In the first part of this series, I shared my personal journey with heart palpitations that began forty years ago. I also shared what I believe to be the primary causes of them. If you missed that post, click … Read the rest →]]>

In the first part of this series, I shared my personal journey with heart palpitations that began forty years ago. I also shared what I believe to be the primary causes of them. If you missed that post, click here to read it. Today I’m talking about what works.

And so, without further ado, let’s get started:

(1) Magnesium Taurate – According this article put out by Natural News, an estimated 68 to 80 percent of the United States population is deficient in magnesium, an essential mineral which, among other things is responsible for maintaining a normal heart rhythm.

The article states that the major cause of this widespread deficiency is the result of 1) our growing dependence on processed food and, 2) soil erosion, which has significantly depleted the mineral content of our soil. As a result, many fruits and vegetables that were once rich in magnesium no longer contain it in adequate amounts, resulting in widespread deficiencies.

The good news is that supplementing with magnesium is simple and relatively inexpensive. The question then becomes, what kind of magnesium should I try?

Magnesium taurate is the best choice for people with heart arrhythmias. As you can see from the reviews of this product on Amazon, many people have found complete relief by taking it. And was I to argue with that? I bought myself some immediately.

Warning:
Within a day or two of taking magnesium taurate, my seemingly endless heart palpitations subsided. I was really stoked and thought I’d found my miracle cure. But after a couple of weeks, the palpitations returned with a vengeance.

It occurred to me that since the only change I’d made in my life was the magnesium, perhaps the magnesium itself was causing the palpitations. So I summoned Doctor Google and found this:

Signs of excess magnesium can be very subtle and can occur with long-term use of magnesium supplements and laxatives. The symptoms can be similar to magnesium deficiency and include: changes in mental status, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, extremely low blood pressure, and irregular heartbeat. 

So I backed off the magnesium (I was taking 4-125mg capsules per day) and after a couple of days, my palpitations eased up. They didn’t go away completely, but they did subside significantly.

I will reintroduce the magnesium taurate back into my system because it did offer some relief, but I’ll stick with one capsule.

Before rushing to your doctor to determine if you’re magnesium-deficient, read this article first.

(2) Avoid caffeine and other stimulants – Avoiding caffeine and other stimulants is another quick fix you can make. If you haven’t already sworn off regular coffee, energy drinks, even green tea (yes, it does have caffeine), do so now. It isn’t that hard and the effect on your heart palpitations will likely be profound.

I stopped drinking caffeine when I first started having heart palpitations. I noticed right away that drinking soda would make my heart go crazy. Today there are more beverages that include stimulants than I can count.

And it isn’t always easy to tell which products to avoid. Today manufacturers are using ingredients like taurine, guarana and ginseng. All are stimulants and will cause heart palpitations, especially on an empty stomach.

A word about alcohol:
I used to run a support group for fellow MVPS sufferers, and one thing I heard from a lot of folks was that alcohol often caused heart palpitations. I don’t (usually) have this problem but just something to keep in mind.

(3) Sleep – I cannot emphasize enough how important sleep is for people who suffer from heart palpitations. Good quality, restorative sleep. Unfortunately, if you’re anything like me, a quality night sleep is hard to come by.

Even when I follow all the rules (such as: going to bed at the same time every night, not watching television before bed, not turning on any bright lights before bedtime, etc), I still rarely get a solid night of sleep.

However, what I’ve noticed over the decades I’ve had heart palpitations is that, even after a lousy night’s sleep, I do not get them in the morning (though I might get them during the night).

For me, the earliest the palpitations start is late morning to early afternoon, but the better I’ve slept, the later they start! Sometimes after an especially good night’s sleep, I won’t have them at all.

A word about sleep aids:
I’ve tried several sleeping aids ranging from melatonin to Ambien, and they do help some. Melatonin, a natural hormone made by your body, regulates the natural cycles of sleep and wakefulness. It is available over the counter and works pretty well for me.

Ambien, and other prescription sleep medications, can be useful but come with certain risks and side effects. They should be used with caution.

