GI Disorder and Internal Shaking

Posted by gigiraj @gigiraj, Feb 15, 2019

Hi all. I'm a 21 year old South Asian female and I have been having GI issues for about five years--mainly along the lines of constipation. I do have bowel movements every day but it takes a long time & I am rarely fully cleared out. These GI issues are always accompanied by other health issues (gas, pressure in head, etc). Recently, some scary new conditions have manifested: In the past few weeks, there have been times where my heart starts beating wildly and very fast. Sometimes, when I'm tired and constipated, my entire body feels like its vibrating internally; the shakes aren't visible but it feels like all my muscles are quivering. At this point, I feel a constant shaking/quivering within my body, especially in my heart cavity.

I have had TWO EKG's and both came back normal. All lab tests for diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, etc came back within normal limits. I am very concerned about this internal shaking. My dad says he found something about how GI disorders can impact muscoskeletal system and since the heart is a muscle, it's contracting and being affected. But I wanted to know if anyone here can help!!!!!!! If anyone knows anything at all please please please let me know!!!!!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.

Profile picture for rllanders @rllanders

Did anyone ever find out what was causing this? Internal shaking? I have been having it for years. Now my granddaughter is having it and I notice I can feel it through her skin, so I know it's a real thing and now probably inherited. I don't believe it's related to 'gas', since we don't suffer from this, but have been studying 'lectins' and believe it could have something to do with ingestion of foods that cause blood agglutination and then when you are supine somehow that effects your heart? Because mine inevitably causes a tachycardia about the time that I reach REM at night, probably when my body temperature changes. I have worn a watch monitor to try to figure it out and know from a Kardia monitor that it's tachycardia. I have had a transverse myelitis in 2015 from a quadrivalent flu vaccine, so it was interesting that someone mentioned that. I believe that could be a contributing factor. I believe lectins exacerbate that. And give you GI problems. Dr. Gunderson has written some good books about how to have a diet that helps this GI & cardiac problem. I made a chart that works for me and post it to my twitter. I've tried to eliminate most lectins. If anyone has figure it out, please let me know, or if you've found anything to take that helps please let me know, my doctor has run out of things to check for! We're talking about DNA for hypokalaemia and RYR1. I have had a reaction to low potassium with sulpha which stopped when I began taking Diltiazem. But the shaking and tachycardia remains and disrupts sleep.This is much more info than I intended to share, but am just trying to get to the bottom of this internal shaking heart problem. It's like a vibration. It's not in your head. There has to be a physiologic reason, because I can feel it in my granddaughter and she's not making it up.

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I have the exact same issue with rapid heart beat and internal shaking upon reaching REM sleep. After going through hundreds of pointless tests, a doctor finally checked out my lung function. It is horribly weak… they are doing a bunch of additional tests to see what’s going on. It doesn’t seem like a lot of people are mentioning the lungs here, so wanted to throw it out there. Prayers to all and hoping I can recover from my lung function issue

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Hello @gigiraj, I’m sorry this is was happening to you. Did you ever get a diagnosis?

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Profile picture for inourhands @inourhands

Do not blindly believe what the doctors say. Check every box. I had similar symptoms and several docs wrote it off as being anxiety. Finally, I saw a good doctor who provided a full set of tests—beyond scans, basic bloodwork, etc. Seems that I was right… don’t be paranoid, but if you don’t feel right, make sure you’re exploring every possibility—from your lungs to your heart to every organ in your body. Wish I would have trusted my own instincts sooner and didn’t accept “anxiety” for an answer. Hoping whatever is going on with me is reversible. That said, one of the tests 100% confirmed that I’m in an emergency health situation and I’ve never been so scared in my entire life (lung function related — the last thing I expected — considering I’ve been feeling pressure in my head, internal quivers/tremors upon sleeping, and chest & stomach pains for so long, but those may have just been side symptoms of the bigger issue that was building around my lungs). Praying that I can recover and hope everyone reading this will take matters into their own hands and fight to get the medical care and consideration they deserve. Important to clarify: I haven’t been to Mayo Clinic before. I know they have a great reputation — The doctors that failed me are from other facilities.

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I’m sorry this is happening to you. Hope everything turns out ok!

What test did they do to find the issue?

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Profile picture for gigiraj @gigiraj

@hopeful33250 and @kanaazpereira thank you SO much for your consideration and resources! I really appreciate it. It has confirmed for me that this is definitely originating along my gut-brain axis. I am looking into VZV as was mentioned in the article. POTS does not really fit but I am looking into it as well.

I haven't had headaches so much as a building pressure in my head that goes away when I passed built-up gas. I looked at @ calical's post about their seizures and luckily, what I am experiencing is nowhere near that severe. @ tigertoo's suggestion on Transverse Myelitis is a possibility (according to symptoms on John's Hopkins' website): I have bowel issues, my legs/arms can sometimes feel heavy/odd, and sometimes I have pain [more like soreness] in my lower back/hips when I've eaten but am constipated. I am also looking into Vagus Nerve Dysfunction as that is what fits my symptoms closest (pain in ear, occasional pain in vocal cords & hoarse voice = possibly due to acid reflux, unusual heart rate)

However, my internal shaking and increased heart rate has temporarily stopped! There could be a number of reasons why this is:
1) I had been anxious about my heart for two weeks. I went to the Emergency Room and started crying. After crying and having confirmation from the ER that I wasn't having a heart attack, I felt calm and comfortable so my shaking was potentially because of a buildup of stress and lack of sleep.
2) I started taking Miralax and Prevacid on the 14th as my doctor prescribed. Perhaps they are just now kicking in.

