Anyone treating palpitations with ibuprofen? I did and WOW!

Posted by Ms. Mac @donnamac, Aug 24 7:09am

For 9 months I have had daily, non stop, never ending bigeminy (double heart beat every other beat) since I had Covid last November.

I usually never take ibuprofen but a month or so ago, I had a bad knee and took 1/2 of a 200 ml of Motrin. The entire next 20 hours or so, I had normal heartbeat with no palpitations. So I tested it out, figuring it was a very nice coincidence but just a coincidence. I waited two days and took another 1/2 of ibuprofen, within an hour, palpitations stopped for an entire 24 hour period. I mentioned this to my Primary Care Doc but was flatly told that one has nothing to do with the other. However, knowing that Covid symptoms are reportedly caused by inflammation, and ibuprofen treats inflammation, why wouldn't it help?

And then, I found this article originating from Mayo Clinic: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/heart-inflammation-after-covid-19

It may not be a cure, and I have not taken ibuprofen in 30 years, until I was in so much pain, and then this happened. My issue is, ibuprofen is high on a list of no no drugs, especially for elderly people. But if afib, or heart palpitations are constant, or off and on, when someone over 65 has it from long Covid, which is worse?
Thanks for reading this.
Donna Mac

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 Support Group.

Thanks for writing this, Donna Mac.

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donnamac
Sometimes you just have to treat the problem in front of you! Doctors really know very little about what we are experiencing. The only things that have eased my symptoms, I came up with myself.

It seems to me like a very low dose, and in your case well worth any possible “risk”.
Also, over time you can try not taking, and see if the problem has resolved.
Good luck to you.

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@donnamac I have palpitations very often, but cannot take Ibuprofen because it irritates my stomach!

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I would like to take this medication too, I did take it years ago for disc pain but it started giving me bad symptoms so I stopped. I also suffer from rapid heartbeats since covid and it is wearing me down, now I just started on Mirtazapine and they are not compatible, I research everything and learn more about things online than even the doctor knows about lol, I was told that beta blockers can slow down the heart but I can’t take them due to asthma. I have no clue what to do about this, I’ve been going through this almost two years, I always thought that cancer would take my life one day but now I’m not so sure anymore, it can’t be very good for me to live with this problem but I don’t have anymore answers.

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@frouke

I would like to take this medication too, I did take it years ago for disc pain but it started giving me bad symptoms so I stopped. I also suffer from rapid heartbeats since covid and it is wearing me down, now I just started on Mirtazapine and they are not compatible, I research everything and learn more about things online than even the doctor knows about lol, I was told that beta blockers can slow down the heart but I can’t take them due to asthma. I have no clue what to do about this, I’ve been going through this almost two years, I always thought that cancer would take my life one day but now I’m not so sure anymore, it can’t be very good for me to live with this problem but I don’t have anymore answers.

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I am not supposed to take ibuprofen either due to asthma, and also beta blockers. But, I've been on metroprolol 25 mg and other blood pressure meds. I read that ibuprofen causes heart palpitations but for me, it stops them. Please check with your doctor to see if you could at least take the small dose as I do, to see if your rapid heart beats lessen. I only have taken 1/2 200 mg tablet every three days. My primary care doc says she doesn't believe it, but go ahead and take them. I'm tired of the intense worry and honestly I have tried many things without doctor approval. But always vigilant with every side effect of medications. My best to your success!

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@rashida

@donnamac I have palpitations very often, but cannot take Ibuprofen because it irritates my stomach!

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Ditto here but I get no stomach issues as long as I take the 1/2 with Pepcid.

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Oh … maybe I should try that - I take Lansoprazole at bedtime so I hope that won’t affect me. I have been told that one should not lie down after taking any medication that irritates the stomach. I take the Lansoprazole for GERD.

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@rashida

@donnamac I have palpitations very often, but cannot take Ibuprofen because it irritates my stomach!

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Try taking 1/2 of 200 ml with a Pepcid at same time. It always gave me stomach issues until I tried both at once. No more stomach issues!

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@rashida

Oh … maybe I should try that - I take Lansoprazole at bedtime so I hope that won’t affect me. I have been told that one should not lie down after taking any medication that irritates the stomach. I take the Lansoprazole for GERD.

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Check with your doctor. No doubt no doctor except those that ran these trials for ibuprofen will agree it will help. My cardiologist's PA responded with "What's that, never heard of such a thing?" when I told her Johns Hopkins medical professor who treats me in a trial for cholesterol, told me my palpitations were caused by "long Covid".

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Donna -- I find your discovery to be fascinating and admire the way you pay close attention to what your body is doing under different conditions. Yes, we are all warned of the dangers of ibuprofen, but generally, these warnings come in a vacuum. Some of the medications we´re routinely prescribed in relation to heart health themselves carry risks (even to the heart, in some cases), and when one ventures to try an OTC product or supplement, yes, we should be sure, with physician input, to minimize risks of harming ourselves, but we should also ask our doctors whether, ON BALANCE, the product of interest could actually do more harm, across our body systems, than do the medications we may already be taking or may soon be advised to take. The challenge there is that most physicians today consider all OTCs and nutraceuticals to be worthless or worse regardless of the availability of studies and meta-analyses that may point to favorable safety margins for these products, and so I can think of no physician I have ever encountered who would ever do the kind of comparative risk analysis Iḿ advocating. Ultimately, we make our own decisions, though, and when conventional medicine is not helping, or may be hurting, there are moments when we choose to forge ahead, taking full responsibility for whatever may ensue. That is sometimes the best that we can do. And frankly, I take leaps like this quite often, keeping my PCP as closely apprised as I can.

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