(4) Exercise – Since fatigue is the most common complaint of MVPS sufferers, exercising can be a challenge. Trust me when I say I understand. Until a decade ago I was a yo-yo exerciser. I exercised haphazardly, at best.

But the thing I noticed was, when I was exercising regularly, I not only felt better physically (not to mention mentally and emotionally), I had fewer heart palpitations.

Here are a few tips to help avoid heart palpitations when exercising:

First, don’t stop suddenly. Take time to cool down and catch your breath. I’ve personally found that if I sit down when I’m still winded, my heart is much more likely to skip.

Time of day makes a difference, too. When I used to exercise during the evening (right after work and before dinner), I would sometimes get palpitations during exercise. I’ve since switched to morning workouts (trust me, this took a while to adjust to as I was not a morning person) and this is no longer an issue. I have never had palpitations during my morning workouts.

If you’re tied to working out in the afternoon or evening and you’re experiencing occasional heart palpitations, try eating half of a protein bar 15-30 minutes before your workout.

As I mentioned in the first part of this article, low blood sugar will frequently cause me heart palpitations if I don’t eat something as soon as I notice myself feeling a little jittery, and always when I exercise while I’m feeling this way. Even walking up a flight of stairs will make my heart bounce like a basketball.

If you still have trouble with heart palpitations during exercise, you may want to try yoga (see number 9 below) as it focuses on the breath which can help lessen palpitations.

(5) Valsalva Maneuver – In addition to heart palpitations, once in a while I’ll have an episode of tachycardia (an abnormally rapid heartbeat). During one of these episodes, the heart gets “stuck” in fast gear.

I discovered the Valsalva maneuver completely by accident in a desperate attempt to get my heart unstuck and beating normally again.

If you ever have an episode of tachycardia, draw in a deep breath, hold it in, and bear down as though you’re trying to take a poop. Bear down as hard as you can.

If it doesn’t work, repeat the move until it does. I just had an episode like this a few days ago. It took me a few attempts before my heart finally returned to a normal rhythm.

(6) Hydration – One of the first thoughts to enter my mind when I start having heart palpitations (right after the “oh sh*!, not again!”) is whether I’ve been drinking enough (non-caffeinated) fluids.

During the week at work, I have I a routine I follow which includes drinking one large container of water (20 ounces) in the morning and another in the afternoon (in addition to whatever I’m drinking at lunch).

On weekends, however, I’m far more likely to get dehydrated. I’m out of my routine and often too busy to think about whether or not I’m drinking enough water. I sometimes wake up in the morning (or during the night) with heart palpitations. When I do, I immediately reach for the bottle of water on my bedside and drink as much as I can. Quite often, the palpitations will subside within a few minutes.

(7) Position – I sometimes get palpitations when I’m in a reclined position. Returning to an upright position will often alleviate the problem. When I’m going through an especially rough period of them, sometimes lying flat on my back (no pillow under my head) for a few minutes during the day helps.

If I get palpitations at night when lying in bed, sometimes lifting my left arm over my head will help calm the heart down (this works when sitting too). And, if lying on a particular side causes them, turn over (or lie on your back).

As I mentioned in the first part of this series, Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome = Mitral Valve Prolapse + Dysautonomia. But what is dysautonomia anyway, and what does it have to do with heart palpitations?

During my visit to the Mitral Valve Prolapse Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, the doctor I saw explained dysautonomia this way:

We know the autonomic nervous system controls, among other things, the heart rate. When a car cuts you off or someone jumps out from the bushes and scares you, your autonomic nervous system sends a surge of adrenaline into your body and increases your heart rate, makes you more alert and capable of dealing with the “crisis” before you.

People with dysautonomia have a “faulty” autonomic nervous system. You can be in bed, or taking a bath, or relaxing on the sofa and your brain receives a false message that you are in distress. In response, it dumps adrenaline into your body when you don’t need it.

People with MVPS have hearts that are very sensitive to electrical activity and this surge of adrenaline is like a shockwave to the heart. Our hearts respond by not only speeding up but skipping beats.

