Just asking: Hi I have followed this... - Atrial Fibrillati...

Atrial Fibrillation Support

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Aun4sim profile image
22 Replies

Hi I have followed this amazing forum for a few years now and have really felt the care of honest kind people who have all kinds of ailments and problems.I had ablation for SVT 2.5 years ago sadly it’s been unsuccessful I started with SVT some 15 years ago after having my thyroid removed and to be honest have never felt myself since that op.But my question is I have this unusual pain in my chest but feels like it goes under my left boob and armpit but also gives me gas and nausea it’s so strange but when it flares up I have more Svts can there be a link to the gut and svt?I have had echo scan chest X-ray mammogram and nothing showed up but my frustration is trying to get the specialists to link up and talk to each other so I can rule out is this thyroid heart or stomach problems.Thankyou in advance for reading my post I really appreciate it 🙏🏻

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22 Replies

So sorry for your worry Aun4sim. Many on here would agree that a feature of some/ many arrythmias ( BUT NOT EVERYTHING) is the vagal nerve. A dysfunctional VN can provide some weird symptoms. Simply put it is a significant nerve acting like an information superhighway between the brain, the heart and the digestive system. BUT not exclusively. Given that a picture is worth a thousand words Google 'diagram of vagal nerve' and amaze yourself where the nerve goes .... vagal means 'wandering' in this context. Good luck, hope this helpsJohn

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim in reply to

Thankyou so much for your reply this is very helpful I will google now .Take care of you 😌

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim in reply toAun4sim

Oh my word Iv just looked at the Diagram it goes every where this makes so much sense.Is there anyway of making this a stronger nerve to help it??Thankyou again

CDreamer profile image
CDreamer in reply toAun4sim

Yes there is - Meditation, Mindfulness, Breathing Exercises, avoiding food triggers, singing/humming, cold water bathing/cold showers, eating 3 types of raw cultured foods daily - just to name a few.

Google & you will see lots of suggestions but this is quite a good site

yourholisticpsychologist.co...

I read a paper this morning on evidence that gut flora controls vagal tone so dig deeper & work on improving gut flora.

Hope that helps but don’t expect results immediately- this has taken a long time to get this way so will have similar time frame to reverse.

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim in reply toCDreamer

Thankyou for your amazing reply I meditate yoga and do mindfulness every day so I feel I’m a little bit on my way Thankyou.Il go and have a read this information is so helpful .Thankyou again 💫

in reply toAun4sim

Hiya Aun4sim,Glad to help - that's a great comment from CD - you'd be well advised to pay special note to her thoughts.

I didn't go through all the processes she has described, rather I went to a Nutritionist for advice and worked my way from there.

CD's last two comments are so very valid. 1) gut flora .... more and more today this 'field' is becoming increasingly recognised as the bodys 2nd Brain as it is now being given credit for significantly influencing our overall health. Well worth you, if you are so inclined, to read up on this vast, vast subject. 2) Once you start down this track, its exactly what CD says, takes a long time. So, be as patient as you can. Even if your real brain isn't telling you that you are feeling better, your gut flora has its hands in prayer formation and is saying thank goodness --- at last 😊

Thanks to this process I can honestly say my heart chucks an AF wobbly 3 to 4 times a year - quite at random. sometimes I need paramedics, mostly I don't, just a chat to my GP. The rest of the year it is what it is.

Even now after 10 years of following my own personal food plan I still get the occasional surprise. Usually after a meal in a restaurant when I weaken and fall for the temptation of eating stuff that looks or sounds great ... but isn't.

My personal mantra is ... calm the vagal nerve, calm the heart.

Posture too can be another feature of a dysfunctional vagal nerve. There is much evidence to show that sleeping on ones left side can promote an AF event in the early hours of the morning. More likely as not a function of sleep posture and food eaten the previous evening.

OK that's it ... good luck on your AF journey. Sadly, this VN approach isn't for everyone as their AF usually has its roots elsewhere.

John

in reply toCDreamer

What particular foods are recommended for improving gut flora?

CDreamer profile image
CDreamer in reply to

Cultured foods - kefir, yogurt, kumboocha, cheese - as long as it doesn’t come in plastic, sauerkraut, kimchi, artisan sourdough bread and would include beer as long as it’s traditionally brewed.

Listen to the podcast link I posted a few days ago - BBC Radio 4, One Thing, Dr Mosley

healthunlocked.com/afassoci...

in reply toCDreamer

I like the sound of the last item!

Snowgirl65 profile image
Snowgirl65 in reply toCDreamer

Your website link is very informative, CDreamer.

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman

I've had gastric and cardiac issues for years including palpitations, IBS, hiatus hernia and diverticular disease. Whilst my GP thinks there's a connection, I've never found a specialist who shows much concern or interest in any link.

Last November, I started with my current "session" of symptoms, which are continuing. While bending to dismantle my grandson's cot during his parent's house move, without any great physical strain, my heart decided to race at 125bpm and I felt "weird". Rest and a bisoprolol brought things back to normal, except that an uncomfortable area remained just below my sternum, to the left, below the rib cage. Nausea then set in, and, over three months later, is still there on and off.

