Scary Arrhythmias

[Jliz169]

Hi peaties.

I am female, turning 50 soon and have been having strange and scary heart bumps and arrhythmias, it feels like a disorganized beat followed by fast heart rate, their coming at any time, its really scaring me.

I must give you some information, I was diagnosed with depression over 12 years ago and have been taking the following:

Amitriptilyne 150 mg( lately I'm only taking 100mg, as I fear that being a tryciclic it could make it worse.. But the idea has gone through my head that maybe dropping the dose was a partial cause...)

Clonazepam 3 mg a day. -some days I take 2,5 mg if I'm less anxious, do you recommend I stay at stable dose? I was taking 6 mg until doctor dropped it to 3 last year, he said the dose of 6mg was "dangerously high".

I take 2-3 sennosides at night for constipation. Part of my colon issues.

Occasional Tylenol. Recently incorporating aspiring, but I read I need a good source of vitamin k don't I?

What could be causing this? Estrogen dominance? Thyroid? Serotonin? Lack of gaba?

Please help me!

 

[Arnold Grape]

Symptoms like these you should consult a cardiologist for and not rando internet strangers. No offense: I've dealt with heart stuff and specifically arrrhythmias which can be life threatening, so you need medical attention. Specifically when there's so much prescription medication involved.

 

[tara]

Welcome Jliz,

I'm not familiar with all the side effects of those drugs. (I've used low-dose amitriptyline for other reasons in the past, and the main side-effects I noticed were making me sleep a lot, and numbing me out emotionally - and that was at a fraction of the dose you are on.) Others may know more about that, or you may be able to read about their effects by your own research.
If your dr is saying you were taking a dangerously high dose of Clonazepam, I imagine it would be worth finding out about specific consequences likely to arise from that one. I have no medical expertise, and I'm not giving medical advice. If it were me I'd be trying to figure out if it were safe to gradually get off at least that one, and probably the amitrip too. Depends on whehter/how you can see yourself managing without them.
What's the tylenol for? Have you tried aspirin instead? (Aspirin, brain, and cancer)

You might get more ideas if you give us some more information - only if you want to, of course.
Have you had a go at monitoring your body temps? This is a useful DIY method of getting an idea about base metabolism/thyroid function.
By chance have you had thyroid lab test done and numbers available? (Not saying you should rush out and get them, just wondering if the data's already there.)
Metabolism requires nutrition, so an idea about how you've been sustaining yourself could be relevant.
I'm also wondering how your breathing is? Relaxed, gentle, nasal, diaphragmatic? Or stressed, large, mouth, chest? Breathing habits can have quite an effect on anxiety/calmness etc, and I think they can sometimes influence cardiovascular system too, via CO2 effects and oxygen delivery.
Sometimes basic energy issues are a root cause of of various troublesome symptoms, so that's why I ask about those.

If the sennoside is senna-based, you might consider trying aged cascara instead when needed for constipation. Here's a related article by Peat: Cascara, energy, cancer and the FDA's laxative abuse..

 

[mujuro]

How long have you been having them? Tricyclics have a shotgun spread across all kinds of receptors. Adrenergic, muscarinic, serotonin, histamine, dopamine, cholinergic. So you may get cardiac side effects. Anxiety also makes heart issues a lot worse, or rather SEEM a lot worse. Half of it is psychosomatic. You become paranoid about the heart so you become hyperaware of every beat. More adrenaline is released, making you even more tense, etc. When I was on Valium I found the rebound anxiety the next day was intolerable, and really made me panic about the smallest things.

Sounds like you're getting palpitations or extrasystole which are pretty common in people who exercise regularly or ingest certain substances. My sister in law cannot drink a single coffee or she will get palpitations. Go and see a cardiologist to calm your worries.

 

[jyb]

Are you doing very low carb? Some people get arrhythmias when doing very low carb, in which case it can be reversed over time by eating it a bit more.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I would try thyroid, pregnenolone, progesterone l vitamin E. sounds very like hypo thyroid and high estrogen.

