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Chronotropic Incompetence: how are you managing it?
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Mar 14 5:29pm | Replies (28)Comment receiving replies
I'm curious, you had a Stress Echo, what was your maximum heart rate during the test. Heart rate, from my reading yesterday, and some prior knowledge, is controlled by the Sympathetic Nervous System AND release of Catecholamines to increase the rate, and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (Vagus Nerve) to decrease the heart rate after a fight or flight situation. The Vagal influence on the heart can be profound. One site lists this:
Potential symptoms of damage to the vagus nerve include:
Difficulty speaking or loss of voice, a voice that is hoarse or wheezy, trouble drinking liquids, loss of the gag reflex, pain in the ear, unusual heart rate, abnormal blood pressure, decreased production of stomach acid, nausea or vomiting, abdominal bloating or pain.
Remember, but Potential Symptoms cause Heart Rate Issues and Pain in the Ear, so there's a possible tie, research on the Mayo Site for more.
Researching your issue, I found this on Scientific American
Can Eating a Sandwich Stop Your Heart?
In a word: Yes. The question is, why? Hint: nerve signals are blocked.
A woman with syncope caused by swallowing while eating a sandwich. They tested everything, looked for seizures, etc., but not until they gave her a Holter Monitor to wear at home did they discover the real reason. Swallowing stimulates the Vagus Nerve, it's fed back to the heart, and briefly interrupts her heart beat.
So, this might be a possibility, Vagus Nerve dysfunction, and a Holter Monitor might be a way for them to record what's going on. Just a thought, I'm not a professional, but I've been plagued with PVCs since I was 15, over 45 years ago, and I read a lot.
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Hi @soliloquized
I started going down the same way you are thinking last night. My highest heart rate on the stress echo was around 100 - then they pulled me off the machine to ultrasound and all the techs freaked out like I was going to have an MCI right there. One cardiologist was convinced it was a block, until they did the angiogram and found no blockage.
Last night I found a condition called Roemheld Syndrome. This is pretty obscure, but my history is very consistent with the symptoms and consistent to what you describe above. About 2 months before I got tinnitus, I had a wheezing productive cough (I still have it). My pcp regards it as GERD acting up, but I’ve been on Prilosec for 20 years and never had it this bad. It is Like there is more pressure on my stomach. My wife was also in a bad accident causing 8-10 weeks of extreme stress for me around the same time also gained about ten pounds and stomach/chest felt tight/bloated. Then the tinnitus then the vertigo attack then the heart arythmia issues and bradycardia. The description of Roemheld Syndrome is stomach or GI pressure on the vagus nerve that then causes GERD, tinnitus, vertigo, bradycardia or tachycardia and other symptoms. Could be caused also by hiatal hernia.
I found this because I noticed a pattern in my heart rate yesterday where I get bad bradycardia after a meal, especially when wearing a tight belt or tight clothes. Today I had very small meals and I didn’t get the drop I got yesterday afterwards. I’m not sure if this is just my blood going to my gut after a meal (Postprandial Hyperemia) or something more like Roemheld. ??
I’m scheduled for a heart rate monitor next week, for two weeks. I should be able to test this hypothesis easy enough with different size meals and different/tighter clothes and see how it correlates on the monitor vs on my watch.