POTASSIUM... not pitadsium.....sorry typing and answered phone ...
vagus nerve issues.... for me ... dietary restrictions and using magnesium and potassium help
I have a history of digestive issues since 40 years of age---many dilitations icluding pneumatic dilitations several years ago,heartburn hiatal hernia,endosocopies,Barretts (I think is resolved) Now ,after meals no pain but rumbling in the chest and eventually an uncontrollable embarrasing burp. Any suggestions? Also embarrasing hoarseness.
I do have a tip for heartburn---2 or 3 slices of aple is
***post is edited by moderator *** private e-mails not allowed*** Please read our Terms of Use
p.s. I also now have asthma caused by GERD---any suggestions anyone?
Bless,k
Hello everyone.....First I want to say I am a 53 year old male. I have had these symptoms since I was about 23...I am still alive. So for those of you who are worrying....as I still do....well I am still here. Wanted to get that out of the way.
I have been through so much with this. I am keying in on magnesium and you might see why as I go through this long ramble...Bear with me I just want all of you to know how much I have gone through so you don't feel discouraged by your Dr.
When I first had the spell as I call them...or flip flop in my chest I was driving home after my radio shift was over at 11pm....It came so sudden and like all of you have said lasted a second or two and no pain was involved. Just a big flip in the center of my chest. As a kid my family Dr could hear a heart murmur now and then. I also went on the night shift at the station working 11pm-6am as my wife worked days and we had our first child and I did not want a day care or baby sitter for my children. However this over night work and lack of sleep over years did not help. I began to have muscle twitches every where. Eye lid, arms, stomach, feet. My new family Dr (as I was living in the big city now) Gave me vitamin B shots. It helped a little but not much. I complained about the heart and rapid heart beats and he sent me to a cardiologist who could not find anything, just that I had tachycardia or rapid heart beat....My thyroid was checked, EKG, ultrasound, had blood test all was fine.
Later I started to get numbness in my right shoulder blade that lasted for weeks....SO I got worried, I went to Mayo Clinic up in Rochester Minnesota and waited for a few days to get in to see someone. I just was tired of all this and knew this was the best place to go. They injected radioactive dye into my veins and had me exercise while lying on my back. This was back in the 80s...They diagnosed me with Mirtral valve prolapse. They told me many have it and do not even know it or present no symptoms. They also said that my family Dr I had as a child must of been very good to hear my murmur because my current Dr never could.
I do have a history of a Grandmother and Grandfather with heart problems. My grandmother had a unusual heart beat I believe, I know she took meds and lived to be 96 and my Grandfather suffered a heart attack (he was a smoker) but he did not die from that, he died of prostate cancer. So that was always in the back of my mind......Anyway....I was told its NOT in your head and it's not from a panic attack....like others did say to me before I went to Mayo clinic. I have been told I am a worrier, but I don't think I am any more than anyone else. I mean come on....my health is not so great and I still keep on plugging away. I have glaucoma, a fatty liver and some heart things going on. And like many of you said when you have this flip flop which takes your breath away and right after you feel a little light headed or weak, it is going to freak you out a bit......Well..... I was doing ok after the Mayo visit learning to put up with this..And it even got better for a time. I don't know why.
Then it came back and I was having them like 4 times a month and some times one right after another maybe within a few minutes apart. I went back to he same cardiologist in the city I live in and he had me do a stress test walking the tread mill all looked ok. He sent me home with a monitor you could hold on your chest when you were having an episode and then call it in over a land line to the hospital. It really did not show anything for the month I had it. But then again its hard to get it out push the button and hold it over your heart after you just had an episode that lasts 1 to 2 seconds.
He put me on a 24 hr halter monitor too and it would never happen when I was on it, just like many of you have said here. Finally the Dr put me on a monitor for a week. I actually pressed the episode button right after I had one of these spells and it was recorded. I was told I had PVC's and it is nothing to worry about, we all have them but some feel them and some don't. Ok well that gave me some relief. My son has no issues but my daughter who is now 24 has many pvc's I mean you can actually put your ear on her back and hear her heart skipping. She does not feel these but sometimes she has some issues where she did pass out once in the shower but her cardiologist who is different from mine said that could result in a lack of salt and fluid intake and did not think it was heart related.