The extra (unneeded) adrenaline also causes panic, which can exacerbate the effect and make the heart palpitations worse. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Medications can sometimes help block the electrical activity (see Bonus Round below), but there are a number of things you can do to help lower the “autonomic threshold,” which essentially means reducing the electrical activity to the heart (which translates into fewer heart palpitations).

I have personally practiced each of the next 4 activities and can attest to their ability to produce the desired results: fewer heart palpitations.

(8) Meditation – There are many forms of meditation. There are guided meditations, silent meditations, meditations using mantras, etc. For years I used a 20 minute guided meditation by Brian Weiss. I still love this meditation, but I started yearning for a silent meditation instead.

A few months ago, I downloaded The Mindfulness Ap ($2.99 for iphone, $1.99 for android), which offers both guided and silent meditations. You can select the length of time for the meditation as well as the intervals at which a soft bell chimes (which serves to drag me away from the thoughts that inevitably creep in and back to my meditation).

But meditation need not be a formal thing. You can meditate anywhere, anytime, for any length of time you have available. Even a few minutes with your eyes closed in a relaxed state will help.

I try to meditate at least once a day, even if it’s only for 5 minutes at a time. I find that quieting my mind helps lower that stress threshold and over time, if practiced regularly, will lessen my palpitations.

There are times during meditation that my mind will not shut down. Random thoughts will pop into my mind. Sometimes the thoughts come in a steady stream. This is completely normal, but unfortunately, causes most people to give up entirely.

To help combat the thoughts, I focus on my breathing…in and out, in and out…sometimes counting the breaths to 10 and then starting over (and always start over if you lose count). Sometimes I focus instead on keeping my eyebrows level…not letting them move up or down with my breath. Sounds funny, but it really helps to keep the thoughts at bay.

When my brain just won’t turn off, I use another app called the Breathing Zone. This app allows you to set the number of breaths per minute you want to start with, the number you want to end with, and the duration. For example, I might want to start at 10 breaths per minute and go down to 6 over a five minute period. A voice (you decide male or female) tells you when to breathe in and out. You can even pick the relaxing background sound (I like Flowing Water).

Regardless of what happens during the few minutes you take to meditate, you’ll always be more relaxed afterward. I try to do some form of quiet breathing throughout the day. I even set an Outlook reminder every 30 minutes to close my eyes and take three deep breaths. You can do this with your eyes closed or open.

(9) Yoga – I just started yoga about two years ago and absolutely love it! It’s a great workout centered around the breath. There are several different types of yoga, so be sure to try different kinds until you find the one that works best for you.

I personally prefer Vinyasa yoga. It’s an athletic, flow-based yoga that focuses on “one-breath, one-movement” using Ujjayi breath (pronounced oooh-jie-ee). This type of breathing is so effective in not only calming me but controlling my heart rate that I use it many times throughout the day.

At the end of a yoga session, I feel strong but also relaxed. You can’t help but leave whatever stress you came in with on the mat. And for any of you guys reading this, yoga is NOT just for women. At least a third of the people in the classes I go to are men!

(10) Biofeedback – Biofeedback works on the conscious mind. It teaches you to control certain body functions, such as heart rate. In biofeedback, you’re connected to electrical sensors that help you receive information (feedback) about your body (bio). This “feedback” helps you focus on making subtle changes in your body, such as relaxing certain muscles.

I first tried biofeedback around 20 years ago. My goal: learn how to relax and quiet my mind (ie lower my autonomic threshold) and thereby lessen the frequency and severity of my heart palpitations.

The therapist attached the electrodes to my shoulders, which was where I carried my stress back then. Relaxing music played in the background, which helped me relax. When I would start to hunch my shoulders, a gentle beeping sound would remind me to relax them.

Nowadays you can buy biofeedback machines and apps to use at home. One I discovered while researching this article is the Heartmath Inner Balance which will help you manage your stress by monitoring your heart and breathing rates and reminding you to focus on positive thoughts. I haven’t used this app and make no claims about its efficacy in managing heart palpitations, but it does look pretty neat.

