Foods for Heart Palpitations

Back in 2010, I went through a round of tests to figure out what was causing my heart palpitations. Never did I imagine I'd be going to a cardiologist at the ripe age of 25...

Anyway, absolutely everything checked out fine, and the cardiologist said, "Exercise more, eat right, and if that doesn't help, cut the caffeine."

Fantastic. Well, I conquered the first two shortly thereafter, and I'm still having the random occasional heart palpitations. I've cut out caffeine here and there to see if it's helpful, and I'm not so convinced that caffeine intake makes a difference for me. My ND suggested that it could be a mineral imbalance - I'll know more tomorrow when I get my blood work back.

In the mean time, aside from bone broths, fermented cod liver oil, butter oil, and raw dairy, what other foods might be helpful? Anybody else had this problem and been able to fix it with food? It's not a huge deal for me, but it's annoying.

Thanks!

Here is my story of recovery from heart palpitations and full blown panic attacks in my late 20's. I never get them anymore. Diet overhaul is what fixed it for me.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/natural-remedies-for-panic-attacks/

Both stories sound familiar to something I would occasionally get years ago. The thing that fixed it for me was water! Heart palpitations are a symptom of mild dehydration, and mine would often come at 9 or 10 in the morning. I started taking opportunities to drink as a habit, even when by body didn't tell me it was thirsty.
Since coffee dehydrates the body, I didn't cut out coffee, but drank a full glass of water before most cups. I also added the following habits: full glass of water before bed, full glass of water on nightstand to drink during night/morning, full glass of water (with a little lemon juice) with breakfast... extra water has been a definite help for me!

I am currently wearing a heart monitor for 30 days and undergoing a massive round of tests for this very thing. Heart was feeling like it was pounding hard almost in my throat sometimes. I have a sort of scary family health history to contend with so I'm having all of the tests just to try to rule that out. I'll get results from all of that by the end of next week.

In the meantime I have gone back to the alkaline diet and juicing for a while and, as usual, it does make me feel amazingly well. The palpitations have diminished quite a bit - I haven't had any at all in the last couple of days.

Eric, I am going to follow your tip on the water. Actually when you juice and eat alkaline most of the foods have a really high water content so that could also be what has caused the decrease in palpatations.

This has never been a problem for me, but I know some people who had some different solutions, thought I would share. One person did a gall bladder flush and eliminated them inadvertently. Another used herbs like Hawthorn and even Motherwort. If high blood pressure is a part, you may wish to look at raw garlic, cayenne and raw apple cider vinegar too. Hydration is a no-brainer - and make sure you are addressing your love issues since that would center around the heart area. Best of luck to you!

I have had heart palpitations from Graves disease (hyperthyroidism) and started using liquid bugleweed extract which for me had an almost immediate effect. I highly recommend it.

That is very interesting! Bugleweed is one of the best heavy metals detoxers around - I wonder if that is a factor in Graves' Disease!

Lisa Allen wrote:That is very interesting! Bugleweed is one of the best heavy metals detoxers around - I wonder if that is a factor in Graves' Disease!

It has worked wonderfully for me. I use to workout for 30 min and have a heart rate above 120 for hours, sometimes days. The Bungleweed worked better than the beta-blockers the doctors gave me to control the symptoms. Now my heart rate goes up (when working out , or digging trenches for hugelcultrue beds ) but returns to normal (around 60 beats per min) with in a normal/reasonable time. I also have a daily (often 2 or 3 times a day) meditation practice. I have meditated for years but have taken it a lot more seriously lately as I notice the healing effect. Jhana or absorptive meditation seems to be the most effective (more so than an insight/vipassana based practice). All of this combined with good eating and yoga helps a lot. Many chronic illnesses are caused by excessive sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) activity. Anything that strongly activates the parasympathetic nervous system tends to help. Oh yea and I moved out of the Sacramento valley which is like the filth pit of California.

Hey thanks to all who responded to this post, I have had panic attacks for years and I am only 30 years old! I am going to try out all of these and see what works best. Awesome post guys!

This might be really weird, and I also had these irregular heart beats in my 20's, it was a five day fast that stopped it almost immediately. I did the fast as a clean out with the result of ending the palipitations a bonus.