In 2009 I had woke up in the middle of the night and was having a hard time breathing...I checked my pulse and did not have one. My heart was fluttering...I was having atrial fibrillation. I went to the emergency room...my wife drove me.. They were going to shock me if I did not convert as they had me on an IV with some meds.....But lucky for me I all of a sudden had some chest pain and pressed the call button for the nurse and she came in and said OH you converted and they sent me home. I was LIKE what the heck....How can I just go to sleep now after that. But they made it look like it was nothing. I did get told to make a visit with my cardiologist which I did. He wanted to put me on some beta blockers but I refused.
A year went by and no more atrial fib events. Then again I woke up and was having it again. This time by the time I was at the hospital I had already converted on my own. I started to see commercials on TV then about stroke etc....And yeah I would be lying if I didn't say I began to get a little worried.
I have also been diagnosed with sleep apnea but I do not use a bipap or cpap machine. I just dont think I can use one of those.
But sometimes I wonder if when I stop breathing when I am sleeping if it could be sending me into atrial fib......
In 2011 I had been having some other things going on...I felt at times as if I was being choked, ever so slightly...A weird feeling and also was having more of my flip flops too. No atrial fib that I know of....So I had a stress test done and again the test where they inject the dye into your veins to watch your heart, this time my own cardiologist had the equipment to do that and I did not go to Mayo.....Only this time you go back in the next day and have pictures taken again after the injection. My cardiologist wanted to put me on Toprol XL or the generic is called Metoprolol. A beta blocker....I hate taking any drugs because I have that liver condition called NASH. But his one nurse said to me do you want to die? I said WHAT, NO! So I took the meds and have been on them now for 2 years. The choking feeling went away....One thing the Dr did not tell me. Not only do I have mitral valve prolapse I also now have aortic regurgitation. I found that out after my recent check up in 2012 after I left the office I read the paper work they give you and I thought WTH, this isnt me....Must of had a mix up...So I called and the nurse she said yeah you have it but its minor. Im like HUH why didn't the Dr tell me.
I decided to start biking...trying to get more healthy. The Dr oked it.....so the last two years in the summer, (I live in Iowa) I would ride 30 miles 3 - 4 times a week. Yeah I have had episodes of the flip flop while out on the trail in the middle of a corn field or bean field but I just try to ignore it and keep going.
Some other things I can relate to here...I also have acid reflux. It comes and goes....normally something like pizza as of late has been setting it off. Or pop....I eat tums alot before I go to sleep because I have woken in the middle of the night and then all of a sudden have a burp or acid comes up my throat and my esophagus closes up and I run out of bed gagging until I recover and can catch my breath and breath. I have found I have a slow metabolism and so its best for me if I dont eat or drink anything 6 hrs before I go to bed. I try to not eat or drink caffeine related foods as the Dr has told me that could cause my heart to have more episodes too and it does not help if you have gurd.
I don't think Drs can know everything of whats going on..but I do think that many who have posted here are having maybe the same symptoms of how we are describing the flip flops. Maybe some of you are not having the same feeling but its so hard to describe to a physician when you get this happening to you. After being on the meds I will say something has changed. My heart rate is slower in the upper 50s or 60s, not 80's and 90's or more unless of course I am biking. The episodes or spells (flip flops) have changed...Hard to explain...but when I get them now they seem to be not as hard or abrupt. They still are there and also seem to last a bit longer 3 seconds. Its again hard to explain. Have they stopped? NO....Better? No not really. My Dr wants me to take a 50 mg Toprol, I take a 25. I don't have insurance at the moment and really need to get my blood tested again for the liver condition...have to do that every 6 months....So I feel taking less meds is less harder on the liver.
As of last year I just got on the bike and had this big TWANG in my chest...again NO pain but like a muscle in my chest snapped.
