series of electrophysiological studies revealed that, when the patient was in a hypoglycemic state, initiation of tachycardia was easy and most importantly that tachycardla termination by extra-stimulus pacing always failed. Furthermore, atrial fibrillation was inducible or spontaneously occurred only when the blood glucose level was reduced by IV insulin administration.
Proarrhythmic effects of reactive hypoglycemia. - ResearchGate. Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication ... poglycemia [accessed May 19, 2015].

 

[messtafarian]

:). Thanks for your story, mas.

I've been trying to work on my gut issues too now, and I'm thinking I might be in a state of frank malnutrition. Haven't found much that helps yet but I am taking this stuff called Apetamin syrup with cypro and b vitamins, about 5 mgs a day. It makes me a little spaced out but I'm sleeping well and the glycemic/adrenic meltdowns don't seem to be as strong.

Also -- that citation -- " Over a period of 6 years.." Sigh. It all takes so long to get to some kind of resolution.