Hi Ladies, I have recently found this site and am so elated I did. I have truly felt alone with my symptoms all these years and now I know I'm not the only one having a difficult time. I'm 44 and have been having increasing palpitations since the age of 36, just worse and worse every year. About 4 years ago, I had a full work up and was told that yes, I do have palpitations and that I need to realize they are harmless and ignore them. I've done my very best and have learned to live with them by modifying my lifestyle (can't do strenuous aerobic activity any more). Then my new doctor suggested I wear a 48 hrs. holter monitor again just to see if there have been any changes as I have been suffering from long bouts of dizziness since the spring. The results look terrifying (to me):

Minimum heart rate:41.
Maximum heart rate:117.
Average heart rate:67.
Supraventricular ectopy:296 isolated beats
Ventricular ectopy:15858 multifocal PVCs. At least 3 different morphologies have been identified

Because of my low heart rate, it's been recommended that I avoid beta blockers but my question is, has anyone else had these types of findings and then found relief from palps. If so, what worked for you? I have been ordered to follow up with a cardiologist but I can't get in to see the person recommended until mid-Feb and I'm scared.

Any support, advice, words of wisdom would be so appreciated.

Hi there,
That is a low heart rate and you do have a lot of palps. Is there any chance at all you could be hypothyroid? Because that can cause that, but usually there are other symptoms, such as fatigue, feeling cold and sluggish, difficulty losing weight even with low calories.

How is your blood pressure? Is it low as well?

I meant to add that with ventricular arrhythmias, magnesium is very helpful. I tend to have the supraventricular ones, and drinking enough water and making sure I get enough potassium helps.

But I rarely get them now since I started on estrogen and meds for thyroid and adrenals.

Hi vogaluz,

Welcome to Power Surge! You are in very good company as these ladies are simply the best! I must admit I don't know much about your results ...Have you asked your doctor to explain it to you? Keep us posted.

Take care
Tara

Big hugs to you - I started with the palps my 1st year in college. They diagnosed me with a prolapsed mitral valve. I have the opposite problem you to as my heart tends to beat fast. It took me years to finally get it into my head that when I was having irregularities they weren't going to kill me. I remember being so bad at 1st, that if I went on a trip somewhere I would count how many minutes I thought I was away from the nearest hospital. Now that is scary thinking.

I also discovered later on, that certain heart issues - mine being one - predispose you to anxiety and panic attacks. This knowledge didn't stop me from having them, but I eventually learned to talk myself down most of the time.

I am assuming your doctor did more than just give you the results - or do you not get to talk to anyone about this until your apt. in Feb? If that is the case SHAME ON THEM for handing you results without explaining them to you. I would think that if there was a real issue - anything life threatening, or anything that could get worse quickly or have you doing things like passing out, that they would have made sure you got in to see someone immediately. My findings in the past is that when they make you wait to see them, it is a benign problem which, may cause some unpleasantness, but which is really no danger to you.

Please do let us know how it goes for you - Dana

Thanks everyone, My doctor actually sent these results to me electronically with a quick note saying that she didn't recommend a beta-blocker because of my heart rate (and yes, my BP is also low - usually 90/60 and sometimes lower). I haven't spoken with her yet. She simply recommended I see a specialist and that was that. In her defense, we've been in tight communication over the last couple of weeks because of my dizziness and accompanying anxiety and so we had already discussed my palpitations as well. I don't believe I have mitral valve prolapse because I had such a thorough work up a few years ago, I think they would have found it (I'll ask about that though). I just really wonder what causes this to happen and I'm worried that the cardiologist will want to do something invasive when this most likely is a hormonal issue. I'm seeing my naturopath next week and hopefully will get some good support from her (do additional thyroid testing and ask about hormones). I am doing large amounts of Mg but it doesn't seem to help. Thanks gals, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one out there completely confused and scared of these things though anxiety/palpitations is a misery I don't wish on anyone. I'll keep you posted! OX Juliet

This sounds like cortisol and aldosterone issues to me. Your bp is very low, and the dizziness standing is a huge clue. Physiologic doses of Hydrocortisone would help, as would using sea salt and drinking plenty of water. Are you drinking at least 8 glasses/day?

