***Welcome to the Palpitations Room***

[dannyMH]

Dear to all Heart Rhythm Community
I am trying to come up with a list of "What causes your palpitations?"

Okay here's mine:
- Lack of sleep/rest
- Not enough water
- Caffein
- Anxiety
- Bending down position to stand up position

Your list would might help others realize that they are not alone, so please feel free to add in.

Life is good, so lets all enjoy it by living healthy.
Cheers!

[Celeste77]

Hi Danny!
Great post...It's always interesting to see what others triggers are!

Mine are:
~Severe stress (usually a delayed reaction, starts 24 hours after a stressful event and PVC's can last months)
~Big emotional events, good or bad (PVC's start immediately)
~Severe Pain
~Hypoglycemia
~Dehydration
~Overheating/Heat Stress (big trigger for me)
~Bending over or twisting in certain positions (pressure on the vagus nerve)
~Low magnesium and/or potassium (another big trigger)
~Overeating or eating too many carbs (pasta, breads, etc.)
~Being startled
~Over exercising/exhaustion
~Hormone changes/menstral cycle
~Uncontrolled GERD
~Vomiting
~Paying way too much attention to what's going on in my body makes them worse!(psychosomatic)
~Prednisone
~Epinephrine
~MSG
~Cilantro
~Heavy tabasco
~Certain beers, wines
~Red Bull

Take care!

[Momto3]

Great post........

Large meals, spicy foods
Fever
Cold medicines
Laying on left side
Adrenaline rush
Lack of sleep (big catalyst for me)

[Momto3]

Before the post got deleted I copied the post from Michelle12a (hope she doesn't mind, but I didn't want to lose the contribution)

Hi Danny,
I've suffered palpitations since age 7 (I'm 35 now!).  I agree with you, my palpitations were brought on by lack of sleep, stress, not eating, upset, dehydration, competition, stress, STRESS AND STRESS!!!!!  

However, I could control my attacks once they started by controlling my breathing, lying flat and afterwards passing water!  However, I had a pacemaker fitted at the end of January and that seems to have really upset things.  Now my palpitations come on for any reason and aren't controlled by me (only by A&E and the wonderful drug, Adenosene).  

So now I can add bending over, pulling out a drawer, picking up something from a table, coughing, sneezing, opening the front door to the list of triggers - I'm just lucky I guess!!  

Hope this helps?
Michelle

[Donnaheaps]

Anything with artifical sweetner in it.

[jsuter69]

What exactly is the vagal nerve? What does "it" feel like when you "aggrevate" it...
And to add to the post....
Bending over
Laying on either side
Caffiene
Stress
Over eating
Alcohol
Sex
Exercise
Laughing(hysterically)
Crying(sobbing)
Breathing in deeply(strange...huh?)
Anxiety
Getting overly excited
Waking up and just being still....maybe I shouldn't wake up...lol...

[sueinns]

Stress and alcohol are the biggies for me.  Will bring them on instantly.  

Other than that, they are just there and I can't really pinpoint any other causes.

[Momto3]

I always forget about this one (it is/was a trigger for me)....LOUD concerts!

Does anyone else notice their HR goes bonkers with the loud volume and vibrations at a concert?  My heart definitely reacts to the "rhythm" of the music!!  

[kim62]

I think the biggest thing is the stress that the PVCs/palpitations cause makes me more stressed out to the point where I have more PVcs which isn't near as stressfull as trying to explain to the doctors how frustrated I am! (oh... caffiene, decaf products and chocolate too)

[BLM_56]

mine were completely idiopathic.  I never found a significant correlation to any environmental factor.  If I got really upset that could set off a bout of PAT but I could have a bout with no discernable environmental trigger.  I did find out recently that I probably got my atrial arrhythmia from my Dad's Mother.  Also it does not appear to be sex chromosome linked.  If you guys have found a strong correlation between palpataions and any environmental factor(s) you are very fortunate.  If you know what can set your heart off, you have a leg up on avoiding the problem.  It's like the old joke "Patient: Doctor! Doctor!  It hurts when I do this! Doctor: Then don't do that!".

Momto3, you have a perfect excuse for banning that kind of music in your house.  Or at least banning it being played out loud.

Bill

[Momto3]

Good one!!  hahahaha!!  