 

[yerrag]

I wouldn't know the effect of the drugs you're taking, Jiz. But arrythmia is indeed something you need to be worried about.

It would be a good idea to consult a cardiologist, but also to know a bit about why arrhythmia occurs. Going to doctors these days seem to involve being acquiescent to all the things the doctor tells you to do. That isn't a problem if the doctor is perfect, and you can just put 100% trust in him. But that isn't the case all the time. In fact, a doctor is no different from a mechanic. There are mechanics who know to identify the root causes, and in a jiffy your car is back on the road. Then there are those who don't, uses up all the weekend, changes many parts, and then causes another problem after, eventually, getting the initial problem fixed.

That said, it's still a good idea to find a good cardiologist. But get referrals if you can. If you know a doctor personally, that's even better. It makes a big difference since the doctor will trust you not to sue him, and he will be able to give you a good diagnosis instead of a "safe" diagnosis. And he won't be prescribing the latest and greatest drugs, as patients have been known to sue doctors who don't give them those. If you don't already know, many drugs used in this forum are very "old" drugs, because their behavior (dosage, effects and side-effects etc.) are already known.

But it's also good to know something about yourself that the doctor would not normally care to know about. An example is the state of your thyroid. Knowing whether you are hypothyroid or hyperthyroid or normal would help. In my mom's case, she is hypothyroid. Because I gave her something that increased her metabolism way too much, her temperature went fever high, and she developed arrhythmia. This was because she was hypothyroid, and her metabolic pathway involved not producing enough carbon dioxide. Eventually, there wasn't enough CO2 left in her blood for a balanced state, and this caused an imbalance in the electrolytes. This imbalance caused a fast heart rate that was irregular, or arrhythmic.

I was owning up to my mistake to the doctors, but doctors still didn't know what to make of my confession. They still proceeded to treat arrhythmia as secondary to another problem, and their focus was on something else. I ended up having to do bag breathing to correct my mom's condition, and I made great progress. Again, I told the doctors what I did. There was no response. They think it was the effect of drugs they're giving. And yes, I'm dealing with a cardiologist.

In my case, knowing my mom's hypothyroid condition enabled me to view her problem as a CO2 problem which led to an electrolyte problem which led to an arrhythmic problem. I don't know the context of your case and it would be foolish for me to apply my mom's case to you. But all I know to say is for you to also know your thyroid condition.

When you see a cardiologist, you'll get an ECG printout. It will have a QTc value, where if it is longer than 440 msec, it is a good sign that you are hypothyroid (subject to other tests to confirm it such as Achilles tendon reflex, body temperature, and more). Or you can get an ECG but ask if the results include the QTc. Obviously, there's more explanation needed here but it would take longer to explain. I can provide you links to videos that explain this, just let me know. But from what I experienced, arrhythmia isn't something that can't be understood even if you're not a doctor, but it requires a little bit on going in-depth into Ray Peat's writings, and listening on some interviews of his.

 

[mujuro]

I wouldn't know the effect of the drugs you're taking, Jiz. But arrythmia is indeed something you need to be worried about.

It would be a good idea to consult a cardiologist, but also to know a bit about why arrhythmia occurs. Going to doctors these days seem to involve being acquiescent to all the things the doctor tells you to do. That isn't a problem if the doctor is perfect, and you can just put 100% trust in him. But that isn't the case all the time. In fact, a doctor is no different from a mechanic. There are mechanics who know to identify the root causes, and in a jiffy your car is back on the road. Then there are those who don't, uses up all the weekend, changes many parts, and then causes another problem after, eventually, getting the initial problem fixed.

That said, it's still a good idea to find a good cardiologist. But get referrals if you can. If you know a doctor personally, that's even better. It makes a big difference since the doctor will trust you not to sue him, and he will be able to give you a good diagnosis instead of a "safe" diagnosis. And he won't be prescribing the latest and greatest drugs, as patients have been known to sue doctors who don't give them those. If you don't already know, many drugs used in this forum are very "old" drugs, because their behavior (dosage, effects and side-effects etc.) are already known.

