Does anyone drink redbush tea?

[joshrandall]

i just had a cup its caffiene free, yet it seems to have sent my heart rate high and fluctuating quite a bit, little bit worrying, when going online, there seems to be no known side effects, and its supposed to help cardio health and yet, its made my heart rate higher, I dont feel ill but my heart is quite high its upto 140 max, and hovering at 120 stood up, thats high for me. This cant be good? What it seems to hve done is stabilize my heart rate alot more, but its in the higher range, so for instance my heart is consistently highish, laid down its 100 right now. But it fluctuates too much for my liking normally this seems to make it sit?

 

Anyway has anyone else tried this tea and had bad side effects?

[MomtoGiuliana]

rooibos tea?  I think these are the same thing.  Yes I have at times had a cup or two of this on a daily basis.  I lived in southern Africa for awhile and it's a popular tea there. It seems to have become more popular in the US as of late. I have never noticed side effects from it.  I wonder if it could be a coincidence?  Could there be another ingredient in the tea you selected?  Correct that it is free of caffeine.

[joshrandall]

yeh same thing no id only drank that, and that was it Id eat, I think some dates, and some soy cocoa milk but I had more of them later on and tehy didnt do that my hr is back to normal, I gave my redbush box away anyway, might have been doing me some good, but dunno didnt like the feeling and the high heart rate. Our bodies react differently i guess?

[MomtoGiuliana]

Here's a study. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20144258

CONCLUSIONS:

These results suggest that green tea and Rooibos tea may have cardiovascular effects through inhibition of ACE activity.

Hmm, so if I understand what this is saying, the tea may cause some vasodilation.  For some people with POTS this could exacerbate symptoms.

[joshrandall]

yes! that is what i felt was probably happening. I do feel I have possible undiagnosed vasospasms, as I tend to have at rest angina, I gave away the tea, but this might not be a bad thing to use? maybe once a day,I mean it is tolerable I guess I just worried that given that i get ectopics etc, it could knock my heart into a dodgy rhythm?

 

 

[MomtoGiuliana]

It sounds like you have some concerns that would be best to discuss w your doctor.

I know ectopic beats are scary.  Many people get them but especially we POTS patients it seems.  They are very often benign but it's important to get reassurance from a cardiologist.

[joshrandall]

My case is really complicated. I went and had tests done stress etc. And at the time, dont remember feeling any big ectopics til after then had event monitor and tried to catch some, and did, was told not to worry, but sometimes, the pause seems really long, and Im not sure I caught one of those, on the event monitor anyway, barring that was told I was ok, so I cant see how that would change it, Ive never passed out with them so I was sort of told as long as my heart is healthy which they deemed it was wrong not to worry, cant see them changing that even if im getting couplets or nsvt. Had echo/stress/ they did find some odd things on one echo test like slight hypnoxia, and slight leakage, not sure they found it on the second, LVH too on ecg, but ultimately they said it was negative and I got the "all clear" in their eyes.

I then went to private cardio who pretty much echo'd what they had said, but had stated that, I possibly have IST, and Autodysfunction, and prescribed beta blockers. I tried to email him about vasospasm and heard nothing back he claimed all my chest pain was nothing to worry about but I also know most even good cardiologists arent up to date with coronary dysfunction which is not unreasonable to think given symptoms and also having possible autodysfunction (which I know to be a certainty) He wouldnt give me a pots diagnosis because I dont black out. So I thought well Im not going to take the beta black its contraindicated for prinzmetals and Ill get my heart rate down with diet, I mean to me its just not worth the risk with tampering with it anymore.

Im actually not sure where my heart stands but they told me I have nothing to worry about.

Even if it was prinzmetals Ive honestly gotten to the point where I do not trust medication, and rather than take a calcium channel blocker Id prefer to go this route also given the fact that the doc hasnt replied, I need to get reffered so I need him to write a letter to gp as she has stubbornly refused just because the doctor has claimed, that my chest pain is not cardiac in nature, but also told me to ASK for a referral, sigh. So Im waiting a month to see and then perhaps go back and bring up this concern, but I can say I have turned vegan and im seeing an improvement in pain, symptoms and heart rate.

[joshrandall]

the second doctor did not retest me just went on what they said.

[yogini]

Chest pains and irregular heartbeats are very common, especially in dysautonomia but also even with healthy people.  They are scary but they aren't dangerous UNLESS your cardiologist tell you that they are. It sounds like your doctors ran tests and concluded you don't need medication.  This does not seem unreasonable or unusual for a POTS patient.

[MomtoGiuliana]

I agree w/ yogini.  Personally I have experienced both with POTS. Even with reassurance from a doctor the episodes can be scary at times.  I've had what felt like very long pauses, for example.  It does sound like you've had pretty thorough testing which is important to rule out other problems.

Diet can play a role.  I found for awhile I had to cut out all sources of caffeine for example.  Also more fluids helped me.  But I have to say for me, the symptoms often come and go with no clear trigger/cause.