High Heart Rate and Kidney Disease Question

[MartyVA]

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! I am new to this community and need your help. For about the last month, I have been experiencing High Heart Rates (HHR) that start, and within a minute or less, the HHR goes away. I have no problems during my walks or workouts. I have no symptoms. I begin to feel an increase, in pressure in my abdomen, and I can feel my heart rate increasing. MY HHR range between 120 to 150 BPM and usually lasts less than 30 to 40 seconds. However, twice, I have had multiple HHRs, as many as six within maybe two hours. My cardiologist thought I was experiencing sinus tachycardia. I have stage 4 chronic kidney disease, and I am already on carvedilol and amlodipine. The concern is that more medication will not help my HHR situation. I met with a Cardiac Electrophysiologist who is recommending an Ablation. I need to know what I should be looking for to help me better understand what's happening. Any suggestions?

[Hidden]

Hi Marty,

Sorry to read of your issues. Hey, I can only tell you of my own experience which may or may not resemble what you describe. Apart from the kidney problems - you mention an EP, and ablation ..... so I assume you have been officially diagnosed with some sort of heart arrythmia, i.e. Atrial Fibrillation. So, have you considered whether your bouts of HHR maybe follow food and/or drink you have consumed.

In the past my HHR and indeed lurching into AF have certainly stemmed from food I've eaten. Not so much drink.

You mention pressure in your abdomen. In the past I have experienced bloating and other digestive issues. The bloating in the past has been massive and very painful and does resemble pressure. Its a response to food I've eaten and mostly occurs after my evening meal, maybe as long as 6 to 8 hours and wakes me at night.

Its a reaction through the vagal nerve which initself is like an information superhighway between brain, heart and digestive system ( and many other organs too).

Thats my take as I said based on my own experience. I consulted a Nutritionist (here in UK ) you may refer to them as a dietician in the States. she developed a diet plan/food consumption plan and over many years I have pretty much got the problem under control - that combined with medication.

Hope that helps.

John

[MartyVA in reply to Hidden]

Hi John, I do not have any issues at night, but I am tracking when the HHRS occur and what I have been doing. Over the last few days, I have had three HHRs within an hour after eating. I had different meals and types of food, and once just a cup of decaffeinated tea. I will ask about the vagal nerve, and a possible repeat of the endoscopy I had back in June of 2021. They didn't find anything, but who knows what's happening now. Thanks, John

[CDreamer]

Hi Marty, so sorry to hear of your issues.

I am assuming that because of your kidney issues you will already be on a low potassium diet? Many arrythmias can be caused by digestion problems but also imbalance of electrolytes and I think that is something to consider? My father had kidney disease and had a lot of arrythmias and my understanding is that there is an increased risk of developing arrythmias with kidney disease. He was not treated for them.

This is purely my own opinion and obviously you must consult with not only your EP but your kidney specialist and GP, but unless these high heart rates are interfering with your QOL or are considered dangerous for you, I would be looking first at any Lifestyle Changes that could help. I’ve had 2 ablations for AF and had complications after both and it took a good 9 months to fully recover from the second and the AF returned some 3 years later.

Runs of tachycardia of 120-150 for a few minutes a day doesn’t to me sound like something that ablation would be recommended for - but what do I know?

One of the questions I would be asking the advising EP is why ablation? I am assuming there is some concern that because you couldn’t take more medication the risk would be that the tachycardia could become more troublesome? I would also assume that the very fact you are posting this as a question you yourself have some concerns about ablation. So consider exactly what your concerns are and what your health priorities.

And exactly what do you need to know about ablation?

In your position the questions I would be asking are:-

What’s the prognosis if I did nothing now?

Find out exactly the status regarding the structure of your heart before making any decision particularly If there has been any stretching of any of the chambers of the heart and ask what this would mean.

Find out exactly what the ablation would entail, what drugs would be used and how that would impact on your kidneys. Know the risks involved as well as potential benefits.

Consult a Nutritionist and look at your Eating plan - which might be looking at when and how you eat as much as what you eat - made any difference.

As John says - consultation with a nutritionist - not a dietician who would normally advise on medically advised diets - has helped many people.

Managing more than one condition becomes complex, as I know very well, when treatments for one impact on the another. I cannot take any heart meds at all so after 2 ablations which did give me a few years relief from arrythmias, my solutions lay in Lifestyle Changes and insertion of a RST pacemaker.

The other option is to just live with the HHR. I still have runs of tachycardia, the PM doesn’t control the higher HR it just lessens the frequency of the episodes, so on many days in the region of 120-130 and just ignore them. So my question is why are these runs of tachycardia of concern to the EP that they believe it is in your best interest to ablate?

Hope some of that helps.

[Maggimunro]

Hi MartyI sympathise with your problems. I only have one kidney , the other being deformed and eventually surgically removed in 2006. However, my remaining kidney is apparently working well.

Your HHR sounds very similar to mine and mine which escalated after my kidney was removed. It was supraventricular tachycardia. A regular but very rapid heart beat reaching 200 plus bpm, causing me to faint and or become very unsteady. I was unable to drive for more than six months for obvious reasons. Mine was brought on by stress. I was referred to an EP (electrophysiologist) who did a straightforward catheter ablation in 2016 and I’ve not had a single attack since. I now drive quite happily, even long distances.

Unfortunately , when they were doing my ablation they also discovered I was developing Afib,or an irregular irregular heartbeat . This did require two further ablations and I have been symptom free since 2017.

However, as others have said, I have also adopted several life style changes such as becoming pescatarian, and I take magnesium citrate every night . There is a lot of information available on this web site about lifestyle changes.

Keep us posted on your progress please.