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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Littleton
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 7, 2009 - 04:13pm PT
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Anyone else here on the taco have this? I was diagnosed last week. The flutters sometimes scare me. My EKG was great though with my resting heart rate at 48. I ran 6 miles today and ever since my heart is skipping approximately 3 beats per minute. I can literally feel my heart stop. Doctor says I'm fine but this is not normal. I feel good though. I've changed my diet. No more candy and coke for breakfast. Yes, I clearly did this to myself. No more caffiene. I'm eating very healthy. Did you have to slow down because of this? Supposidly there may be a period when I don't feel this at all. I can't wait. I'm a little freaked. I guess this is my wake up call.
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Roman
Trad climber
Bostonia
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Damn that sounds scary
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Talk to Tami.
Or just wait for a while, and she'll surely show up here.
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Brian Hench
Trad climber
Anaheim, CA
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You didn't necessarily do it to yourself. Sometimes these things are caused by viruses and sometimes they are idopathic, meaning there is no apparent cause.
Stay away from pseudoephedrine, as it is known to cause heart palpitations.
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Roman
Trad climber
Bostonia
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No blowing cocaine either Beatrix!!!!11111!!1 :)
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Littleton
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2009 - 04:26pm PT
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Yuck. None of that mess in this body. Hopefully tami will show.
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Two Pack Jack
climber
The hills
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yep, I got em.
From my experience, I just eat plenty of potassium, do stress relief activities (meditation and yoga), and it has helped me a bunch. For me, it's something with the nervous system and the way nerves fire can cause them. Plus, just chill out. Whenever it happens it scary cause you can fell your heart literally stop, but you just gotta chill. It'll come back.
And if not, I'm psyched to meet DaVinci and Einstein, cause I would totally kick their asses in chess.
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Littleton
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2009 - 04:51pm PT
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HAHA! Nice! I was on a peak the other day thinking that I was just a few steps away from seeing my dead ex boyfriend. :-)
I do notice that the contractions are more frequent when my resting heart rate is higher. I "try" to meditate by my mind wanders. I need to work harder at that. Yoga is great. Tai chi before bed is soothing.
I keep checking to see if my heart remembered to start back up again after it stops. So far so good!
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Littleton
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2009 - 05:02pm PT
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Its ok! I feel really good. It's just the whole heart stopping thing that is making me anxious. :-)
I hope your Dad is ok.
Dude that costume rocks. If I'm not at sushi or J-tree we should try to end up at the same party this year.
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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I have 'em. At the most frequent, I was getting them about one every 45 seconds or so. Scared the crap outa me. However, the doctor assures me they're not serious. Ran a bunch of tests to rule out anything more serious, but it is what it is - just PVCs.
In my case, they were brought on by stress. Ironically - the stress of my dad having a life-threatening ailment: a heart problem that nearly killed him!
I cut back a little on caffeine, but really they got better on their own, particularly as my stress levels settled back down. I still feel them occasionally, but they're not as bad.
GO
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Littleton
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2009 - 05:44pm PT
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Thank you.
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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No prob! It definitely scared me most when it happened when I was climbing. But like I said, nothing ever came of it, and it pretty much receded into the background on its own.
I know this sounds silly, but I also think that the stress of being stressed about it made it happen more frequently. So be good to yourself - it's good for you!
GO
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Rcklzrd
Trad climber
San Juan Capistrano
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Just wanted to let you know that I have had them for many years now. I too had anxiety when they first started happening. The anxiety would then cause adrenaline to kick in and of course my heart would start racing. And that would give me more anxiety, etc., etc. But then I was able to get to that place in my head where I just told myself that it was no big deal, my heart wasn't going to stop,don't think about it, and I'm still here today!
Good luck getting over the anxiety of it.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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What did your MD recommend for treatment?
Several friends in later middle age - 60 or so - have developed heart irregularities of one sort or another in the last few years. One had to have it treated by a catheter they insert into your heart, where they then 'burn' some of the nerves that are causing false-firings. Another had a sort of pacemaker put in, to provide a jolt when/if needed. Another still not sure what is needed.
All three very fit and active, without other conditions.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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what tami said--
you have a resting pulse of 48, sounds like you've been living a suspiciously healthy life.
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perswig
climber
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One of our techs (in great CV shape) started VPCs out of the blue. It was a while before she convinced herself to see an MD, so in the meantime we'd hook her up to our ECG machine periodically and watch them go by. Hers were monofocal and usually single, with rare runs of 3 or more.
If I recall, her doc did a good screening workup - CBC, chem panel and in particular electrolytes, a thyroid panel, and I think a resting cortisol to rule out Addison's dz - all normal.
