My Skipping Hypothesis

[Cheers]

Okay...so I have been doing A LOT of reading, thinking and researching as usual. I will try not to make this long (again...sorry).

My hypothesis - my heart is super sensitive and there is more than one thing that sets of my skips. I think Magnesium and Reflux have played the biggest roles in my skips. And here is why I think this...

So I was having occasional PVCs/PACs for years. They would be worse before my period, but I had them throughout the month as well.

They started getting a little worse about a year ago. So I started taking apple cider vinegar. I had heard good things and it couldn't hurt. I had pretty decent results as they did decrease. But they didn't go away. Especially those 10 days prior to my cycle.

A couple months ago I started this whole magnesium thing. I think it has been a pretty significant change. Much less frequent and much lighter. They also are noticed more now with exercise/movement/eating than I noticed before.

I think I am noticing that because before - I would get them at all different times. Now it is primarily happening just during those events. In fact, I started feeling like a jigglely feeling in my upper tummy when I had my skips. And I do know they are skips by taking my pulse. But they felt/feel different. As I said in a different post, it felt like my heart was touching my stomach or something weird like that as I would take a step or bed over. And it always happens later in the day - after I have eaten (or sometimes when I have eaten NOTHING all day...which is also bad).

I have read that hiatal hernias can cause acid to irritate the vagus nerve (even in ppl who do not feel reflux symptoms) causing PVCs.

ACV is known to help reflux, which is why I think it helped a bit. I also know I have been Mag deificient...that is very clear to me know. So that is why the mag has helped.

I had a bloody mary yesterday and my skips were pretty annoying. Not like they had been in past...but a couple an hour I would say. I realized that alcohol is HORRIBLE for reflux and perhaps this is why I react this way now when I drink.

I also realized that stomach gases/acids are WAYYYYY worse during PMS time. PMS hormones also deplete one of Magnesium. THIS is why this time of the month is so very difficult compared to the rest of the month.

So basically - there are two separate issues causing the same problem at around the same times.

I honestly don't really even want to discuss this with my Doc. I have had her for 20 years now and I think she sees me as a hypochondriac and doesnt really take me seriously. She is also old school (even tho she is young) and doesn't believe in alternative/supplemental care too much. So, I think I am on my own with figuring this out and treating myself.

Thoughts?

PS...as I said in a past post - I am not avoiding the acceptance of having PVCs. I am just not ready to resign to feeling crappy when I may not have to. Had I not started taking the magnesium, I would not have realized I was deficient. And now I feel SOOOO much better. I honestly see nothing wrong with trying to feel better. I don't think that means I am avoiding acceptance. I have been dealing with these heart issues for over a decade. I am not a newly diagnosed freaking out person. I am just taking my  life into my own hands and trying to feel better. That is all. I apologize if people see something wrong with that.

[MichelleP_3811]

You know I have to say don't worry about what anyone else says.  Just be true to you and that is all that matters.  I am the same way as you.  I have a curious mind and I am actually more prone to freaking out the less I know.  The more educated I am about my situations the more I can see they aren't as big a deal as maybe my emotions want to make them.  I lived my whole life with svt that I thought was just me hyperventilating.  That is until this summer I was diagnosed with the heart issue and wisked off for an ablation all within a couple of months and the speed of it all just about threw me emotionally over the edge.  I was absolutely scared out of my wits to do the ablation but I had not had a chance to find this place and learn from others that it was no big deal and so I was an emotional wreck.  So then after the ablation when my pvcs went kind of crazy on me for a while I was able to deal better because by then I had found this place and I had more knowledge about my issues. So ignorance is not always bliss if you have a wandering mind that is prone to imagination like mine is.  And I have to say you won't find any answers unless you ask some questions first.  Things won't improve unless we make the effort to try and find ways to improve our situation which is exactly what you are doing so don't apologize.  And don't worry what anyone thinks, not even the doctors.  Just explain to them that you are just trying to understand and cope and they generally will open their hearts to helping you to that end.  

In any event, I have had a lot of the same physical feelings and thoughts as you.  Personally now, I am leaning towards mine being closely related to how steady my beat is.  When I have a more than average marked sinus arrhythmia where my beat jumps around from the 90s to the 60s is when I notice most of my ectopics acting up.  I get that way after I eat so the vagus nerve is surely playing a role but I think it is mostly the rapid change in beat difference between inhaling and exhaling that gives me the most trouble.  So now I am just trying to make sure I watch any shallow or fast breathing to try to make a concerted effort to calm my breathing down if it starts to get erratic.  

In any event, I don't know that there is one definitive reason people get ectopics because I am sure if there were then they would have figured out how to correct the issue but there isn't so it really is up to use to do whatever it is we need to do to find and work through our triggers.  I wish you much luck as you continue to conquer yours.  Take care.

[Cheers]

One more thing....Last night I took a acid reducer and I have not felt a PVC since. Might not be the reason...who knows. But I think it is worth mentioning.