Hmmmm, interesting. I drink tons but I also do hot yoga almost every day and so I know I have hydration issues that I try to keep on top of but sometimes fail I'm sure. I actually eat my fair share of salt and I take electrolytes because of the yoga. Still, there could be something going on there. I will add that the dizziness isn't lightheadedness so much as a kind of floaty and sometimes "jerky" sensation which also happens when I'm lying down and doing yoga. Thanks for the suggestions and I'll run them by my naturo. J

I have a friend that has low blood pressure and was told by her doctor to up it by drinking coffee drinks!

Give it a try.

Suzanne

I was taking beta blockers at the time I had my Holter. I only did it for 24 hours, but my heart rate got down to 23 at one point, and when I was admitted to the hospital overnight for chest pains (turned out to be a panic attack), my pulse continually dropped below 50 and kept setting off the monitor and waking me up. Was taking the blockers for high blood pressure and palps, but got off the blockers because the HBP is no longer a problem. Now I'm on Effexor XR for the anxiety and the palps have pretty much gone away as well.

I've noticed what brings my palps on (besides anxiety that is) is sweets. I know that's tragic, but it's true. Candy, ice cream, cookies...I almost always have a run of palps within about a 1/2 hour of eating something like that.

thanks Webalina, I've seriously been considering an AD. A friend of mine had great success with Zoloft and now has no palps (after having ablations etc.). It's just a frightening thing for me to take on as I had a very bad reaction to Celexa many years ago. I stayed on it for quite a while and it didn't really take away my palps though I definitely had less anxiety. Thanks for sharing your experience with this... it feels odd to have low BP, low heart rate and yet very erratic rhythm. I'm hoping this cardiologist can explain the dynamic.

You're welcome! ADs are a "try it and see" thing. I had a HORRIBLE reaction to Lexapro, even though many women on this site LOVE it. Never had even the slightest reaction -- except feeling MUCH better -- to the Effexor. I was scared to death to try any kind of drugs for my panic attacks. But they worked wonders. Didn't know how wonderful until I got off them tor a while and the panic attacks and palps and internal trembling all came back. Had forgotten how bad I felt before the Effexor. I won't forget again!

I'm so glad you found a solution. It's the try and see part that's so scary. And it sounds like you've had no problems going off and on the Effexor - unusual from what I've heard. well, thanks again and I'll keep posting on what transpires. J

The deal with going off the Effexor was as follows: Lost my job in April and so couldn't afford to pay for the meds (It's $4 a pill here in Texas). I was taking 3 37.5 mg a day, so to save money I started cutting back a little at a time, always thinking I would go back to work and would be able to take the full dose again. Two a day, then one a day, then one every other day. I'm guessing that if you're intentionally weaning yourself, this is the way you would do it. Eventually it got to where I couldn't afford any. But the way I had dropped off kept me from having any withdrawal effects. And no panic attacks for about 3 months. I guess it took that long for the Effexor to completely get out of my system. But when they finally started up again, they hit HARD. I've now gone back to work (only minimum wage though and no bennies -- don't you LOVE this economy?) so can afford my meds again. I'm only taking one a day, which keeps the anxiety down to a tolerable level. Hopefully I'll eventually get back up to my original dosage and fell human again.

Oh, and as far as withdrawal goes, I've had a bit of that as well. Before I got on the Effexor, the doctor put me on Xanax. Not a big dose, just a little. I took that for 6 weeks, and had the most horrible 3 weeks of my life after running out of it and before getting on the Effexor. I wish that on NOBODY. I can only imagine what it would be like to get off Xanax after being on it for years and taking a much higher dosage than I was. I'm not surprised people can't stay off it!

