Hello all,
After many years of little noticed heart palpitations.
I started to really notice them more lately.
I spent a night in the emergency room the other night and they ran a barrage of test only to conclude that they could not find any heart problems via blood work and stress testing.
Oddly enough after a day of eating the hospitals cardiac wards food i did not have any palpitations. HMMMMM!
anyway the day after i was released i ate a veggie burger and fries /no salt and 3 glasses of water.
and for 4-5 hrs after i felt these heart palpitations Heart beat was steady around 88bpm sitting actively.

i asked for the results of the bloodwork and the results i wanted to share before i go and see my follow-up visit.

Sodium =144 (135-143)
Potassium=3.4 (3.5-5.0)
Chloride=107 (98-108)
Total CO2 =25 (22-31)
Glucose= 120 (72-112)
BUN= 19 (8-23)
Creatinine=1.0(0.8-1.4
Calcium = 9.0 (8.6-10.1)

I see that the sodium is one number high and Potassium is 3.4 Low
do you feel that this is enough to exaggerate these palpitations that i have been experiencing?

They also did Thyroid Test and they red =1.73 (0.300-5.00) .
and all screening for heart disease where negative after 3 different screenings.

This last episode i noticed after several hours the palpitations slowly went away making me really think this could be more diet than anything else.

would love to hear what others think.

thnx douglas

Hi Douglas,

A normal pulse rate is anything between 60 and 100, so I'm not sure what you mean by "palpitations" if your pulse is 88.

I'm a little puzzled as to your reasons for posting here, as you seem to have no interest in low carbing. Do you realise this is a low carbing board? Our General Health forum is for health situations that pertain to low carbing.

If you are interested in following a low carb lifestyle, check "Which low carb plan is right for me?" to the right of the screen.

Rosebud

Since most of us aren't medical personnel and have never seen you, it would be irresponsible to try to advise you. You did the right thing in seeing a doctor. If the symptoms continue, then call your family physician and insist on further investigation.

That said, what exactly were these "palpitations"?

It is not unusual to be able to feel your heart beat - sometimes it seems much stronger than other times, especially if you are worried.

Was it irregular or racing? That is the typical description of "palpitations" not just a noticeable heart beat.

If it was not accompanied by feelings of weakness or pain, then it is probably not very important.

I see from your profile that you are a relatively young man. I assume you are not on high blood pressure medication? That is important. If not, then you could add a bit of potassium in the form of No Salt on your food. And perhaps add some more veggie or salad carbs to your diet.

Hope you feel alright soon. But do look into low carbing and get the book for whatever plan you choose.

Tofi,

Palpitations i mean by i get the beats of my heart like this
o-o-o-o-oo--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo--

My BPM stays areound 85-95. So my heart does not accelerate with this, it fells like a beat too soon and then pause.

I am taking no meds, no caffine, Do not smoke, No Drink and No drugs.
I have just become more aware of this over the last couple of years and am looking for any answers from others that may have had this.
because after leaving the hospital i still feel like they dont know what is causing this. however i keep coming back to diet. I also have become very alramed by it lately and want to do what ever i can to stop it.

Symptoms:
Usually after eating.
Relaxing espicially ~ night.

thnx douglas

I have to admit that I sometimes notice this myself - especially at night, sitting in bed watching television or reading. But I've been told it isn't important and not to worry about it. That's no guarantee that your condition is the same as mine. So you'll probably have to bug your doctor some more. Since it is worrying you enough to go to the ER, your doctor ought to be willing to at least talk to you.

What sort of diet are you following?

Tofi,

Thnx for you taking the time.
I was looking into Atkins because of the with lo card rich potassium items.
Sure i could shed a few lbs but it is more the getting this heart palpitation figured out become a more healthy father and husband at the same time.

thnx again
douglas

Hi Doug,

Earlier last summer I started noticing irregular heart beats, sometimes they would be quick and other times it would feel like my heart was sinking. One night I experienced those symptoms more then usual so I decided to go to the emergency room just in case. They ran all the tests on me and after many hours decided that I was ok enough to go home. The diagnosis were heart palpatations. Now they said that these may be caused by many things such as stress, anger, caffeine, diet pills, even certain over the counter medications such as cough syrup. I was'nt given any meds to take home or anything just to relax and take it easy. However to this day I still have some odd feelings but they assured me it was ok so I would say you are probably ok too. Just try to cut down the stress if you are stressed and caffeine if you drink a lot of it.