As she started to track the episodes, it became clear they occurred more often after she ate chocolate. She didn't drink coffee or tea, but she was apparently sensitive to methylxanthines, maybe as a primary cause, or maybe exacerbating an underlying sensitivity. I don't think she ever had an echo; her symptoms lasted longer than you'd expect for a viral myocardiitis-type deal, but eventually resolved on their own.
You say it feels as though your heart 'stops' - any mention of AV block in your workup?
Hope this resolves soon.
Dale
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Littleton
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2009 - 06:33pm PT
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I do have a slow resting rate! I was completely floored when I saw the EKG results. I'm extremely happy with that.
My Kaiser doc did not recommend anything. Basically she told me not to worry about it. She is basing this on the fact that my EKG looked so good.
The anxiety is like a viscious circle. Sounds you guys know. Some days I don't think about it as much. Today is not one of those days and I feel is constantly, probably because of my run. Thankfully I have no other symptons. For those of you who have it, did you have to decrease your cardio activity? Did you notice an increase in the palps after exercise? I know everyone is different but it gives me some comfort discussing this with those of you who have expereinced it.
No mention of AV block. They didn't proceed with anymore tests since the EKG was good. I am going to ask for a full workup just for peace of mind. Issues of the heart are not to be taken lightly. Awwwww. . .that almost made me sound romantic. hehe
KLK, I do a ton of mountaineering and running. I'm also an asthmatic. I have to work harder than most to breathe just on a regular basis, even sitting down. My doc thinks this is why my hr is so low.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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bk--
yeah, you do a lot of alpine, live at altitude, and it's the end of summer season. your aerobic shape is why yr doc seems pretty unconcerned. i certainly wouldn't quit doing yer aerobic work. it sounds like you're going to outlive all of us.
of course, had you cultivated more bad habits, you'd now have something to throw overboard.
just give up the java.
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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For those of you who have it, did you have to decrease your cardio activity? Did you notice an increase in the palps after exercise? I know everyone is different but it gives me some comfort discussing this with those of you who have expereinced it.
At first, yes, I did decrease my cardio, because, frankly, I didn't know what was going on, and was scared of what might happen if I pushed my heart. But after a bit of research on my own, some hand-holding by the docs (they agreed to run some tests when they were pretty sure they weren't necessary), I relaxed, got on with my life, and all has been well.
GO
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Beatrix, you are describing a benign (non-dangerous) condition. You did the right thing, in going to your doc for evaluation. They HAVE done the appropriate evaluation for this, you need nothing else, from what you say.
(I am a doctor, and have evaluated and treated hundreds of folks with this--it is common)
As you, and many people have mentioned or implied, adrenaline (epinephrine) is often the culprit. Adrenaline is often described as the "stress hormone", as it is released in response to stress, to boost our bodies responses (this is what allows frail women to lift cars off their children). Anything which is chemically similar to adrenaline will have a similar effect. Ephedrine, pseudoephedrine (Sudaphed), caffeine, Xanthines, are all examples.
A very common type of medication that is often involved in causing problems, are many of the asthma medications. The worst is probably albuterol, as it is quite similar to adrenaline (an older, OTC inhaler still around, Primatene Mist, is actually an inhaled form of actual adrenaline, itself). You may be on a controller medication, and some of them contain a long acting version of albuterol...and example would be Advair or Foradil. Some people can be quite suseptible to these making the PVC's more prominent. You may want to discuss alternatives with your doc.
One other issue: PVC's, themselves, are a normal thing. Most people having an EKG will demonstrate one or more. Up to 10/minute are considered NORMAL. Thing is, most people do not feel them, and never know they are there! There are medications that can suppress them, but these are generally used only when they are driving a person crazy, as the medications have side effects, and some we don't like to use in asthmatics.
One last thing: the sensation of your heart "stopping". A PVC is a heartbeat that occurs EARLY (Premature Ventricular Contraction). There are exquisite mechanisms that control heartrate. When a contraction occurs that is early, the heart then immediately takes a "compensatory pause", to even out the time between heartbeats to the average heartrate.
So, if the regular heartrate is 1/sec, and a PVC pops up at 1/2 sec after the previous hearbeat, there will be a pause of 1-1/2 sec, before the next heartbeat. This is often experienced by those who can feel them (and most CANNOT), as a "heart stoppage", but it IS NOT! In fact, it is actually a definitional type of thing, that a pause follows a PVC....if there is no pause, it is probably not a PVC, and some other possibilities must be considered.
Virtually always, the simple EKG answers the question of what is going on, as it appears to have done here. There are MANY resources on the web talking about all these things.
Personally, I've found having a person obtain a clear understanding of what is going on, HUGELY reduces the anxiety of the experience...which is one of the things that keeps the whole thing going on.
Best of luck with this, and hope you and your doc are able to resolve this for you expeditiously.
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