Weird feeling...Then 3 days ago I had one of my flip flops and the next day was walking in the store and had again this Twang in my chest and followed by what I felt like a light headedness and a feeling of DOOM like many of you describe and I also relate to. So I am not sure what is going on with that. Been going thru some stress as I found out my daughter was molested by my wifes father when she was little and we would leave the kids on the farm a few days with their grandparents.....AND look and see what happens when you work over night and your wife works days so you can care for your own kids....You can't even trust your inlaws.
So that has been stressful as she came forward in 2011 to tell me.
I also did a google to look up key words like Flip flop, twanging in chest etc....Was like many other happy to see this forum and blog post. Thank you for making a part 2 admins! I have started taking magnesium 250mg a day...I will come back here again and let everyone know my results from it...But it might be a few months before I do that. I want to give the magnesium plenty of time to get into the body. Everyone here lets stay together and report in ok. Some of you who first started this thread I would love to see you come back and post too.
Hi everyone
PLEASE READ
I am a 31 year old female, when I was about 15 years old I was sitting on my bed when suddenly I felt this awful pain in the left side of my chest, it felt so tight, I couldn't take a proper breath as the pain intensified, moving was also painful. My mum said to me it was heartburn, having never had heartburn before I believed her and relaxed, over the years this pain was very sporadic, I'd get it once a year or a couple of times a month then nothing for a few years. When I was pregnant and got heartburn for the first time I finally realised it wasn't heartburn and that is when I started to worry.
I had a series of tests, EKG, Blood work, chest x-ray and there was nothing there. Doctors said to me 'if you know it's not your heart doesn't that help you relax and not panic?' unfortunately not, I am not afraid of dying, i'm just afraid of the way I feel when my chest gets tight and the reaction my body has to the pain or fear of the pain.
A couple of years ago my anxiety about this chest pain was getting out of control, I worried all of the time about it, I stopped wanting to go out in case I got the pain. My husband persuaded me to visit his osteopath. I refused and said what could he possibly do to help.
Well it turns out he has been a wealth of knowledge about my experiences. He knew exactly what was wrong with me, he looked at my body, my pelvis was twisted and my ribs were locking into my spine, my neck was also a mess. This was caused by many years of anxiety, tension and worry.
He explained in graeter detail about the fight or flight response to a situation, what was happening was this:
I would start thinking about getting the pain
I would get nervous, frightened, tense and anxious
my body starts to tense up, my breathing is affected, i can't focus and I panic.
What happened was the fear started the adrenaline releasing into my body, I was not breathing properly and the adrenal (not sure how to spell that) gland was blocking as my breathing was stilted, the adrenaline could not get around my body as it usually would, because of this my body tensed up, my ribs then locked into my spine and trapped the nerves and muscles, causing the muscle spasm in my chest.
My osteo unlocks my ribs whenever I feel uncomfortable, he recommendede I practice backstroke swimming (this keeps my ribs moving and stops the locking)it also helps the muscles to stretch, they twinge and spasm more when they are both underused and overused. I have a series of simple exercise to do at home which keeps my ribs from locking. These are rolling my shoulders backwards, windmill arms (like backstroke swimming) holding onto a door handle and stretching out my neck, massaging the glands in my neck to stop the lactic acid building up, which also causes tension.
My anxiety was causing tension all around my body and I end up with twinges, aches and pains and eventaully I would bring the muscle spasm on becuase I was so anxious about it.
I now listen to a hynotherapy cd, It gives me the tools I need to calm myself, to stop myself getting into a situation where I get so anxious I can cause the pain. There are visualisation techniques which help stop an attack or at least control it.
Yoga is highly recommended (though some poses not suitable as they put a strain on the muscle that spasms. it needs a gentle stretch until it gets stronger)
It has also been recommended to me to have a health diet, lots of water as dehydration can cause muscle spasms, healthy foods.
caffeine increases anxiety as does alcohol, I still have a drink when out with friends but alcohol at first relaxes you and helps the anxiety but when it wears off it can make you feel more anxious.