[MistyMum]

First...Hi to everyone.  Great site and a big relief to find I am not alone with this.  I can have them on and off all day for no partcular reason but I can guarantee that as soon as I lie down to go to sleep they start and keep me awake.  They used to be the worst when lying on my left side but now they start as soon as I lie down in any position.
Thinking back over your messages while i am trying to get to sleep help me so much...thank you.
Irene

[Momto3]

Helloooooooooo and welcome to a great community!!

You are definitely not alone and we're here to keep you company : )

I know what you mean about lying down....all's quiet, really tired, ready for sleep........BAM!!  Fortunately, they are almost always benign, just a nuisance.

Please stick around; there are always people to talk to and new people who need to know they are not alone.

Connie

[worried784]

Good post, there are so many things.
-stress
-anxiety
-worried about the high HR, causing higher HR
-deep breathing
-lack of sleep
-too much coffee
-out of the blue---no reason, HR just raises
-certain foods, spicy, sodas, chocolate,
-nervousness
thank you

[Sammie4258]

Hormones
Medication
Conversion Disorder
Bass sounds
Car signal lights-figure that one out.  
Eating

[dannyMH]

~Uncontrolled GERD

Yes..GERD has mimic Heart disease..and if you Google "GERD and Palpitations" or "GERD and Heart attack" you will find many useful links.

I wonder how many people actually have GERD but they go visit heart speacialist instead.

[dannyMH]

~Paying way too much attention to what's going on in my body makes them worse!(psychosomatic)

This is a good one...LOL....I know exactly what you mean! I think we're all been in this situation.

[debola53]

I agree with all of the above-what a great list! It makes me feel like I am not crazy when I tell the doc what wierd things trigger me. I also find ginger,licorice, MSG, soy sauce, autolyzed yeast (in a million things),overheating myself, smoke fumes and very cold weather trigger me. It is such a drag-however, I feel much better having read this list and knowing I am not alone-thanks!

[dannyMH]

I am waiting for some one to mention "hot bath or hot tub"

[iamfaithful]

Hi All,

My triggers are:

Lack of sleep
Excitement-good or bad
Stress
Laughing
Nervousness
Obsessing about body, mainly heart
HORMONES-time of the month-ugh

I hate it when I am having a good time and laughing and getting real excited.  After a couple of minutes of that-bam, I will have a PVC.  It takes my exitement away quickly.

[paige109]

I also get a higher HR when I'm in hot shower and I've noticed that it rises in the morning
right after I get up I'm usually very hot which may be the cause

[Momto3]

Another trigger for me is raising my arms above my head (drying my hair, exercising)

Great thread!!

[dannyMH]

thank you all for the replies... glad many of us found this thread so helpful

anyone else like to contribute?

[allaflutter1213]

I have read all of these triggers and I find the similarites interesting to say the least.
Most of all the ones about food, eating or GERD.
I have been disgnosed with GERD and I take Nexium for that but I still have the PAC's and PVC's.
My triggers that I have noticed are:
Eating
Deep breathing
Spicy foods
Alcohol
Also when I first get up in the morning my heart starts beating really hard like I had just ran a marathon or something, not sure what causes that.
Sodas
Chocolate
And then of course there are the "out of the blue" kind. I am not sure if these are hormone related or not. I had a partial hysterectomy several years ago and I really don't have any indicators to tell me if its that "time" or not.
I go to my GYN today and hopefully she can run some tests that will tell me more but due to my age and when my palps started I can't help but think its possible its hormore related.
Bending over
Stress ( common for all)
Not enough sleep ( I wake up alot during the night)
Alot of mine seem to be centered aroung food and/or eating and I do have GERD so I wonder if there is a connection there as well.

[jkfrench]

here is my list

Lack of sleep - pvc's always
stress - pvc's always
public speaking - pvc's always
doctor visit - pvc's always
laughing - pvc's sometimes
yoga  (certain positions) - always
deep breathing in - pvc's sometimes and sometimes nsvt
hormones - pvc's flutters, tachy, always
eating big meals - sometimes
alcohol - sometimes
chocolate - sometimes
bending over - sometimes
msg  - always
caffiene  - sometimes (figure that one out)
out of the blue (usually when I'm relaxed so go figure again)
empty stomach - bad ones if I am really hungry
twisting - sometimes
This is why it is so hard to figure it all out.  There is no rhyme or reason sometimes.
The most helpful thing is all of you!  Love ya
Frenchie