Great suggestions, everybody! Thanks so much!

i'm a medical student in my 40's. I know it took me a long time to realize what I wanted to be when I grew up. Anyway, I've been athletic all my life. I've played organized sports since the age of 11yrs old. Just recently, I've had to deal with These panic attacks and heart palps. Never had these in my life. I'm in great shape for my age, hell, for any age infact. I get mistaken for a man in my late 20's early 30's (my girlfriend is 27) not saying this to brag, just saying that i'm in great shape. So, I can't understand why these things are happening to me. Nervousness, anxiety, panic attacks, heart palpitations... Hmmmm being in med school I figured I could do a little research and maybe cure myself of these bothersome events. I found out that one, the panic attacks were actually due to my hormones. My body was producing too little testosterone. I felt normal but my test results showed that I was on the low end of the normal curve. They are responsible for not only your physical well being but your emotional well being. While some Docs might write this off as normal, smarter ones will tell you that "Normal" is not the same for everyone. I was probably normal at the high end of the spectrum so I corrected that. Boom! anxiety, nervousness, panic attacks under control. The palps on the other hand much more elusive. Finally got it down to 2 things. My Gastro tract, and mineral deficiency. I started to eat slower, healthier, chew my food thoroughly before swallowing, altered my diet some and lastly, started taking some supplements and poof! Palps went away. Here is a list of the sups I've been taking: daily- Wide spectrum, low sodium Ionic trace mineral drops 1/2 tsp in juice every morning, you can take more if need be, will cause laxative effects if too much is taken. Ubiquinol-100mg with 500mg ultra omega-3 oil. These two work better in conjunction with one another. I'm not here to promote, or sell any specific brand or company. I'm sure if you do a search for these products they can be gotten pretty easily. I hope this helps.

Some say that the palpitations are caused by parasites living near or on the heart, and if you do a parasite cleanse, you kill the parasites. I did the cleanse and have been doing the weekly cleanse and have noticed a marked decrease in heart palpitations. The palpitations are not gone, but they are much less frequent and much less noticeable. That said, I haven't eliminated all the parasites from my body yet either, and I continue passing them.

How did I miss this thread?
I am 55 years old. I have had excellent medical treatment since I was in my 20's. Always told I was healthy as a horse, low blood pressure etc. Earlier this year I started having these heart palpitations. They usually would start when I was sitting down and slouching over. They would last 5 or ten minutes and go away. They didn't seem to happen when I was working hard, like out in the garden. Finally decided to go to a doctor. They saw nothing, all sorts of tests, nothing. So I wore a heart monitor for a month. I had three attacks. The doctor said my heart raced up to 150 beats per minute. Diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/atrial-fibrillation/DS00291

Went to a second cardialogist and he disagreed and called it "svt" http://www.emedicinehealth.com/supraventricular_tachycardia/article_em.htm

The medical treatments are basically just the same. They do nothing, you live with it. OR, They put you on drugs like beta blockers, bad side effects. OR, They operate by going through your femoral arteries, into your heart, and scaring the offending tissues.

I do not like the way I feel when I have these so we have been talking about having the operation. I may have to try some of the things that you all are trying , first.

Miles

An "operation" is a _very_ serious event for your body, IMHO. I recently went through one and pretty much everything went as planned. I believe it was for the best but I can say absolutely that I DON'T want to EVER go through anything like that again - and I hope I don't have to. It was kinda like getting run over by a big truck - in the nicest way possible, of course. <g>

My heartfelt(!) advice is to try your best to go down all other trails first and then consider very carefully if the potential(!) chance of a cure is really better than the "disease".

Consider adjusting body rhythms (lack there of), chronic or recurring emotional states, eating habits, sleep habits (or lack thereof); reduce/eliminate repetitive bad experiences in your life (eg. a vicious commute). Meditations of various sorts calm the body _and_ the mind. In strenuous exercise that "gets your attention" our bodies can force us to divest of some of the psych and emotional drama many of us perfume our lives with. Fasting can interrupt whatever is going on physiologically and give the body a time-out to reset. And that's not even considering various herbs and drugs. Caffeine is a drug that might affect you - or not. People vary.