You need good posture and exercise is a must (gentle).
There are probably more things I could say, I feel like I have been on a real journey and I can get over it for years and then it slips again, I think it's a long process and you have to exect it to take time, Understanding more about the body and how it works helped me so much.
Please respond if you want to ask any questions, I realise that my locked ribs problem may not affect everyone but the other parts are probably relevant.
CeCe xx
I just wanted to THANK EVERYONE in this thread - I almost started crying when I read all of this.
I am 19 years old and I have been suffering from these heart 'hiccups' since as long as I can remember. I get sudden 'leaps' in my heart (I tried explaining it in various ways to my family - like a bubble burst in my heart, like it skipped a beat, like someone pressed down on it really fast, ect ect.) but could never find the right words to make them understand.
I suffer from anxiety - I get anxious about EVERYTHING. I don't always get the heart hiccups when I'm anxious or nervous or stressed, but lately it has gotten to the point where every few days I'll have a few of them, as someone mentioned - looking back and thinking about those times, most of the time I was tensed up and either
a. Not really breathing (like I was concentrating so hard my breathing had almost come to a halt)
b. Was very tense (again, usually like I was concentrating or deep in thought.)
c. Physically stressed
d. Overly excited.
I have also been having very, very bad allergies this year; to the point where I need my inhaler every 2 hours basically to keep myself breathing properly - I feel like this has affected the spasms as well - as this is my main stresser for the past month or so.
Had the same experience(spasm/throb) the last few months about once a month. The last 2 weeks they have increased to several times a day. Like most have said they are hard to describe but here is my attempt, it feels like a throb or spasm that feels like it comes from my upper back, and I feel it in my throat. It only lasts for a second, but it gives you that scared feeling. I also experience episodes of rapid heart syndrome which I take Atenole twice a day. Seen my doctor to day and he is making sure that it is not a back issue first, and then he is going to send me to a cardio doctor. Hope these go away as quick as they appeared because they are scary when you don't know what they are. I am a 57 year old male in good shape, don't smoke, drink, and not overweight.
HOLY c**p. Am I glad I found this!!! I'm 47 and have had this issue for YEARS. It's an intense flip, that comes out of nowhere and disappears quite as quickly, often leaving me "stunned," - like BAM - yet completely painless! They vary in degree of intensity, and have gone away for months, or years at a time, then come back. I too, have GERD, small hiatel hernia and an open valve (leading from the stomach to esoph.). I also suffer from severe anxiety... but manageable. When it hits, all sorts of anxiety breaks out, which I think fuels the next one to occur. I get so nervous that I've broken out into a light sweat and get a knotted stomach... only thing that helps is getting out of where I am and hitting the couch... then it disappears. I too have had the halter monitor which showed nothing, (it flipped once while wearing it), and I tend to believe it is espophageal in nature. I constantly walk around with a knot in my stomach waiting for it to happen (OCD), and when it does, it'll happen a bunch of times over an hour... then ebb off once I'm relaxed. The first "flip" I had was 15 years ago, and sometimes it's right under the sternum, but feels like it reverberates to the top of my throat, causing an urge to cough. Crazy, but if it was something really serious I'd probably be dead by now. Have had the EEG, ultrasound of the heart - but refuse a stress test because my OCD focuses on fear of everything medical to t he point it puts me into a panic attack. Getting my heartbeat so high would FREAK me out. (Yeah, quite aware of how ridiculous I am). Last major episode was after eating a plate of nacho's - full stomach, rapid heartbeat after eating, then flips... some HARD some not... but once it starts, my anxiety fuels it. Vicious circle. Thanks for listening.
Hello, it sounds like many of you may be experiencing ectopic heartbeats. For the most part they are considered harmless and may resolve in time. If it's happening constantly and scaring you, visit your gp. There's medication you can take to help. I had this years ago in my early 20's. FREAKED ME OUT BIG TIME. And would cause panic attacks. I smoked and drank coffee and did not sleep enough. It resolved after a few months. It was odd.
