Note to new readers: please note I'm not a health care provider and have no medical training. If you have heart palpitations, I have no idea whether the following will work for you.
Over the past several days, I've had a rough time with heart palpitations and feeling physically jittery. I was wondering if I was going to turn into one of those people who can't sit still. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it would be a major lifestyle change.
Kidding aside, something wasn't right and I really needed to get back to normal. I tried popping potassium pills like candy. I ate more. I doubled up on my iron dose. I went to yoga and even got on the treadmill at 6 AM yesterday. I tried the nuclear option of eating more carbs to stop peeing away minerals. Most of these things helped, but the problem kept coming back.
A comment from Galina made me look up epinephrine, one of the drugs my surgeon used to anesthetize me Friday. First, the assistant at the surgeon's office said they didn't use epinephrine, then said they did, and said it couldn't have been a side effect because so many days had passed (she also got the date of the surgery wrong). But hypokalemia (lack of potassium) is one of the side effects listed on drugs.com. If epinephrine reduces potassium, the potassium isn't going to come back just because the drug has worn off. Drugs.com also says that arrythmias have been reported in patients with underlying cardiac disease. I don't have cardiac disease, but one of the symptoms of hypokalemia is abnormal heart rhythms. I'd also changed my diet recently (started Atkins induction, which can reduce levels of potassium, salt and magnesium temporarily). And for a few days after the oral surgery, I probably didn't eat enough. Even under the best circumstances, I don't absorb minerals well. The combination, I think, sent me over the edge.
So why didn't popping potassium pills fix this? I wondered if potassium absorption might depend on magnesium because of a supplement I saw at GNC that had both minerals. I was grasping at straws, but I was desperate. A search in Google books confirmed this (the synergy, not my desperation). But had I searched my Kindle, I'd have found the answer faster:
I didn't suspect I was low in magnesium because that typically gives me GI problems in the form of trouble swallowing and constipation. But popping magnesium pills has brought relief. Hopefully, I'll be in bed tomorrow morning listening to classical music instead of burning off nervous energy on the treadmill.
Over the past several days, I've had a rough time with heart palpitations and feeling physically jittery. I was wondering if I was going to turn into one of those people who can't sit still. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it would be a major lifestyle change.
Kidding aside, something wasn't right and I really needed to get back to normal. I tried popping potassium pills like candy. I ate more. I doubled up on my iron dose. I went to yoga and even got on the treadmill at 6 AM yesterday. I tried the nuclear option of eating more carbs to stop peeing away minerals. Most of these things helped, but the problem kept coming back.
A comment from Galina made me look up epinephrine, one of the drugs my surgeon used to anesthetize me Friday. First, the assistant at the surgeon's office said they didn't use epinephrine, then said they did, and said it couldn't have been a side effect because so many days had passed (she also got the date of the surgery wrong). But hypokalemia (lack of potassium) is one of the side effects listed on drugs.com. If epinephrine reduces potassium, the potassium isn't going to come back just because the drug has worn off. Drugs.com also says that arrythmias have been reported in patients with underlying cardiac disease. I don't have cardiac disease, but one of the symptoms of hypokalemia is abnormal heart rhythms. I'd also changed my diet recently (started Atkins induction, which can reduce levels of potassium, salt and magnesium temporarily). And for a few days after the oral surgery, I probably didn't eat enough. Even under the best circumstances, I don't absorb minerals well. The combination, I think, sent me over the edge.
So why didn't popping potassium pills fix this? I wondered if potassium absorption might depend on magnesium because of a supplement I saw at GNC that had both minerals. I was grasping at straws, but I was desperate. A search in Google books confirmed this (the synergy, not my desperation). But had I searched my Kindle, I'd have found the answer faster:
However, persistent hypokalemia unresponsive to sodium and potassium replacement can be a sign of underlying magnesium depletion....the best test for magnesium depletion is a 20-day course of oral replacement...a long as the patient has normal renal function. (The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Jeff S. Volek, Ph.D., RD and Stephen D. Phinney, MD, Ph.D., 2011, page 166.)
I didn't suspect I was low in magnesium because that typically gives me GI problems in the form of trouble swallowing and constipation. But popping magnesium pills has brought relief. Hopefully, I'll be in bed tomorrow morning listening to classical music instead of burning off nervous energy on the treadmill.
Comments
Anesthetic drugs are never discussed with a patient, I discovered the use of the Epinefrine during almost ALL SURGERIES completely by chance because due to my very strong allergic reaction on a Novocain I started to investigate the anesthesia cocktail and got curious why after treating cavities I went down with migraines with 100% probability.
I hope our discussion will be useful for other readers, I just want to warn you, guys. Doctors absolutely hate to work without the Epinefrine, and be prepared they will sneak it it the mix anyway without telling you - I had such experience, so take supplements after anyway. Every doctor I talked with thought I wanted to avoid heart palpitations (they thought it was a minor issue for a healthy person), but somehow my desire to avoid a migraine usually met more cooperation.
I think my intuition led me the other day to have the meat and cheese plate (lots of potassium in the pork plus some meats are cured with potassium nitrate) and mineral water (magnesium).
and i'm glad you're getting the problem sorted out, Lori! when I tried using DLPA or tyrosine, I was getting that wired feeling, and it's not pleasant!
that said, I had a lot of 'power surges' during menopause...not hot flashes. Major adrenaline surges. Thank God those days are long over...
Hope you are feeling loads better.
Take Care and .....
All the best Jan