ok i know this is kinda old hat and been talked about before but i just wanted to know if anyone else has had this.
almost a year ago after a short period of bulimia (it was a coping mechanism, not for vanity) i started getting extreme chest pains that felt heart related. my Dr did some bloodwork and found a high number of h pylori antibodies immediately put me on prevpac. one of those meds messed up my autonomic nervous system good an proper but lets not get into that.
anyway prevpac helped for a while but pretty soon i just kept getting more pain and was on and off antacids.
my stomach would literally spasm after eating salty or spicy food, like it would pulsate and i could feel it clenching because it was so irritated. i probably developed gastritis/ulcers at this point.
anyway after a few days of ppis it would usually be fine.
anyway before Christmas I stuffed myself with spicy Indian food. Big mistake. That night my gut and intestines felt like they were on fire or swollen. My belly hurt to touch and I had so much gas. As I was laying in bed I felt a painful thump and realised it was my old friend, pvcs. Well I thought nothing of it and tried to shut my eyes, but along came another thump, and another, and another. I got about 7 a minute and they were starting to bother me. I took an antacids, beta blocker, which seemed to make them worse! I went to the ER just to be on the safe side, of course after waiting 4 hours the ekg showed
no hiccups. The Dr tutted at me and when I asked her if a row of them was dangerous she replied 'Well yeah, if you're 80' and sent me on my way. As soon as I got back, they started again! Anyway last week was terrible.
Standing up, I was fine. Sit down, lie down, and LUB DUB-LUB DUB..........LUB DUBBBBBBBBB! I literally slept about 5 hours in 7 days. Daytime was fine, but laying down to sleep? Impossible! The worst thing is I already havei POTS so standing up is exhausting for me - all last week I literally slept standing up! I prevailed with my ppis and thank God, they stopped about 4 days ago. My stomach wasn't stabbing me anymore either. Yesterday I foolishly ate some jalapenos on a sandwich and guess what - the pvcs are back! I can push on my stomach and they come full force!!
And my stomach is burning! I am due for an echo soon as these pvcs are really distressing to me. Anyway now I'm nursing my poor stomach back to health. I heard that the stomach is covered in nerve ends and when one of these nerves gets irritated or eroded, they can go a bit haywire and send vagal signal stimulation to the heart, whichmakes it beat slower - but if it gets TOO slow, i.e. if youre on BBs - my normal RHR is like 95 bpm - with BBs it's 55-60 -: the ventricles panic and send out escape beats or ectopics. And it seems the more beta blockers I take, the worse and harder the pvcs . I also heard that beta blockers increase vagal signals because they increase parasympathetic activity. I also get them during any activity that stimulates the vagus nerve. I don't like to assume things especially when Drs are very skeptical and disinterested about this theory, but since reducing bad foods, taking ppis, taking my beta blocker WELL before resting, (and some prayer
) I got through an extremely rough patch. I also started eating bananas and oatmeal for potassium and magnesium, and they are gentle on inflamed bellies. If this helps even 1 person I'll be glad I wrote this. Good luck all my palp peeps. I'm still scared but you are not alone in this.