Wow, it feels like such a relief to know I am not alone with this chest spasm!
My dad passed away in January. And ever since then I have been having a spasm on and off in the middle of my chest. My GP says it is caused from anxiety. I've been to the Emergency and they have done tests, EKG, chest xrays, blood work. All come back normal and they say my heart is very healthy and my lungs are in good shape (considering I had been a smoker for 12 years and just quit 6 months ago). However I am overweight (210lbs, 5'4") and just had a baby 10 months ago. It almost feels like it could take my breath away, feels like my heart of lung is twitching. It always catches me off guard. I do get anxiety, but I feel like the spasms come before the anxiety! And sometimes I have anxiety without the spasms. Its really annoying and frusterating. When it happens I find it hard to concentrate on anything else. I went 2 months without any spasms. They don't happen everyday and they usually happen in the evening, but sometimes during the day. It seems like once they start they just dont go away, until I go to bed. Seems when I drink coffee or a lot of caffinated drinks, its gets worse, or it brings them on. I have recently started having heartburn/acid reflux, as well. Since being pregnant, it never really went away. I am also a night eater, I wake up hungry... which is bad bad bad, since it make the reflux worse.
Reading all the other stories makes me feel a bit better, but i just wish it would go away!
Schultzie
Hi Shannon and others.I also had the same symptoms everyone else is experiencing for over four months.Had medical tests on my heart,vascular system and lungs all with negative results and condition actually began to worsen to the point where flutters were waking me up at night and making me really off every day. Felt like bad sinus or onset of the flu (without coughs or runny nose) most of the time.
Became really worried when it progressed to a dull ache in my lower pelvis and back of thighs as well as the sternum flutter and washed out feeling and found this forum.Noticed a post from "Medical Student" suggesting the a deficiency in magnesium could possibly have something to do with this syndrome and as there is a product in Australia called Sal Vital (a powder you add to water for a pleasant drink) that has magnesium as one of it's active ingredients thought I would at least try it .
Day one- two tablespoons in a glass of water.(gives about 26 MICROgrams of magnesium) Slight relief. Day two same again,noticeable improvement.Day three flutters 99.9% gone.Clearheaded, dull aches around pelvis and thighs gone.Thank you "medical student"for raising the magnesium issue.In my case at least you were right.
Have to say after lots of research since on magnesium -sodium- potassium balances be careful.More (like 26 grams instead of micrograms),will not be better in this case .Be patient, stick to low dosages only and I hope it works for you as well as it has for me.
Note.Sal Vital also contains about 7grams of carbohydrate sugars and about 692 micrograms of sodium and it's possible that it's the combination that works and not the magnesium alone but I personally don't think so.Good luck.
Leshan
My symptoms are quite similar to yours. I get a spasm before I fall asleep, it is more when I am holding/lying against something solid. It started 6-8 months back. I was having a sharp but very little pain in the chest. It was like someone is pulling my nerves under the skin, very difficult to explain actually. Sometimes it was like feeling needles under the skin. Then it changed a little, I was having a some sort of a dull ache in in the chest, sometimes at left side sometimes at right side. It is now in back and shoulders. I feel better when I am at rest. I am 37 male, and you can say have some stress in my life. What I have noticed that my pains are more severe with particular body positions, turning necks, travelling etc. I am thinking of consulting an Osteopath. Also thinking of Mg supplements.
