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Heart Palpatations

I started having heart palpatations a little over one year ago. I was on a diet and was...

Posted by Cve1943

I started having heart palpatations a little over one year ago. I was on a diet and was awaken by huge pain in my chest and arms. I thought it was the big one. Went to the hospital and was immediately treated for Atrial Fibrilitation. By moring I was fine. Saw my Cardiologist that same morning and he said all of my vitals were fine. I told him then that I believed that it had something to do with my diet, which he said was not possible. At any rate I've had about 15 attacks since then.

My attacks can be pretty severe because I have 4 stents and a small blockage created by scar tissue from my heart cath 11 years ago. Ever since I get Agina attacks when elevating my heart rate to quickly. I learned early on how to control that by elevating during exercise slowly and can bring my rate up to 90% of max without and pressure. When I get an Afib attack my heart rate of course escalates very fast therefore creating a great deal of pressure in my chest and arms.

I've changed my diet over this period of time to eliminate foods that seemed to stress me. Like acholol, soda, spicy foods items containing Aspertame. It helped but I was still getting occasional heart palpations in the evening after dinner and sitting down in my lounge chair to watch TV. Over this entire time I kept on telling my heart Dr. that I believed that these attacks were somehow food related.

Now, I exercise a lot. I walk at least 2 miles daily. Do 3 spinning classes a week, weights or treadmill on other days plus I bike 20 miles with my wife on Sunday morning. I NEVER HAVE HEART PALPATIONS WHILE EXERCISING.

I started to take Prilosec about 2 months ago and after the first 4 days as advertised I started to be relieved of the palpatations in the evening. I finally did some reasearch in the internet and googled "heart palpations while lying down resting". What came up was that a Hiatal Hernia can cause palpatations. So, I discussed this with my primary care Dr. and he schedules me for an endoscopy and sure enough I have a Hiatal Hernia. This causes acids to back up into your esophagogas which is right next to the Vagal nerve that controls the balance and rate of you heart beats.

So, I don't have the end of the story yet because I just had the procedure 2 days ago and was pleased to find this site and discover that I wasn't the only one who was having to deal with the condition and the absense of knowledge from doctors who are treating heart patients with Afib.

By the way, for Afib patients I have found the best way to deal with an attack is to go to a dark room, drink water, lie on your right side and concentrate on breathing. In thru you nose and out thru your mouth, real slow. Keep the lights off so you can relax as much as possible. I also discovered that pushing to make a poop also helped to relieve.

Good luck to all.View Thread

Posted byCve1943

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