It was an up and down time for me, sometimes difficult, often anxious - and still is. At other times, adding to or replacing the nausea, is a "tightness" or "pulling" discomfort under my left rib which can spread around to the back and up into the shoulder blade area, often feeling like a trapped nerve with a "zizzing" feeling. Trapped wind and burping and worse diverticular symptoms are often a daily issue.

I get the fast heart rate if I do certain things, mostly when I am stretching or bending, or - weirdly - stressed or frustrated at someone. Yesterday, it began while building a lightweight climbing frame for my grandson's birthday and I decided to take a bisoprolol to calm things down. It's all very odd, worrying and frustrating. I'm currently wearing a two-week heart monitor and had an echo cardiogram just over a week ago.

As for treating it, I can honestly say I have tried lots of "alternative" remedies with no success whatsoever. Is it "vagal", well - maybe, but knowing that doesn't help much since doctors have little time for the idea, and "treatments" don't work. The vagal nerve has come to be the centre of many internet ideas, but, truthfully, I can't find that it matters since it can't be proven or fixed!

Such is life, eh? Oh to be younger.

Steve

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim in reply toPpiman

Hi Steve Thankyou for such a lovely reply your Grandson has a lot to answer for😂I’m going to be a nana any day now so maybe that’s affecting the Svt but I feel very calm.it’s so interesting hearing everyone else’s symptoms yet when I go into Svt I feel I’m the only person in the world with it as the fear never gets any less scarier with each attack!I send you healing and health 😌

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman in reply toAun4sim

And thank you for such a kind and thoughtful reply, too. What we need is an elixir of youth. I'm sure they're available on the internet and with many 5* reviews, but I think I shall save my pennies.

You are in for an incredibly lovely time of life when you come to be called "Nana"! There's nothing like it in my experience (except I'm called "Grandpa" of course).

Steve

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim in reply toPpiman

Haha of course🤭Grandpa!!😄

Singwell profile image
Singwell

Have you heard the one about the cardiologist, the endocrinologist and the gastroenterologist? Bet you haven't - because so much of our medical best practice is geared toward specialism on one discipline at a time - we need a lot more multidisciplinary thinking and treatment! But to say something useful - what you are describing sounds gastric to me. I've had similar and thought I might have had a hiatus hernia. I changed my diet and it got a lot better. If you go onto the British Hernia Association website you might recognise some of the symptoms they describe. Obviously this is a personal observation - I'm.noy medically trained. I do hope you get to the bottom of it.b

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman in reply toSingwell

Hi - was that a reply to me? If so - thank you. I’ve tried all sorts for my hiatus hernia and other symptoms over the many years it’s been a trouble. The heart problem began in earnest two years ago with tachycardia and flutter, successfully treated by an ablation.

I’m hoping this is gastric but it seems not to affect my stomach itself if that makes sense (i.e. the sensations are all outside the stomach). It’s very strange and is proving difficult to pin down.

Steve

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim in reply toPpiman

I feel like you have described my symptoms there Ppiman this stomach problem isn’t in the stomach .

Singwell profile image
Singwell in reply toPpiman

It wasn't specifically but I'm glad it's helped. I 'fixed' whatever was going on with me by following a nutritional acid reflux diet. As my digestive function improved the problem went away. You can have sliding hiatus hernia - comes and goes. It's very common and I think often caused by long term digestive problems where the lower oesophageal sphinter is constantly compromised and eventually the stomach pops through into the diaphragm. Raise the head of your bed on two bricks, always complete your evening meal three hours before bed, sleep on your left side if you can. I always start on the left.

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman in reply toSingwell

Thanks. I have tried raising my bed with no success and I can't sleep on my left, sadly, as that sets off my IBS or diverticular issues within minutes for some unknown reason. I've also tried various techniques to physically force the hernia back into place, again, with no success.

I envy people who can find solutions to long-term health problems, I really do. Why alternative medicine and other treatments work for some and not others, I'll never know. I so wish that they worked for me. I have insomnia and sinus problems, too, and I'm often given advice by friends how to solve both, yet still I can't find an answer.

In life, it seems to me that the very lucky ones stay well; the lucky ones find an easy solution for their ills; and then there are the less lucky ones who muddle through. Of course, there are far unluckier ones, too, poor souls. Life, eh?

Steve

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim

Thankyou singwell do you Singwell🤭?Its such a relief hearing people have similar symptoms Iv had the camera 3 times and they said I had a small hiatus hernia so you could be right.If only the hospital worked as well as going shopping everything you need through one till it’s bloody exhausting having to self diagnose our selves all the time Thankyou keep safe 😌

Singwell profile image
Singwell in reply toAun4sim

A teach others to singwell now and also other teachers 😃

Aun4sim profile image
Aun4sim in reply toSingwell

How wonderful 🗣

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