Take care and feel better and start lc'ing

Hbmich

Thnx for your reply, I must say that i dont think the stress i feel about this issue is helping at all. It seems like ever since they put me on a 24hr halter monitor it has gotten worse to the point where it lasted from 2:30 pm until i went to sleep last-night. I have never felt that i was a high stress person.
I am a composer, so all i do is write music all the time a very low stress environment.

The reason i posted on this forum is because i see allot of people saying the same thing and once they upped potassium level they diminished.
and that is one thing my blood test came back with results of 3.4L potassium and 144H Sodium, So i wondered if anyone knows if these numbers could be resulting in theses palps Like i stated before all of my other tests came back fine.... actually perfect.

by the way theese palps seem to coinincide after eating.

thnx douglas

Douglas...yes, lower levels of potassium can cause heart palpitations but it's not the only thing that can cause them.
One suggestion that I would make is to record what you eat and see if there is a pattern with any particular food or food group (for example, high carb or high sugar foods trigger palps, but low carb or low sugar meals don't). It could also be due to a food sensitivity.
I'd also like to point out that your blood glucose was in the higher than normal range although I have no idea when you last ate when that blood sample was drawn and that could affect the results as well. If it was more than 2 hours since you last ate, I hope that the doctor suggested that you follow up on that. Higher blood sugars after a meal can also trigger palpitations and that might be something for you to track as well by getting (or borrowing) a blood sugar meeter and checking before you eat and at 30 minute intervals after you eat to see how high your blood sugars go and how long it takes them to get back into a normal range. I'm not suggesting that you are diabetic, but you may be developing early signs of glucose intolerance that a fasting blood sugar reading wouldn't pick up.
Having said all that, we're really not in a good position to offer medical advice or diagnose medical problems here and I'd highly encourage you to work closely with your doctor on this problem. We can offer suggestions and possibilities, but not being doctors and able to see you and run tests, all of them could be completely off the mark.
Hope everything works out well for you and they are able to pinpoint the problem!

Yes, reading your most recent reply .. food sensitivity/allergy is the first thing that came to my mind. Typical symptoms occur within an hour of eating an offending foodstuff, and include increased pulse rate, sensation of palpitations, flushed red face and possibly also the extremities. Blood pressure may go up as well. Wheat is the biggest culprit, with cow milk dairy, corn and soy following close behind. You could try eliminating those foods from your diet for a few weeks to see if it makes a difference.

MSG (monosodium glutamate) may cause similar symptoms, and can be hidden in foods you least expect .. it's not always an additive. MSG is a natural by-product of soy-salt and wheat-salt fermentation. So soy sauces, even natural tamari, miso, veggie burgers .. these all contain MSG.

There's more helpful information to be found at about.com's Allergy Information pages.

As Lisa stated though, you need to work closely with your personal health care provider to sort out these problems and develop a plan that's suitable for you. Good luck and good health to you.


Doreen

The description of your palpitations sounds like what are called ectopic, or extra-systole beats. I have had these my entire life, and they are generally considered harmless. They can become almost continual when I am exposed to too much of a stimulant, or when fasting. I also got them badly one time as a younger person when I tried a zero carbohydrate diet and went into rapid deep ketosis...the amounts of carbs allowed on approaches like Atkins are high enough and so don't do this to me, although I did have a small bout of it when first entering ketosis. But because I know they are harmless it didn't frighten me, and they went away. It did look like your blood results showed some electrolyte imbalance and you need to think about what that was due to in either your diet or in your drug intake (including caffeine)...excessive exercising and sweating will lead to electrolytes being lost, and all the water loss initially in low carbing can do this too..hence the recommendation by many here to take mineral supplements.

Perhaps if you do a google search on "extra-systole" you will learn what you need to do, if anything...we are not doctors here and can only pass on our own understandings and experiences.

Val