Interesting. What about when you went on the Effexor both times? No bad reactions? My experience with Celexa was that I was having somewhat manageable anxiety and was prescribed Paxil. About a week into that medication I literally had 24/7 over the top anxiety where I couldn't eat or sleep. My doc switched me to Celexa but there was no difference. He advised me to stay on it and said it would eventually "kick in". Well, it did in a way after about 8 weeks. By that time I'd lost 30 pounds and was on Trazadone and Klonopin as well. It literally took me years to get off the Celexa by going down ever so gradually and having to suffer through weeks of depression and other symptoms each time I reduced the dose. I finished it completely this past summer and now my anxiety is back but Celexa never really helped my palpitations. I'm STILL taking klonopin and my doc is now saying I have to get off of it and I agree so I know I have to find a solution here pretty fast. I know everyone responds to these meds so differently but it's always good to hear a success story and to think of Effexor as an option. I'm not sure if that particular AD is the one that raises blood pressure but that may actually be helpful for me with my super low BP. I too hope you can soon afford to take the medication you need to make you feel good. This economy and this health care system - don't get me started!

I had NO bad side effects from going on Effexor XR. The only things I can remember is the first couple of weeks doing a LOT of yawning -- like every couple of minutes -- and having quick flashbacks of dreams I had months ago. I know that sounds odd, and it is. But other than that I can't think of anything else. Now, it DID take a while for it to completely "kick in". I noticed a difference after about 4 days in that the panic attacks stopped, but I didn't feel completely normal (if there IS such a thing these days) for about 2 months.

I have posted on PS several times about my reaction to Lexapro. Horrifying. I took it the first night and within hours my anxiety was through the roof, anxiety-induced chest pains were so bad I couldn't get off the couch, and by the 3rd day I was considering suicide. Thought about jumping off the 5th floor of the parking garage. And I'm not exaggerating even a little. I tossed them down the toilet so there would be no temptation to take them again. They told me I needed to wait for it to "kick in". I would have ended up in an institution if I had taken that stuff for two months.

Thanks again. I'll read some of your previous posts. I know exactly what you're talking about and I can't even believe I hung in there with Celexa as long as I did feeling that way. Klonopin actually saved my life. I wouldn't have been able to go on much longer but it really brought me back down to earth. Having horrible palps today - so frustrating but I'm hopeful there's a solution.

Magnesium, magnesium, magnesium and more magnesium. I take it daily and it stopped the palps that come with peri!

I take slo-mag which does not cause diarrhea.

I just remembered something about getting off Effexor that I should pass on. After about 3 days of being off it, I started getting these weird little feelings inside. Not pain, but a sort of....you know that flipflop your stomach does when you hit a sudden dip in the road while riding in a car? It would do that, but over and over again...dozens of times a day. And it never really went away during the whole 4 months I was off it, although it got less noticeable after a while. Thought you should know about that.

Although the 'numbers' may look terrifying the holter monitor results were calculated by running the recording through a computer program. The minimum heart rate was derived by measuring the longest time period between two individual heart beats. It is normal to have a brief pause after an ectopic beat, if you had a full minute of that rate you would have had a heart rate of 41 beats per minute...that doesn't mean you did, it is just a measurement of what your heart rate could have been if you had that much time between each beat for a full minute. The same is true of the maximum heart rate...if a beat comes early (as it does with an ectopic beat) you would have a shortened time between the beat before and the ectopic beat, giving you a higher heart rate if that was maintained for a minute. Your average heart rate is calculated by adding all heart beats over the 48 hour period divided by 60 minutes. The number of PVC's looks quite high at first glance...but if you divide that by 48 hours and then by 60 minutes, it comes out to an average of 5-6 PVC's per minute.
The fact the PVC's are multifocal means they are firing from more than one isolated area in your heart...that means if a person were to have an ablation there would be at least 3 different areas that would have to be ablated to completely irradicate them. It is doubtful that an ablation would be advised unless it was causing enough complications to make it worth the undertaking & risk.
As far as your BP being around 90/60, that is actually an enviable BP reading! As long as you don't pass out when standing up the lower the better as a lower BP means your heart does not need to work very hard to circulate blood. It is a sign of flexible blood vessels and a strong, healthy heart. A low blood pressure only becomes a bad sign when it is because your heart is not able to pump strongly enough anymore to keep up an adequate pressure...think the elderly with heart failure, major heart attacks ...things that weakens the circulatory system beyond it's ability to compensate.