I have experienced heart palpitations and while I have not tracked them down as some folks on the topic have related, I believe firmly that they result from emotional states and a lack of very basic body function. For me active team sports or vigorous dancing (eg. Irish or 2-Step) seem to make me a lot more healthy. They provide strenuous exercise while at the same time you are in a supportive emotional space in the group that encourages, validates, draws out your effort and attention and generally puts you in a good healthy state for a while. Practice doesn't make perfect - it makes permanent. It's good to put yourself into a good state regularly so your body gets in the habit sorta speak. In many ways health is a practice - with both physical and emotional parts intertwined.

Edit to add: Get a pet. Be one of those silly people that love their dog or cat or whatever. Sure a ravishing S.O. might be better, but pets _work_. For 15 years I had a couple cats and one of them developed into a $4000 habit (plus food and accessories). He was cheap at twice the price.

Rufus

Rufus, thanks for the thoughts. I have always tried to avoid doctors and have done pretty well up until this last couple of years.
I moved to Denver in 2004. My family seems to love it here, but I hate it. To many people, long commute to work, high stress. I would really like to get back to Wyoming but I fear I would have to leave my family behind. So yes , all of those things you talked of , and more. I am still in the learning stage of how to best deal with this, so maybe I can still avoid the knife.

Hi, In my case I ended up with a diagnosis of CPVT (catecholinergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia) which is passed on genetically. Estimated 1/10,000 people according to NYU website. Diagnosed after being defibrillated multiple times on the floor of the ER. Now I have pacemaker/defib for 10 years.

Not trying to scare anyone, they say most premature beats (which can be perceived as palpitations) are harmless. 20 years ago when they tried treating people who had palpitations from frequent PVC's they found the medications were killing people, so they stopped this treatment.

Of course palpitions can have many other causes, so try to find the cause. If it's effecting your life, get a second opinion (though if your blacking out and doing face plants don't waste too much time

I take magnesium, pottasium (morton lite and seasalt in water bottle, 162 mg aspirin (was breaking a generic alka-seltzer in half with water to prevent ulcer), fish oil, multivit, B and D vitamins.

I have been an ample beer drinker since 15 years old and when dx'ed at 38 had borderline low magnesium. I interpeted this as having pissed out ALL my electrolytes and minerals. Cut back on booze, (2 glass red wine)

Please don't take this as medical advice. Just my story.

I used to go to about.com heart disease website where cardiologist Rich Fogoros had excellent articles and forum.

Bill

Miles

After going through the "serious" medical process, 2nd opinions, multiple tests, etc, etc, the other thing I'm convinced of (besides absolutely not wanting to do that again) is that nobody should venture into that machine without backup. You absolutely need a person to go with you to the appointments, tests, any meeting w/medical people where there will be information exchanged and, potentially, decisions made. You need them to take you to the hospital and watch everything; you need them to visit you during recovery and again watch everything.

Do I think all medical people are bad? No. Most are doing their job as well as they can. But their job does not really correlate with your best health interests. They are part of a system and while the system has vast resources that may be used to save your life, the system has no heart, no morals, no conscience. It's just a very big bureacracy that you're hoping to use to improve your health.

_You_ are the one that must actively manage your health care if you want something better than getting processed like a sardine. I found it extremely hard work and not nice at all. And I have the education and skills to ferret out details that matter (some of them, anyway); the medical people I encountered were pretty decent; the hospital was actively practicing the best patient procedures to prevent disease, mistakes and all that. And I still found the experience like a trip down the hill in a car w/out brakes. IOW you need backup. Totally.

Sorry for the rant. Now I look at it, this is clearly one of my sore points! But I can't find anything above that I would modify. Choose your backup like your life depended on it...

Rufus

Had all,panic attacks, anxiety .... all started with heart palpitations.

Took long time after I found out what is the problem.
GI problems..... check for Sibo,Candida,yeast infection,leaky gut ,celiac.....

Stay away from grains if you can....especially wheat, barley,rye,oats
Go alkaline diet. Check Dr.Robert o.young on YouTube

Glad you bumped this Martin as I have an update.

I went with the surgery. They went up both femoral arteries and cut the offending nerves that were causing the extra heartbeats. Walked out of the hospital that night and have not had a problem since.
The doctor and his staff were awesome. He says he did over 700 of these operations last year!

Wow good for you! I don't know if I would have courage to do operation.

I just know when gi tract is not functioning properly and bad guys (bacteria, yeast,missing good bacteria) then food can ferment and besides other things there is gas produced which presses on organs and it can affect vagus nerve , that's what triggered my palps.