I have long been of the mind that sugar is one of the main triggers of ectopics (which in turn could start an arrhythmia) so decided to do a little trial which may be of interest.
Over the last 3 months (was going to wait 6 months but outcome was so consistent that now ended the trial), when I eat too much sugar - more than one cake within an hour, around 10 minutes later my heart starts having ectopics, these are consistent ectopics in that every fifth beat is a double beat. Now these are not bad ectopics and in truth would probably not know that were there if I was not sensitised to them, these these last around 20 minutes. The other interesting thing is that these ectopics only appear when my heart is resting with a HR of 55 to 59, they do not happen when my HR is 60 or above?
In my case I have been in NSR since my ablation two and a half years ago stand fast the first 3 months recovery and the odd short runs of tachycardia when I over exert myself. The ablation itself was, in the main, a success (I still have MAT which could not be ablated) as I now live a normal life with very little heart problems - I do get the odd ectopic (everyone does) but these are now hardly noticeable.
Whilst we are all different and will have different triggers I thought this may be of interest as I am sure there will be many having similar issues when taking too much sugar.
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My conclusion is it is the gluten in the flour. Cake maybe contains more than Jaffa cakes. Our kitchen now has many different flours (coconut, pea etc), no supermarket wheat flour. If wheat is needed ancient grains such as organic spelt are substituted. I read somewhere (sorry can't remember the source) where they said extra gluten is added! by manufacturers of bread to already poor quality for health wheat varieties and no doubt cake.
I can believe that. I try to stay gluten free and use rice flour for making gravy and was having that type of bread, but it really is horrible, so have gone back to wholemeal. I don't think that wheat is the problem and have lactose free milk, am generally ok now.
Sugar is probably the one single addictive additive that we all were introduced to as children - and given as treats and rewards! When you really think of that - what other species would deliberately poison their children?
My children didn’t know what sweets were - until they went to school but I did make cakes, pied and desserts and my eldest is absolutely addicted to sugar.
I had a sugar, dairy and gluten free 12 months and felt so much better but have never eaten more than one cake or slice of per week and now only on special occasions.
We have a lot to blame the Elizabethians for and introducing sugar is top of the list!
I was the same with my children and also with my grandchildren; I will never be the Grandma who has a jar of sweeties hidden for treats. My daughters have carried on; the children get lots of treats but in general not sugar.
Very valuable heads-up to many I'm sure. I totally agree from experience. I used to know every quality cake shop within 50 miles of our house! I am grateful for AF weaning me off and saving me from diabetes etc. The gluten in many cheap supermarket flours is also a big culprit.
This article comments:
“If you have low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), foods high in processed sugars and carbohydrates can trigger heart palpitations. These foods can force your blood sugar levels to spike, and wild swings in your blood sugar levels may increase the likelihood of experiencing palpitations.”
Agree. I love my “stem” ginger biscuits and used to have two with afternoon tea. Then I noticed I was feeling unwell afterwards and told family I might have to give them away. I trialled eating one and was OK! Then I read the label and found the culprit flavour additive 330 (e330 in Europe). This is a citric acid which for me causes all manner of symptoms! I first noticed I couldn’t tolerate it in my 30s. Nearly 30 years on my threshold of tolerance is 0! Caramel colouring additive (e150) is the worst. All the foods listed in this article cause me grief: healthline.com/nutrition/ci...
Yep can definitely relate to this, cake / sugar causing ectopic beats. A very noticeable phenomenon during the first few months after my ablation. 16 months on I get the odd skip eating cake / sugar but not always.
The problem could also relate to digestion / acid reflux. Getting this under control with medication along with my ablation has pretty much stopped all day to day heart issues. I still get mild / short runs of fast beats every so often, but the space between episodes seems to be growing.
The only thing that has put me into mild AF on and off for a day was during a period I was eating protein bars daily. I think many contain all sorts of crap + overloading on vitamins that screw your heart rate up.
This is a daft question, but how do you know you are having ectopic beats? do you take a kardia ecg, feel strange or do you feel your pulse? or something else.
It can vary depending on the condition of my heart at the time. At its worst they are a very noticeable extra beat or a missed beat followed by a very noticeable beat, they can make you feel momentarily dizzy and can make you take a deep breath. Following my ablation they are more like a flutter or a missed beat that makes you take a deep breath. Everyone get ectopics many do not feel them. I do have an app on my phone called "Cardio" which shows a sine wave of your heart pumping, what I noticed after eating too much sugar was that I had 4 beats perfectly sinusoidal followed by 1 that was like a twin peak without going below the centre line.
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