Palpitations and hydration

[judyinthesky]

Hi!

I get a lot of palpitations after eating, and it could be due to some of the illnesses I have, but it is unrelated to what type of food I eat, and other people with the same illness do not get that. Hence I have thought about the possibility of it being due to dehydration (I have pancreatic insufficiency with some strange nerve involvement and neuropathy in other areas of my body and gastro tract).

Thus, what do you do against dehydration as people with dysautonomia? Maybe that would be worth trying for me too. Just drinking lots of water and gatorate, or anything else I can try? How would I check this with a test?

[Pistol]

@judyinthesky - if you have dysautonomia palpitations after eating are quite common. They usually are caused by the Body using all of the circulating blood volume for digestion which causes the heart to beat faster and develop extra beats. --- Dehydration can get checked in a simple blood sample, your PCP can check it for you. ---- I was always unable to keep my blood volume up despite drinking a lot and I get IV fluids 2-3 times a week, they help a lot. Oral hydration is often accomplished by drinking a lot of water PLUS increasing your salt intake. Gatorade or even Pedialyte helps some people. 

[Sushi]

7 hours ago, judyinthesky said:

Hi!

I get a lot of palpitations after eating, and it could be due to some of the illnesses I have, but it is unrelated to what type of food I eat, and other people with the same illness do not get that. Hence I have thought about the possibility of it being due to dehydration (I have pancreatic insufficiency with some strange nerve involvement and neuropathy in other areas of my body and gastro tract).

Thus, what do you do against dehydration as people with dysautonomia? Maybe that would be worth trying for me too. Just drinking lots of water and gatorate, or anything else I can try? How would I check this with a test?

It could also be pressure on the vagus nerve. I belong to an arrhythmia forum and many find that they have more palpitations after a mean due to the effect on the vagus nerve. 

As far as hydration, gatorade has a lot of sugar and isn't that high in electrolytes. Many of us use powdered electrolytes. Electrolytes helps us not to pee out too much of our liquids.

[yogini]

Many people find it is easier to eat smaller amounts more frequently.  For me I have a harder time eating earlier in the day but a big dinner is fine, maybe because I fluid load during the day.   

[judyinthesky]

19 minutes ago, yogini said:

Many people find it is easier to eat smaller amounts more frequently.  For me I have a harder time eating earlier in the day but a big dinner is fine, maybe because I fluid load during the day.   

Yes! This is totally the case for me, in the morning it is harder. But it is because I also have constant agitation that comes with this. I am suspecting some nerve involvement with my gastro issues. 

Yes, I eat small amounts already and more at night, hihi. I wonder why that is??

[judyinthesky]

19 hours ago, Sushi said:

It could also be pressure on the vagus nerve. I belong to an arrhythmia forum and many find that they have more palpitations after a mean due to the effect on the vagus nerve. 

As far as hydration, gatorade has a lot of sugar and isn't that high in electrolytes. Many of us use powdered electrolytes. Electrolytes helps us not to pee out too much of our liquids.

Thank you. I suppose pressure on the vagus could come about by many different means? Yes I definitely have vagus nerve involvement of all kinds after meals. I wonder what I could do to calm my vagus. I already try the whole spectrum of calming things like yoga in morning, sports, distraction. But it comes no matter, particularly after I eat more, but sometimes even after baby food.

[judyinthesky]

22 hours ago, Pistol said:

@judyinthesky - if you have dysautonomia palpitations after eating are quite common. They usually are caused by the Body using all of the circulating blood volume for digestion which causes the heart to beat faster and develop extra beats. --- Dehydration can get checked in a simple blood sample, your PCP can check it for you. ---- I was always unable to keep my blood volume up despite drinking a lot and I get IV fluids 2-3 times a week, they help a lot. Oral hydration is often accomplished by drinking a lot of water PLUS increasing your salt intake. Gatorade or even Pedialyte helps some people. 

Yeah that's the thing I do not have any classic dysautonomia symptoms, and yet this vagus nerve involvement is so strong.

I also have high dopamine... that might not help with nausea and in turn vagus nerve involvement. Wonder what can be done to calm the vagus. Thanks for replying to my other threads by the way!

[yogini]

1 hour ago, judyinthesky said:

Yes! This is totally the case for me, in the morning it is harder. But it is because I also have constant agitation that comes with this. I am suspecting some nerve involvement with my gastro issues. 

Yes, I eat small amounts already and more at night, hihi. I wonder why that is??

Many people have a hard time in the morning and generally start to feel better in the evening.  I think it might be because we push fluids all day and we are better hydrated by the time evening rolls around.  Then at night, we don't drink and wake up dehydrated in the am.

When I was most sick, I used to drink a cup of broth in the evening followed by a couple glasses of water.  Then did the same thing each morning and that made a big difference in getting my day started. 

[Pistol]

3 hours ago, yogini said:

When I was most sick, I used to drink a cup of broth in the evening followed by a couple glasses of water.

Broth helps me the most as well. I load it up with extra salt. 

[Sushi]

4 hours ago, judyinthesky said:

I wonder what I could do to calm my vagus.

