B12 Deficiency and POTS

[MomtoGiuliana]

Sure it is normal for there to be some movement, however, forceful heartbeats are a symptom of POTS.  I have experienced what she describes too.

[DizzyPopcorn]

1 minute ago, MomtoGiuliana said:

Sure it is normal for there to be some movement, however, forceful heartbeats are a symptom of POTS.  I have experienced what she describes too.

Maybe its my comprehension of english not being good enough, but what is the difference between a "normal heartbeat" and a "forceful hearbeat" visually?

[MomtoGiuliana]

I am not sure how to answer your question but there have been past discussions on the forum about this.  Here is one,

https://www.dinet.org/forums/topic/18161-forceful-heartbeat-what-causes-this/

 

[RecipeForDisaster]

I don't believe you should be able to see your heartbeat through clothes, or even see it in your chest unless you're pretty thin. Of course you can feel it in any person but I think we are talking about heavy duty, attention getting thudding.

[DizzyPopcorn]

7 minutes ago, RecipeForDisaster said:

I don't believe you should be able to see your heartbeat through clothes, or even see it in your chest unless you're pretty thin. Of course you can feel it in any person but I think we are talking about heavy duty, attention getting thudding.

Hmmm mine is definitely not attention seeking, but i can notice it if i put enough attention on it. Its very faint but its there.

I have belly fat, not sure if it changes something or not.

[MomtoGiuliana]

POTS causes an array of symptoms and each person may not experience every symptom.

Here is a list of POTS symptoms.  It notes palpitations and does not specifically list "forceful heartbeat".  

https://www.dinet.org/content/information-resources/pots/pots-symptoms-r96/

 

[dizzytizzy]

@whoami - Maybe it's normal for some people, but that was one of the noticeable changes that occurred when I started getting sick and becoming symptomatic. I try not to chalk up every weird symptom to dysautonomia, but some things seem to be common and tie into it. The thudding/pounding heart beat is one of them for me. It happens mostly at night now for the first few hours after I lay down and sometimes periodically throughout the night, usually as morning approaches and my body starts to naturally "awaken" for the day. Oh, and after I eat sometimes. 

My EP thinks the nighttime thudding is caused by an abundance of stress hormones. He says that my body has been relying on those stress hormones to help maintain BP all day and when I lay down for the night, I get the harder beats because of the residual effect of the adrenaline/cortisol, etc. It makes sense and has eased up some since I started treatment. Before I was diagnosed, it would go on all night long. I'd have to take the full dose of Klonopin to knock me out and try to sleep through it. Now, I only take a quarter tablet and get more restful sleep. It's one symptom the EP believes will go away once we get my treatment plan dialed in a bit more. 

[RecipeForDisaster]

This is true for me also. I never had noticeable or forceful beats before I got sick. I have been kept up all night many times.

 

The stress hormone theor sounds like a good one!

[dizzytizzy]

14 hours ago, RecipeForDisaster said:

The stress hormone theor sounds like a good one!

Yeah, I agree! He said that and I was like, "Yeah, that makes total sense." Still annoying and at times worrisome, but the theory eases my mind a bit. 

[RecipeForDisaster]

It doesn't make me nervous at all, it just highly distracting and annoying, particularly if I'm trying to sleep. I think a lot of doctors assume you're mentioning it because you think it's dangerous... not in my case. So, to them, it's usually like "well just ignore it since you know it won't hurt you" and I want to say "there's going to be an elephant tapping on your chest from now on, just get used to it"