But it's also good to know something about yourself that the doctor would not normally care to know about. An example is the state of your thyroid. Knowing whether you are hypothyroid or hyperthyroid or normal would help. In my mom's case, she is hypothyroid. Because I gave her something that increased her metabolism way too much, her temperature went fever high, and she developed arrhythmia. This was because she was hypothyroid, and her metabolic pathway involved not producing enough carbon dioxide. Eventually, there wasn't enough CO2 left in her blood for a balanced state, and this caused an imbalance in the electrolytes. This imbalance caused a fast heart rate that was irregular, or arrhythmic.

I was owning up to my mistake to the doctors, but doctors still didn't know what to make of my confession. They still proceeded to treat arrhythmia as secondary to another problem, and their focus was on something else. I ended up having to do bag breathing to correct my mom's condition, and I made great progress. Again, I told the doctors what I did. There was no response. They think it was the effect of drugs they're giving. And yes, I'm dealing with a cardiologist.

In my case, knowing my mom's hypothyroid condition enabled me to view her problem as a CO2 problem which led to an electrolyte problem which led to an arrhythmic problem. I don't know the context of your case and it would be foolish for me to apply my mom's case to you. But all I know to say is for you to also know your thyroid condition.

When you see a cardiologist, you'll get an ECG printout. It will have a QTc value, where if it is longer than 440 msec, it is a good sign that you are hypothyroid (subject to other tests to confirm it such as Achilles tendon reflex, body temperature, and more). Or you can get an ECG but ask if the results include the QTc. Obviously, there's more explanation needed here but it would take longer to explain. I can provide you links to videos that explain this, just let me know. But from what I experienced, arrhythmia isn't something that can't be understood even if you're not a doctor, but it requires a little bit on going in-depth into Ray Peat's writings, and listening on some interviews of his.

Amitriptyline prolongs QT anyway so that will be tricky. It also can cause tachycardia. There are newer analogues that have less cardiac effects so maybe OP should consider coming off it.

 

[Such_Saturation]

Symptoms like these you should consult a cardiologist for and not rando internet strangers. No offense: I've dealt with heart stuff and specifically arrrhythmias which can be life threatening, so you need medical attention. Specifically when there's so much prescription medication involved.

I've had "scary bumps and arrhythmias" when I was a teenager and the doctor did nothing about it. Had to fix it myself.

 

[tara]

you should consult a cardiologist

It would be a good idea to consult a cardiologist, but also to know a bit about why arrhythmia occurs. Going to doctors these days seem to involve being acquiescent to all the things the doctor tells you to do. That isn't a problem if the doctor is perfect, and you can just put 100% trust in him. But that isn't the case all the time.

I agree it's a god idea to see a cardiologist and find out what you can from them, since arrythmias can sometimes be dangerous, and also to find out what you can from other sources, since the cardiologist is unlikely to know all you can do to help yourself.

 

[artlange]

I started using a Polar H7 bluetooth monitor with the Sweetbeat iPhone app. with this I can continuously monitor my heart rate. I see that I sometimes have a PVC (premature heart contraction) is shows up on the HR display as a fast heart rate followed by a slow heart rate. Lately they are greatly reduced copmpared to several months ago.
When I palpitate my carotid artery I feel that there was a missed beat when the PVC shows up on the Sweetbeat iPhone HR display. Months ago, when walking I'd sometimes have a string of PVCs every few beats. My cardiologist said nothing was amiss after a stress Echo cardiogram.

In the last few weeks the incidence of the PVC have greatly reduced. What has changed was eating a clean peat style diet with thyroid supplements. My waking temperature has been increasing over six months as I slowly increased NDT (natural dessicated thyroid), and now I have many fewer PVC.

The beauty of using a EKG monitor like the H7 is that you can directly see the cause for the heart bump. Of course all heart bumps are not caused by a PVC.