(11) Neurofeedback – Unlike biofeedback, neurofeedback works on the unconscious mind, which includes the autonomic nervous system. As I mentioned above, the autonomic nervous system controls our heart rate. A faulty autonomic nervous system can send false electrical signals to the heart, causing heart palpitations.

Neurofeedback is like a workout for the brain. It receives and translates information from the brain (using small electrodes clipped to your ear and your head) and provides “feedback” to help train the brain and eliminate inefficiencies.

Here’s how it works. The electrodes are placed on your ears and scalp (four altogether). They are then fed into the software which interprets the brain activity. While you listen to soothing music, the brain sends signals (via the one-way electrodes) to the software.

When the software identifies an inefficiency (in the brain), it “interrupts” the music. You hear a slight skip (akin to a skip on an old record album when it hit a piece of dust, for example). Your brain uses that “feedback” to train itself to become more efficient.

At the time of writing this article, I’ve had 9 sessions. I noticed an immediate and significant reduction in palpitations. Coupled with the magnesium taurate, I had a couple of weeks without palpitations. Even now that they are back, they are far less frequent and pronounced.

If you really want to take care of your nervous system, try Nerve Shield Plus. Nerve damage can cause all sorts of other conditions such as the loss of limbs! Take care of your nerves and your whole body will thank you!

(12) Acceptance – This perhaps is the most bitter pill to swallow. As M. Scott Peck says in the opening line to The Road Less Traveled: “Life is difficult. Once we…truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult.”

I’m not sure I agree with the last part of that statement, but I do agree that acceptance is vital in order to move forward with our lives when we are suffering from a chronic condition. It’s taken me forty years to fully realize (and accept) that MVPS is something I am going to have to deal with for the rest of my life.

Sometimes, when the palpitations are especially bad, I cry. And get angry (at God, the universe, fate). But eventually the sun rises again and my battle-weary soul begins to heal and I remember all that I have accomplished in my life, despite the challenges I’ve faced. I am living proof that we can not only survive but thrive and accomplish great things if we are strong enough to pick ourselves up when we fall, dust ourselves off and come back stronger than before.

Bonus Round

Medication – Though this doesn’t exactly fall under the “natural” remedies category, I thought a discussion about medications was necessary.

Beta blockers and calcium channel blockers can be useful in controlling heart rhythm. I’ve been taking a beta blocker for a couple of years now and I really can’t say whether it’s helping or not. Since I began taking it, I haven’t noticed a reduction in my symptoms. In fact, recently I began decreasing the dosage to see if I notice any increase in activity. So far I have not.

Anti-anxiety medications can be also useful at times. It took me many years to really believe that I was not going to die from my heart palpitations. And still, when they get really bad, I wonder. Fear will always make your palpitations worse. Anxiety—that constant worry that they’re going to start—will almost certainly bring them on.

If you can learn to control your fear and/or anxiety, the severity of your palpitations will lessen. To this point, if the above techniques (meditation, yoga, bio or neuro feedback) do not help control the fear and anxiety, you may want to consider a medication you can take as needed (such as Xanax, valium, etc).

My hope in writing this three-part series about heart palpitations is that everyone who suffers from them will find something useful, something they haven’t tried, and as a result will find some relief.

So, what did you think? Do you suffer from heart palpitations? Were any of these suggestions helpful? Do you have any other suggestion that have helped you?

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This post is a bit of a departure from my usual sort, so if you’re a regular follower of my blog, please bear with me as I talk about something near and dear to me: my heart (and yours).

I … Read the rest →]]>

This post is a bit of a departure from my usual sort, so if you’re a regular follower of my blog, please bear with me as I talk about something near and dear to me: my heart (and yours).

I first started having heart palpitations in the 7^th grade. Forty years later, I still have them. Worse than ever. But over the last four decades, I’ve gained a lot of wisdom and a quiet (if not begrudging) acceptance of my situation.

This post is broken into 3 parts. First is My Story because, over the years I have found great comfort in knowing that I am not alone. And maybe, in hearing my story, you will find comfort, too.

In Part 2 of this post, I’ll share some possible causes of heart palpitations.

