jayhawker

Was told by my mother that I was born with a heart murmur, and the doc at the time said it was nothing to really worry about. Didn't find this out until I was in my early 20's. Been to the doctor multiple times for other reasons and asked him to check into it just to keep my mind at ease. To this day he still can't seem to find it. Makes me wonder if it was really there when I was born, or if the pediatrician was just on some really good drugs at the time.
Either way, I hope everything comes out ok for you Lone Ranger.

karen1953

Thanks for sharing that with us Firewatcher. But I am glad that you have taken steps to help improve your health.

KY Dave

My wife had irregular heart beats and palapations some years ago. At the same time, she had the gall bladder removed. She now takes Tenorum every day and it seems to work well. The only problem she had was last year at the Grand Canyon. We walked a lot and the elevation was really high. Her heart started the palipations. She had to take another Tenorum and go to the room. After that, she was OK.

Alzonie

I've had an irregular heartbeat,on and off, for several years which my Doc says is because my pulse rate has dropped and is usually way too low! A lot of the time between 45 to 50 bpm! And I'm in no way athletic or an exerciser, I don't even walk much because of a knee replacement that didn't work out well. A couple of times I've had palpitations along with the irregular beat which is a lot of fun. There's no pain, but it feels like my heart is just jumping around in my chest. I'm amazed my Cardiologist hasn't suggested a Pacemaker. Couple of Months ago I wound up in the ER because my pulse rate went up to 135 bpm for no apparent reason while I was in the Drs. office! They didn't do anything special at the ER, just did about 4 EKGs and kept an eye on me. After about 3 hours it dropped down to 90 bpm, then down to about 48 bpm, so they sent me home. They called it "Atrial Flutter", which I guess is one step below "Atrial Fibrillation"! (Whoopee!!) I have a feeling my Heart's gonna get me one of these days!

Lone Ranger

It really sucks when you can feel your heart getting funky. As much as I've learned to tolerate it after all the tests "showed" it was "benign", it still is unsettling. I can go for months and it doesn't happen much at all, then BOOM it will take a spell where I'll have a couple days or a week or so, or as lately, a month or so of it doing the palp and flutter or the skip-a-beat and re-establish rythm deal on me in varying degrees on odd days.

KY Dave, that is VERY INTERESTING about your wife's rythm disturbances and her gall bladder, because I was just diagnosed with gall stones about a week ago, been having gall bladder related stomach discomfort past month or so, and it correlates perfectly with my heart palp/rythm flare up, on the same timeline.

If my rythm disturbances get worse or more frequent after they remove my gall bladder (if they recommend removal), then I'll be forced into resorting to Radio Frequency Ablation, because I don't want it any worse.

I'm going to specifically ask the G.I. doctor about the relationship between gall bladder and potential aggravation of a previously diagnosed pre-existing heart rythm disturbance and what the consequences are.

Lone Ranger

You know, another thing.... I have an unopened bottle of Bacardi black label special reserve rum in the cabinet just sitting there with my name on it. But I best leave it alone w/ the current fiasco going on with my gall bladder and rythm skips.

Alzonie

I can never pinpoint anything that starts the "Jumping Around" feeling. Sometimes it's right after a big meal, sometimes after having Wine, but a lot of times it's just out of the blue! One time about 3 years ago the fluttery feeling started up in the middle of the afternoon while my Wife was at work. I sat on the sofa thinking it would pass, but it went on for a couple of hours and I was beginning to wonder if I should call the Paramedics. Luckily it finally past. Since my ER visit earier this year I've been on a low dose of Metaprolol which I take in the evening. It seems to have cut down the number of these episodes I have. The Cardiologist also recently put me on Warfarin to thin my blood some. Evidently if you have an irregular heartbeat blood can pool in the Heart Chambers and if they form a clot and break loose you can be in big trouble!

Lone Ranger

Ditto. Also sometimes when I get hungry. And if I'm trying to come down with a cold or the flu, it will do it more.

Firewatcher

Alcohol and stress can trigger certain arrythmias. The cause for non-lethal arrythmias is caffeine. Watch your coffee and soda intake.