 

[yerrag]

I started using a Polar H7 bluetooth monitor with the Sweetbeat iPhone app. with this I can continuously monitor my heart rate. I see that I sometimes have a PVC (premature heart contraction) is shows up on the HR display as a fast heart rate followed by a slow heart rate. Lately they are greatly reduced copmpared to several months ago.
When I palpitate my carotid artery I feel that there was a missed beat when the PVC shows up on the Sweetbeat iPhone HR display. Months ago, when walking I'd sometimes have a string of PVCs every few beats. My cardiologist said nothing was amiss after a stress Echo cardiogram.

In the last few weeks the incidence of the PVC have greatly reduced. What has changed was eating a clean peat style diet with thyroid supplements. My waking temperature has been increasing over six months as I slowly increased NDT (natural dessicated thyroid), and now I have many fewer PVC.

The beauty of using a EKG monitor like the H7 is that you can directly see the cause for the heart bump. Of course all heart bumps are not caused by a PVC.

Nice for you to be able to monitor your heart rate on the go. Does the app also detect arrhythnia? The Omron electronic blood pressure device I use detects arrhythmia. It was a feature I seldom used until I noticed it when measuring the bp of my mom, but it took a while before I noticed the symbol indicating the presence of arrhythmia. With the uneven heart rate, I was getting frustrated blood pressure readings though, as the device kept giving an error and I thought there was something wrong with the unit, which has been in use for a good many years. I replaced the cuff, and still there was the error message. That's when I realized irregular heart beat was the reason.

Glad the thyroid is working well for you. The thyroid with the Peaty diet will make your metabolism go through the more efficient respiratory oxidative pathway, producing more carbon dioxide, which increases the carbon dioxide levels in your blood. This leads to better oxygen release by the blood to your tissues. With the higher oxygen supply, and with the better supply of sugar from a Peaty lifestyle, the body will be quick to use the more efficient metabolic pathway. Your blood pH will provide a better environment for the interaction of electrolytes, such that potassium and magnesium stays more inside the cell, and sodium and calcium stays more outside the cell. In such a condition, your heart will also be able to pump more efficiently and the erratic condition you experience will be reduced. While you are on thyroid, add more magnesium if you aren't doing that yet. I heard on an interview of Ray Peat (either KMUD Antioxidants or Iodine), wherein Ray mentioned that to be a good idea when you start supplementing with thyroid. I think that it's because as your metabolism speeds up, the current supply of magnesium might becoming a limiting factor is putting you back on homeostatis.

 

[artlange]

Nice for you to be able to monitor your heart rate on the go. Does the app also detect arrhythnia? The Omron electronic blood pressure device I use detects arrhythmia. It was a feature I seldom used until I noticed it when measuring the bp of my mom, but it took a while before I noticed the symbol indicating the presence of arrhythmia. With the uneven heart rate, I was getting frustrated blood pressure readings though, as the device kept giving an error and I thought there was something wrong with the unit, which has been in use for a good many years. I replaced the cuff, and still there was the error message. That's when I realized irregular heart beat was the reason.

The app clearly shows each PVC (Premature ventricular contraction). this is NOT an irregular beat which might be caused by atrial fibrillation, for example. The pulse rate is very steady, except for when the PVC occurs when there is a missing pulse beat.

The H7 sensor measures the electrical activity of the heart when the Left Ventricle contracts and the app displays the R-R interval as an instantaneous heart rate. When there is a PVC, the H7 reports a very short R-R interval because of the premature contraction, and this is shown on the display as a very high heart rate for that beat. When the next regular beat occurs, the display shows a lower heart rate for that beat. The total time for the short time interval and long time interval is the same as two heart beats. When palpitating the carotid artery and I have a PVC, there is a missing pulse beat, and the next regular heart beat is where it should be, as determined by the fairly regular SA Node heart rate. The pulse rate is not irregular, there only missing pulse beats. If you really see an irregular heart rate, it might be caused by atrial fibrillation, which is different thing than a PVC. PVCs are considered "harmless" by conventional cardiologists because there is nothing they can do about them, and atrial fib must be treated. Probably this is a good is a source of income since conventional medicine has a surgical treatment (ablate some of the nerves in the heart) for Afib. Steve Richfield of FixLowBodyTemp.com Library does talk about how he "cured" his own Afib without surgery. "We" are not fans of conventional medicine.