There are different types of vagus nerve involvement. It could be simple pressure on it--for this, my Autonomic specialist suggested smaller and more frequent meals. Then there is too high vagal tone (which my autonomic testing showed). This could mean that the parasympathetic nervous system is too active. There are more medications that increase vagal tone than those that reduce it. My Autonomic doc told me that the only specific drug he knew for reducing vagal tone was phenobarbital--I tried a very low dose but didn't notice much. 

[Pistol]

@FileTrekker - this is very interesting. I looked it up and found this online: 

How does it work?

Taurine has important functions in the heart and brain, including supporting nerve growth. It might improve heart failure because it seems to lower blood pressure and calm the sympathetic nervous system, which is often too active in people with high blood pressure and CHF.

According to this information it sounds spot-on for the needs of POTS sufferers!!! But I would add that ALL medications, including supplements of any kind, need to be approved by a physician, especially ones that mess with the Sympathetic NS. They can interact with some of the medications we often take. So - please check with your physician prior to starting this supplement. 

[RecipeForDisaster]

I use taurine, and I find it helpful although I haven’t pushed the dose yet. It sure hasn’t lowered BP for me - that would be bad.

 

My mom found it a life changer!! She was going crazy from high HR and palpitations, PVCs, etc. and couldn’t tolerate a beta blocker or calcium channel blocker. She is thrilled with this stuff.

[Sushi]

7 hours ago, RecipeForDisaster said:

I use taurine, and I find it helpful although I haven’t pushed the dose yet. It sure hasn’t lowered BP for me - that would be bad.

My mom found it a life changer!! She was going crazy from high HR and palpitations, PVCs, etc. and couldn’t tolerate a beta blocker or calcium channel blocker. She is thrilled with this stuff.

I take 2550 mg of taurine daily (that is considered a medium dose in the arrhythmia world). It doesn’t affect my BP and it is hard to assess its effect on palpitations as I also take an antiarrythmic. I take it because of studies and with the hope of not needing to increase my antiarrythmic.

[judyinthesky]

22 hours ago, yogini said:

Many people have a hard time in the morning and generally start to feel better in the evening.  I think it might be because we push fluids all day and we are better hydrated by the time evening rolls around.  Then at night, we don't drink and wake up dehydrated in the am.

When I was most sick, I used to drink a cup of broth in the evening followed by a couple glasses of water.  Then did the same thing each morning and that made a big difference in getting my day started. 

I will try that, thank you very much!

[judyinthesky]

18 hours ago, Sushi said:

There are different types of vagus nerve involvement. It could be simple pressure on it--for this, my Autonomic specialist suggested smaller and more frequent meals. Then there is too high vagal tone (which my autonomic testing showed). This could mean that the parasympathetic nervous system is too active. There are more medications that increase vagal tone than those that reduce it. My Autonomic doc told me that the only specific drug he knew for reducing vagal tone was phenobarbital--I tried a very low dose but didn't notice much. 

Ah, I am not too familiar with the autonomic testing, I went to two neurologists and they both did not consider. But it is good to know that there is that option. Yes, smaller meals seem to help me, but sometimes I just eat a little baby food and it's still a drama.

[judyinthesky]

9 hours ago, FileTrekker said:

I supplement with taurine. I've not been able to totally eliminate them but the reduction has been very much worth it.

Here are my results trialling it for one year - 

 

Others on here have had similar results.

It might be helpful for anyone with palpitations. It is a wonder amino-acid that seems criminally overlooked at times.

Hm, thanks. I eat already a collection of amino acids I will see whether it is in there.

[judyinthesky]

I think this could all make some sense, particularly with the drinking etc., because my pancreas issue certainly would contribute to dehydration... I will try that front. Any other rehydration tips and tricks? Specific products other than sports drinks?

[Sushi]

33 minutes ago, judyinthesky said:

Ah, I am not too familiar with the autonomic testing, I went to two neurologists and they both did not consider. But it is good to know that there is that option. Yes, smaller meals seem to help me, but sometimes I just eat a little baby food and it's still a drama.

Most neurologists would not do autonomic testing. There’s actually no one field in medicine that specializes in the autonomic nervous system. Sometimes it will be a cardiologist or an electrophysiologist, sometimes a neurologist, sometimes an internist—you name it. My autonomic specialist had started as an internist until he got POTS himself and went back to medical school to specialize.

Hm, thanks. I eat already a collection of amino acids I will see whether it is in there.

You generally need a larger dose than what would be found in an amino acid supplement—the research cites very large doses to affect palpitations.

[judyinthesky]

20 hours ago, Sushi said:

Most neurologists would not do autonomic testing. There’s actually no one field in medicine that specializes in the autonomic nervous system. Sometimes it will be a cardiologist or an electrophysiologist, sometimes a neurologist, sometimes an internist—you name it. My autonomic specialist had started as an internist until he got POTS himself and went back to medical school to specialize.

You generally need a larger dose than what would be found in an amino acid supplement—the research cites very large doses to affect palpitations.

Okay! How much do you take?

[Sushi]

On 4/29/2020 at 11:05 AM, judyinthesky said:

Okay! How much do you take?

 

Quote

Elimination of cardiac arrhythmias using oral taurine with l-arginine with case histories: Hypothesis for nitric oxide stabilization of the sinus node.  Case histories of people with very frequent arrhythmias are presented showing 10-20g taurine per day reduced PACs by 50% and prevented all PVCs but did not prevent pauses. 

I don’t take that higher dose myself though, I take about 2550 mg.