Wow Shannon! This is EXACTLY what has happened to m recently. I am a 44 yr old guy in great shape. About 12 yrs ago I had the symptoms that everyone here is discussing. Started off by being woken up at night feeling as if my body had "shut off". I would wake up with a gasp and have to catch my breath. Then one night my heart was thumping in my chest and was VERY irregular. I spent 12 hours in the ER while they tried to get my heart in sinus rhythm (they did), had all sorts of tests performed, including heart cath. and all were negative. Cardio determined I had A-Fib. I have taken Torpol Xl and Digioxin for 12 yrs now with only 1-2 re-occurrences (lasting more than a few hours) and incidents (maybe monthly) of slight flutters that resolve in seconds-no harm. During these years I have done the most EXTREME exercising that I have done in my life with ZERO interference from the A-Fib (gym rat, Krav Maga, Ice Hockey). Well, recently (3 mos ago) I took up mountain biking. I push myself hard and had no issues until a month ago after laying off for two weeks to do some traveling. I hit the trail hard and WHAM this air bubble appeared to inflate in my chest (zero associated pain-just a quick "inflation" feeling). It felt the size of a nickel maybe, then in seconds it inflated to the size of a ping pong ball. I was in the midst of a steep uphill climb. I got VERY freaked out and was SURE that I was in cardiac arrest. I was short of breath (btw this very possibly could have been from climbing the hill and the panic) . It only lasted less than a minute but I called 911 and was hauled off to the hospital. I have undergone Enzyme, Nuclear Stress, Echo, EKG, X-Ray-you name it-all results negative except that during the nuclear stress my heart went into a-fib and resolved immediately at peak exercise. I didn't even feel it. Cardio also had me wear a Holter Monitor and they found what they called "rare" Ventricular and Atrial something (sorry-name escapes me). "Rare" apparently means "not often enough to even be of concern". Happened like 1-2 times in 24 hours. In the end, Cardio clears me to do "anything". I will say that I was drinking LOTS of coffee and taking a caffeine gel before each ride but it NEVER bothered me until this time.(note that I was NEVER a regular coffee drinker. for whatever reason I was drinking the stuff for a couple of months now and honestly, based on what I have been through in the past (yes-I KNOW coffee can and probably in this case did at least mildly "contribute" to these things) but I am certain it is not the underlying cause as I never drank coffee when all of this began 12 yrs ago and rarely during the last 12 yrs). I have had more flutter sin the last month since the incident than I have had in 12 yrs combined. So, in the last 3 days I quit coffee 100% and the flutters subsided, that is until I rode my bike around my neighborhood for about 20 minutes vigorously. Initially, I came home and relaxed and had no issues. Then as I sat on the couch about 15 minutes later I got that "empty" feeling in my chest. I did not feel any irregular beat, only the empty feeling that usually comes with the flutters. So, I woke up today and I rode about 4 miles. Really no serious issues. I had a very slight empty feeling in the center of my chest about 20 mins after exercise but very slight. I am very nervous about hitting the trails again because it took them 40 mins to get to me and had to take me out by boat (yeah-not good). Did you ever find ANY solution? Do you still run and just "deal with it"? ANY information or advice that you can give me would be great. I am sitting at my PC now getting ready to order the Sal Vital as mentioned in the post below. Who knows-I focus so much on it being heart-related. Perhaps it is something else. I appreciate any feedback you can give me. - Mike
I have the same thing! I thought I was the only one who was experiencing this. I've tried to describe the feeling to my doctor and they immediately say, "oh, you have GERD" or "oh, it's just heartburn", but it's not heartburn or GERD. It's not reflux or anyhting like that. I've had the heart monitor, EKG and it picked up nothing. I recently (2 days ago) had an overnight hospital stay which of course, they found, nothing. I noticed it started about 3 weeks ago. It usually starts after I eat or if I move a certain way. I hadn't eaten any solid foods a lot, only soups and soft food. I notice my heart would beat a little harder too. Prior to that I was going to the ER with heart palpitations which I'm sure were panic attacks. At first it felt like air or something was pushing up in my throat, then I'd get a lump in my throat. No pain. It would happen so fast like a second or two and then be gone. I was feeling like something was stuck in my throat but it would go away. It would happen like 3 times an hour after I ate something. It's really scary. Now I'm having slight chest pain, like a tearing pain, nothing severe or crushing. I did eat some seasoned soup. Does anyone else have these symptoms? Could this be something else? I'm pretty sure it has something to do with my throat, stomach, diaphragm, or liver or gallbladder, it feels like my heart too. I have been very stressed lately but trying to control it. Could it be nerves? Need advice quick!