 

[yerrag]

The app clearly shows each PVC (Premature ventricular contraction). this is NOT an irregular beat which might be caused by atrial fibrillation, for example. The pulse rate is very steady, except for when the PVC occurs when there is a missing pulse beat.

The H7 sensor measures the electrical activity of the heart when the Left Ventricle contracts and the app displays the R-R interval as an instantaneous heart rate. When there is a PVC, the H7 reports a very short R-R interval because of the premature contraction, and this is shown on the display as a very high heart rate for that beat. When the next regular beat occurs, the display shows a lower heart rate for that beat. The total time for the short time interval and long time interval is the same as two heart beats. When palpitating the carotid artery and I have a PVC, there is a missing pulse beat, and the next regular heart beat is where it should be, as determined by the fairly regular SA Node heart rate. The pulse rate is not irregular, there only missing pulse beats. If you really see an irregular heart rate, it might be caused by atrial fibrillation, which is different thing than a PVC. PVCs are considered "harmless" by conventional cardiologists because there is nothing they can do about them, and atrial fib must be treated. Probably this is a good is a source of income since conventional medicine has a surgical treatment (ablate some of the nerves in the heart) for Afib. Steve Richfield of FixLowBodyTemp.com Library does talk about how he "cured" his own Afib without surgery. "We" are not fans of conventional medicine.

I'm rooting actually for the other side.
Many heart surgeries are scams. A simple tweak that would fix it, they would not consider. A major operation they would. And those who are thankful insurance will cover the entire cost, they shouldn't really be so. They didn't really need the procedure in the first place, and the subsequent need for more drugs offers no relief but a life of further suffering.

 

[artlange]

I started using a Polar H7 bluetooth monitor with the Sweetbeat iPhone app. with this I can continuously monitor my heart rate. I see that I sometimes have a PVC (premature heart contraction) is shows up on the HR display as a fast heart rate followed by a slow heart rate. Lately they are greatly reduced copmpared to several months ago.
When I palpitate my carotid artery I feel that there was a missed beat when the PVC shows up on the Sweetbeat iPhone HR display. Months ago, when walking I'd sometimes have a string of PVCs every few beats. My cardiologist said nothing was amiss after a stress Echo cardiogram.

In the last few weeks the incidence of the PVC have greatly reduced. What has changed was eating a clean peat style diet with thyroid supplements. My waking temperature has been increasing over six months as I slowly increased NDT (natural dessicated thyroid), and now I have many fewer PVC.

The beauty of using a EKG monitor like the H7 is that you can directly see the cause for the heart bump. Of course all heart bumps are not caused by a PVC.

I have been experimenting with dietary and supplement changes and continued to monitor PVCs.

I did notice a large increase in PVCs when I took 2 or 3 TBS/day Bulletproof collagen protein. (MY finger nails did became very strong.) I then swithced to Great Lakes Hydrolyzed collagen protein and saw a large decrease in PVC frequency, however they were not completely eliminated. Stopping the Great Lakes collagen reduces the number of PVC to a very low level, less than one PVC every 5 minutes. That low level of PVCs is not a concern. I had been avoiding all PUFA by using only grass fed cow butter (KerryGold brand) and coconut oil. I was invited to dinner and had 1/2 of a grilled chicken breast. (As we know, commercial farmed chickens raised on corn have a lot of PUFA in their fat.) The next few days after the chicken, I had a large increase in PVCs, and after a week or two, the frequency of PVC dropped to its low background rate. Maybe there was something else going on with the chicken besides the PUFA, but I still avoid chicken and any other foods with PUFA.