The Hormone Connection

I've always believed that hormones play a role in the level of heart palpitations I experience. Whether it be an increased level of stress, menstrual or pregnancy hormones, the pacemaker in my heart has often responded with more paused, heavy beats. And although I've known for several years now that I'm predisposed towards Type II diabetes (because my father is diabetic and I was gestational diabetic with both my girls), I hadn't fully realized the hormone connection between insulin and my heart palpitations until recently. In my previous post, I mentioned that I was in a sugar detox/weight loss program. 2 months later and 10 pounds lighter, I'm still going strong. I have greatly reduced the number of processed sugars and carbohydrates in my diet. After reading what I believe is must-read for everybody, "Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It" by Gary Taubes, I was even more convicted in the belief that an abundance of carbohydrates in our Western diet has had detrimental consequences to our health and well being. I can honestly say that despite having a 3 month old and a 3 year old, I have never felt more energized and healthy. Better yet, I haven't had a bout of palpitations since I started the detox. Do I claim that this is the cure for heart palpitations? Certainly not. As I mentioned before, I believe that many different hormones play a role in our experience of the dance. I also believe that for whatever reason, we will have periods in our life, where we are not bothered by them as much. Luck, blessing, or discovery, I'll take the respite anyway I can get it. And you might think that sugar doesn't effect you and/or you might not be overweight, but it might be worth it to look into reducing your total carbohydrates in your diet. Ask your doctor of course.

They're back, and I'm back

My respite from palpitations a couple months a go has given way to a vengeance of them the last couple of weeks. Last Saturday evening, I had the worst case of them I've had in years. I had just laid down to go to sleep when they started to rear their ugly heads. The end of a day seems to be a common trigger for many of my palpitations. I'm not sure if I'm just not feeling them during the day and then when I go lay down, I start to notice them or if they are just they byproduct of a long stressful day. Usually, I believe it's the latter. A couple whumps later, I can tell my anxiety level starts to rise. I start to practice my deep breathing, but then my mind starts to play little tricks on me like "Uh oh, what if they don't stop? What if I start getting more of them? What if I have to go the hospital?" And as soon as that negative anticipatory anxiety starts, I get more and more of them. Pretty soon, I was in bigeminy or trigeminy where I started getting them every other or every third beat. I would exacerbate the condition when I started putting pressure on myself to "beat these pvcs" after all I'm an expert on them now, right??? I continued to deep breathe and then decided I would try talking to my husband for distraction. I started telling him all the things I had on my plate right now and all the stresses and worries I'm dealing with. That helped a lot and before I knew it, a gentle peace enveloped me and I fell asleep. I remember waking up around 3 a.m. in the morning excited that I had gotten some sleep and that the pvc's were no longer bothering me. Every time I'm successful at accepting and dealing with them, I'm encouraged that I do have the power to make them stop. I don't need a magic pill or a doctor to help me through them. I have me. My mind and attitude is my greatest ally.

But even after that successful night of stopping them, palpitations continued to bother me off and on throughout the week. It was the week before my period was to begin, and I firmly believe (although some male doctors won't admit it) that the fluctuating hormones played a role in the abundance of pvc's that I experienced this week. I also went out of town for a week and although vacation can be relaxing, just the change of routine, most likely contributed to them. I got back late yesterday and instead of relaxing and taking it easy I went over to a friend's party. As I was sitting outside in the hot and humid late afternoon sun she handed me a Mexican martini. I knew I was dehydrated and should have been drinking water, but I started to sip on the alcohol anyway. A couple minutes later, whump...whump...whump. My heart was skipping in a dance. We excused ourselves early. I went home and took a shower. They were still bothering me but when I sat up in a meditative pose and started to breathe in and out fully to counts of 3, 4, 5 and they started to diminish. My husband came in and gave me a back massage and once again, I started talking through all my worries. And guess what? The palpitations disappeared after an hour or so. I was able to go to sleep without any trouble and woke up late the next morning feeling refreshed and energized.