And lastly, in Part 3, I’ll share what works for me. I’m not a doctor and I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, but I have learned a few tricks along the way that have helped ease the distress and anxiety that comes along with persistent heart palpitations, and as a result, have lessened the frequency and severity of them. My hope is, these tips will help you too.

Forty years after my first “episode,” I can still remember the moment with alarming clarity. I had been working on the Presidential Youth Fitness Award Challenge and had just finished running. As soon as I sat down on the gymnasium floor to rest, my heart felt as though it was skipping rope. All by itself.

I was certain I was having a heart attack, and would die on the dirty floor in my sweaty, smelly gym uniform.

In the first of what would be a long string of visits to the doctor over the years, I was told that I was suffering from anxiety. And that there was nothing wrong with my heart.

I was thirteen years old! And while being a (shy and unpopular) teenager is by its very nature an anxiety-producing time in one’s life, even I knew that what was happening to me was more than just anxiety.

Over the years, the episodes continued, as did my worry. With each and every bout, I was certain I was going to keel over and die. As I grew older and the episodes became more frequent, my worry turned into full on panic.

The panic and anxiety eventually took on a life of its own. I began to fear going places where I had previously had an episode. Eventually, all I ever wanted to do was stay home. Alone. I began isolating myself from people mainly because having an episode when I was around someone freaked them out.

I remember a time in the early 1980’s when I was working at the University of Chicago. I was on the train platform in the evening after work when my heart got “stuck” in fast mode. Though I’d been standing still, it felt as though I’d been sprinting, and nothing I did would slow it down.

The fear was overwhelming and I recall falling to my knees. Someone called an ambulance and I was rushed to the hospital. When I arrived, my heart was beating at a rate of over 200 beats per minute. After receiving an injection of something from the doctor to slow my heart, it began to calm down.

Over the years, I’ve been to the emergency room more times than I care to remember. Every time I was sent away with the some variation of this admonishment: “There is nothing wrong with your heart. You need to learn to get a grip.”

Eventually, I began to think I really was crazy. That I had somehow manufactured the symptoms. Even the people in my life who loved me got tired of hearing me complain. I felt like the little boy who cried wolf.

And so I sought the help of a psychiatrist, who put me on heavy medications that made me feel like a zombie. The good news was that, when an episode would strike, I did not feel fear. In fact, I felt nothing at all. Ever. It was not a fun way to live. Eventually I stopped taking the medication.

Years later (I think it was around 1992), I moved to Napa, California and found a new doctor who promptly referred me to a cardiologist to have my heart checked out. It had never occurred to me over the years to see a heart specialist. I was so relieved to finally be going to a doctor who would, God willing, have some answers.

The first thing the cardiologist did was order a stress EKG. I stepped on the treadmill, hooked up to wires, when my heart began to do its thing.

“There!” I exclaimed. He shook his head. “I don’t see anything,” he said. I could not believe my ears. “But it’s skipping all over the place. You have to be able to see something!” Again he shook his head, and this time he wore a look of pity on his face. But it wasn’t the look on his face that upset me. It was the words that came out of his mouth.

“You’re crazy. There is nothing wrong with your heart.”

I heard nothing else he said after that. Instead I tore the electrodes off my body, leapt off the treadmill and grabbed my clothes. I dressed as fast as I could and hustled out of his office. When I got in my car I cried and raged and slammed my fists on the steering wheel.

And my heart palpitations got worse. A lot worse. I was going to die. Right there, in the parking lot of my cardiologists office. I just knew it. And wouldn’t that just serve him right!?

Once I had collected myself, I drove to the public library to get a book for my (then) boyfriend, who was building a house and asked me to find a book on heating and air conditioning systems.

That’s when the miracle happened.

I found the section I was looking for and began thumbing through the books. I pulled one off the shelf and another book tumbled to the floor. I bent down to pick it up and the hair on my arms stood at attention. It was called Confronting Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome.

On the front cover was a list of symptoms associated with this heart condition: Awareness of Heartbeat, Fluttering in Chest, Rapid or Forceful Heartbeat, Panic or Anxiety Attacks, and so on. I turned the book over to read the back cover blurb. I immediately began to cry. There, in bold letters, it said:

“YOU ARE NOT CRAZY. MVPS IS REAL!”

