What is with all the palpatations????

[SparkNik]

Just curious if anyone else experiences palps on a daily basis. I am always feeling that fluttery sensation, but the worst is at night I can literally feel two beats in one and then a pause. I had a 30 day event monitor and was told that they are PAC's some with bigeminy. I believe that means that they come one after another without giving me a break. I take 75mg of Toprol and still experience them on a daily basis. The doctor said they are not life threatening, but I would think after awhile of constantly getting them that problems could arise. They are so uncomfortable but I try to deal with them best as I can. I stay away from carbs, caffeine,sugar I honestly don't know what else to do.

[ethansmom]

I used to suffer from this exact same problem. I'm not sure what to tell you, except that I understand!! When I was pregnant was the worst, all night long I would have palpitations that would keep me awake. One thing my doctor suggested that helped a little was to get up and walk fast or jog in place for a few minutes to get the heart rate up, then lay back down, and usually that did the trick for me (at least long enough so I could fall asleep). I also know that drinking enough fluid can help with the palps, at least 2 liters per day. Good luck, I hope this pesty problem lets up soon for you!! Just another wonderful effect of POTS.

[Goblin]

I also had nasty palpatations for a while. They were especially bad when I was trying to sleep at night. I am now taking .1mg of florinef and 12.5mg of Toprol XL. My palpatations have been less frequent recently, but I don't know if it is because of the medications or that they have become less frequent over time. Sorry I do not have any more helpful information for you. I hope this lessens for you too. -Stacey

[hilfgirl33]

These come and go for me. I am much more symptomatic with palps when I'm ovulating and getting ready for my period, or if I'm tired or ate too much sugar. But they do happen at other times too, but usually much less.

Very annoying and frightening at times. I just try and take a deep breath and stay calm when they are really bad cause I think stress prob makes them worse!!!

[Debbie Rose]

I had alot of PAC's and PVC's according to a heart monitor. Once I knew it would not kill me I calmed down and tried not to emotionally react to them, they have become less often....but they do get worse if I am tired and can come on when I am just sitting there. Oddly, it is so true that if I maintain a better fluid intake (2 liters or more) I have very few palpitations.  And if I eat too much I can get very tachy with pounding heart beat....so odd

hope this helps

[Peter Charlton]

I get them every day, especially after eating. I had Ventricular Tachycardia that was cured by an ablation so just consider this to be a harmless lessor form.  Bigeminy  means that every other beat is an ectopic. Here is a picture of mine, though these are P Ventricular T rather than your P Atrial Ts. 

[Jessica_]

I used to get these super bad and some of them would make me feel light headed. I read something that taking magnesium is a treatment for these and so I started taking 250mg of magnesium everyday and now I hardly ever have pvcs or pacs. And if I do I can’t feel them so it’s great!

[GardenGal]

So hard. So scary and yucky. I"m sorry. I get bigeminy, SVT and PVCs/PACs... It used to be a LOT worse. It's icky. And while, yes, people live with frequent PVCs on an ongoing basis, I think it still probably indicates all is not as it should be, and not helpful for your body. I think what's made the difference for me is managing food intolerances. Especially milk, though gluten sets me off too. So while I still have them when I choose to have milk, I am so so thankful that it's so much rarer now rather than all the time. By the way, for me I have still been able to eat milk fats (butter, cream, sour cream), but have to avoid milk proteins... I do tolerate some hard cheeses (like parmesan and hard cheddar). I think it might be the stability of the casens. Anyway, I don't know if trying some diet things would help for you or not, but for me it's been such a relief! I feel so much better I hardly even want those things any more because of how I know I'll feel. So while it was hard up front, am so relieved to have a normal heart rate and rhythm a lot of the time. 

[Lily]

I get PVCs or PACs, too.  Doc says they're annoying but harmless, so I don't worry about them.

[Pistol]

I had an implanted heartmonitor for 3 years and in the beginning of my POTS I had palpitations as bad as you describe them, pVC's and PAC's, atrial flutter, bigeminy, trigemini ... Toprol, bistolic, Norvasc (betablockers and calcium channel blocker) did not imrove them much until I started Carvelidol, Diltiazem and Lexapro. This combination almost got rid of them completely! I only get Palps when I get bad and my cardiologist says I should look at them as a warning sign that the ANS is getting irritable, which means I have to take it easy, rest, increase fluid intake and if that does not help even get an IV.