While I am glad my heart tremors have stopped, I am afraid that this is just another stop on the way to some disease I need to identify before it's too late. I have had a myriad of symptoms over the years, most of which I believe stemmed from my gut; constipation is the one constant. I have also recently been having a variety of brain fog (trouble visualizing reasoning for instinctive activities, trouble reviewing my thoughts) and have always had very poor blood circulation, pains in breastbone/chest, strange & intense drowsiness after eating, inability to feel hunger except by way of fatigue, and post-constipation pain in the left side of my brain/left eye.

I will still look into getting a heart monitor! And I will most likely post about this in the Brain & Nervous System group as well. If it is not a GI disorder, I'm not sure how to move forward.

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Hello! I just came across this post and I'm suffering for all of these symptoms as well. Was wondering if you found relief and a dignosis? Thanks, well wished.

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I experienced internal shaking. I could never determine a correlation to any event like eating or anything else. The worse times were when I was pregnant and attended outdoor baseball games, my babies would shake inside of me as if they were terribly cold. I recently had an Electrophoresis and found that I have a Persistence of Fetal Heme. This makes me wonder if having less oxygen in my blood has anything to do with it. I have tried to donate blood on several occassions and was always told at 10.5 heme that I don't have enough to share. I was recently hospitalized and a brilliant doctor checked my magnesium levels. I'm 65 and to my knowlege no one has ever checked my Mg. It was found to be depleted. I was given a shot which felt like stars of energy going throughout my body and felt immediately better! Apparently, it's an iron and is not usually tested for, even though it's next to potassium, salt and calcium on the chart of elements. Perhaps it's essential because ever since having this shot, I have not experienced a tachycardia which I had experienced nightly for years or internal shaking or what I described as "burning blood." Electrophoresis costs $3-$60 and only takes a couple of days. I believe more people should have this to see if they also have heme that is different. Mine has a Gamma Globulin. I have noticed that Mosquitos don't bite me. Maybe they don't like my heme.
I also feel more energized in high elevations. Maybe this heme is good for that.

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This is what I have .and yesterday I had my finger hand twitching I really want to contact my doctor but after I think that I have IG issues .means nerves ….what I see from your informations you have IBS .you can get information about it cause it has a big relation with nerves (heart,brain ..,,,) .and effect your life but don’t worry .just eat healthy ,sleep your hours .do a lot if meditation.think of something positive always .IBS make you become hopeless 😩,you just think of negative stuff .don’t let it destroy you .you are strong .and we all dealing with it .forget about illness you ll live happier and longer trust me .

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Profile picture for lalapie @lalapie

Hello! I just came across this post and I'm suffering for all of these symptoms as well. Was wondering if you found relief and a dignosis? Thanks, well wished.

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Hi there, I'm so sorry to hear that you're experiencing this! It's very stressful. I'm honestly not sure what to say because on one hand, I've found a lot of relief simply by moving to a less stressful environment. I know it's really discouraging to hear from doctors that one's condition is "just anxiety" but in my case, it looks like that was genuinely the case.

On the other hand, so many people across many different situations are experiencing something similar. I have not solved my GI issues and feel terrible a lot of days - I still sometimes get angina (sharp pains in chest), bone/muscle pains, ear weirdness, etc. If a doctor gives me an update, I will update everyone. Sorry to see so many people experiencing something like this.

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Profile picture for renmon56 @renmon56

Hi everyone. Well I'm here because I have been having the same internal tremors. Mostly at night but also starting throughout the day. Because I have been diagnosed in my early years with anxiety this is where the doctors always go to. I am on omeprazole because originally I would wake up with Tremor's just in my stomach. That all calmed down but with the stress if this past month or so I'm waking up with the racing heart which goes into sweating momentously and the shakes. It's starting throughout the day and I mostly feel shaky in my legs. When I sit down for the day, usually after dinner it starts. I'm feeling like it's really starting to affect my whole life in general because I hate this feeling and resisting it saved making it worse. I've had this problem on and off. All my tests have come out fine also accept for being diagnosed with SVT which isn't the cause. I used to think it was constant overstimulation and then my nerves take forever to get. I would appreciate any suggestions for calming this down. I have been put on xanax. I'm not usually a pill taker, but I'm desperate to feel normal! Even a turn over in bed will start these symptoms while asleep.

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Maybe try Propranolol 10mg.. It seems to work for me except a few times when I get stressed?

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Hi! I’m also experiencing internal tremors all day and they keep me up at night. I have Afib and I’m on a beta blocker for that. My gastroenterologist has me on an anti spasmodic drug . Nothing helps. If you find out about some type of relief, please let me know. Thank you.

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