I raced to the checkout counter, then sprinted to my car. It was the night before Thanksgiving and I sat in my car long after the library had closed and read the book cover to cover by the dim light of my interior dome light. The following day I called my mom and asked her if I could borrow enough money to go to Alabama. To the one and only (at least then) Mitral Valve Prolapse Center at the Alabama Heart Clinic.

At the clinic, I was run through a series of tests including an echocardiogram of the heart to check for Mitral Valve Prolapse, and a “tilt table” test to check for dysautonomia, both of which make up the condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome. I tested positive on both.

I’ve included more information about Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome in the next section, so I won’t go into that here, but what I will say here is that I believe that most (if not all) people who suffer from recurring benign heart palpitations (which includes “extra” or skipped beats, tachycardia or anything that makes you feel as though your heart is not beating properly) also suffer from this syndrome.

Since I am not a doctor, I cannot tell you for sure that this is true. It’s just what I believe. If you’re a sufferer of heart palpitations, read the section below, check out the resources, and decide for yourself.

What Causes Heart Palpitations Anyway?

For most of my life, my “episodes” would last a couple of weeks. If I was lucky, I’d go months in between episodes. But two years ago, after undergoing four surgeries for breast cancer (while simultaneously going into menopause), they started and, until recently hadn’t stopped, even for a day.

Below I’ve compiled a list of what I believe to be the 12 most common causes—or triggers—of heart palpitations.

1. Magnesium Deficiency – According this article put out by Natural News, an estimated 68 to 80 percent of the United States population is deficient in magnesium, an essential mineral which, among other things is responsible for maintaining a normal heart rhythm. But before you rush out and buy some magnesium, be sure to read Part 3 of this post, where I’ve included information on the exact type of magnesium you should buy (tip: the stuff you buy at the drug store, and even your local vitamin store is not the type you should use).

2. Low blood sugar – I’m prone to low blood sugar episodes. They typically occur just before lunch and also before dinner. If I don’t eat on time, I start to feel sweaty and jittery, and if I don’t eat immediately, my heart will bounce like a basketball in my chest, and it’s very hard to get it back under control.
3. Caffeine and other stimulants – caffeine is a known stimulant and will immediately cause me heart palpitations. Additionally, there are “hidden” stimulants in many beverages, such as taurine, guarana, ginseng, etc. Even green tea has caffeine. Beware of these ingredients if you’re sensitive to stimulants. Sometimes I also find that eating sugar/chocolate in the evening will cause palpitations.

4. Alcohol – Quite a number of people have told me that drinking alcohol will cause them heart palpitations. I’ve had this happen on occasion myself, but usually only when I’m drinking something on an empty stomach.

5. Dehydration – even mild dehydration can cause heart palpitations. Keep water with you always, even during the night.

6. Not enough sleep – My heart palpitations are always worse when I’m not getting enough sleep. Unfortunately, lack of adequate sleep has become an epidemic in our fast-paced over-achieving society.

7. Stress and anxiety – Over the years I’ve noticed that my heart beats like a champ during stressful periods. It’s afterward, when the stress is over, that it will start skipping like a maniac.I also suffer from periodic anxiety or panic attacks, which almost certainly will bring on the heart palpitations, or worsen them if they occur during an episode.

8. Overstimulation – I’ll explain more about this in Part 3 of this post, but basically, the more amped up (excited) I get, the more likely I am to have a bout of palpitations.

9. Sitting or lying in the wrong position – For most of my life, lying on my left side was sure to bring on palpitations. Now, however, it’s my right side! I also find that sitting in a reclined position can also bring them on or make them worse.

10. Getting sick – I can usually tell when I’m coming down with something. When my body is fighting a virus, my heart palpitations will be terrible for a day or two before I start to experience symptoms.

11. Stopping exercising too quickly – I frequently find that if I don’t take the time to cool down after an intense workout—if I simply stop and sit down to rest—I will often experience palpitations.

12. Menopause – It is estimated that 25% to 40% of women, even those who never had heart palpitations before, will develop them in menopause (sometimes even during peri-menopause).

Why Me?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably made some variation of the following statement: But my husband/sister/friend constantly drinks caffeine (never sleeps, is constantly stressed, etc) and never gets heart palpitations. Why do I? It’s not fair!!

First, I agree. It’s NOT fair! But then, life isn’t fair. With the exception of number 1 above (and possibly number 12, I think of the items list above more as “triggers” rather than actual causes of heart palpitations.

I believe that most people who suffer from palpitations also suffer from Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome (MVPS).

Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome – The True Cause of Heart Palpitations

What is Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome (MVPS)? MVPS consists of two separate but related disorders: Mitral Valve Prolapse and Dysautonomia.

Mitral Valve Prolapse

The mitral valve is the main valve in the left chamber of the heart. In someone with mitral valve prolapse (also known as floppy valve syndrome, systolic click murmur syndrome, and Barlow’s syndrome, named after the doctor who discovered the disorder in 1966), the two valve flaps of the mitral valve do not close properly, allowing a small amount of blood to leak backward through the valve.

It is estimated that MVP affects 10-25% of the entire population, though most people who have it are completely unaware of it and their health is not affected.

Dyautonomia

The autonomic nervous system is composed of two systems; the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. It controls virtually all bodily functions including respiration, heartbeat, blood pressure, and digestion. When this system is out of balance it can cause a myriad of symptoms, including heart palpitations, panic attacks, anxiety, fatigue, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and more.

This combination of symptoms is known as MVP Syndrome. MVPS is not life threatening. It can, however, be lifestyle threatening (as I eluded to in My Story above).

It is estimated that 40% of people with MVP also have dysautonomia.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of MVPS can be tricky. Normally, a diagnosis of MVPS is made by physical examination, a careful medical history, and an echocardiogram. In addition, other tests may be performed to confirm the diagnosis of dysautonomia, such as a tilt table test.

However, such tests can be limiting. For example, MVP does not always show up on an echocardiogram. Thus, MVPS is a “clinical” diagnosis, and may be based on a patient’s history of symptoms as well as the patient’s family history. (It’s interesting to note that the vast majority of people with MVPS do have a strong hereditary link.)

In my case, while I was affirmatively diagnosed with MVPS at the Alabama Heart Clinic, since that time, two echocardiograms have shown I do not have a prolapsed mitral valve. However, with a strong family history of MVPS (my mother had it, even though she too was diagnosed with an “anxiety disorder,”) and two of my sisters have it as well.

With the volume and frequency of symptoms I have experienced over forty years, I have no doubt that MVPS is the correct diagnosis for me.

Symptoms of MVPS include, but are not limited to:

• Heart palpitations (“extra” or skipped beats, tachycardia, or other feeling that your heart is beating irregularly)

• Fatigue (this is the most commonly reported symptom)

• Shortness of Breath

• Panic or Anxiety Attacks

• Chest Pain or Tightness

• Dizziness, Shakes and Jitters

• Sleeping Difficulties

• Migraine Headaches

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome

For further information about MVPS, check out the following resources:

• The Society for Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome/Dysautonomia at: www.mitralvalveprolapse.com
• Thoughts on Anxiety, Stress and Managing an Irregular Heartbeat (blog)  at: www.lifeoffbeat.com
• The Mitral Valve Prolapse Center (Birmingham, Alabama) at: http://mvpctr.com/

A Word about Cardiologists:
In my experience, I have yet to find a cardiologist with a thorough understanding of MVPS, which apparently translates into a general lack of sympathy for those who suffer the symptoms of the condition. Perhaps this is because MVPS is not a life-threatening condition.

Therefore, the burden falls on us, the sufferers, to not only understand the condition, but also to find ways to help ourselves deal with and manage our symptoms. In Part 3 of this post (which will air next week), I will share 12 Ways to Ease Heart Palpitations (Naturally).

In the meantime, if you are a fellow heart palpitation sufferer, I’d love to hear your story. Drop a comment below or email me at: Suzanne@suzannevince.com.