Heart Palpitations - Help please!

[Ireland]

I've had them for about a year and a half now. They're VERY uncomfortable and cause a lot of anxiety. The doctor says "they're normal - lots of people have them. It happens to women during peri-menopause/menopause." Well, I'm not lots of people, I'm me.

With my palpitations, it's not necessariliy a racing heart, it's more like skipped beats, thuds...very scary! Then my heart will race a little and I'll occasionally have an actual anxiety attack after it.

I'm on a medication that helps a LITTLE bit but not enough to make me comfortable. I know the medication isn't good, but it was bad enough that I had to do something.

Does anyone know what foods are particularly good for the heart rhythems? What will strengthen it? Greens maybe? I need to heal, I don't want to live with this for the rest of my life. When it's bad, I'm scared to even leave my house, no fun!
Any help would be VERY much appreciated. Especially from someone who's experienced it or knows someone who has - and then healed.

Hugs,
Shannon

[Clare]

My husband was having that on and off two years ago when he switched jobs and we had just moved. He, in fact, had to move a few months before I could come with the baby. In that time he was probably stressed and was cooking a lot of pasta and other easy foods for himself. and in the year before that we were cooked vegans.
The doctor I finally found for him tested all sorts of things in his blood and found nothing wrong (nothing like cholesterol, etc) and then did mineral hair analysis, which revealed severe adrenal burnout. He was "prescribed" a nutritionally dense diet that included more proteins and eliminated sugars and processed starches as well as temporarily reducing fruit. He was also told to take cod liver oil, and to eat more free-range eggs and meat, and green vegetables (yes, I know this is not the raw living food but just telling the story) and no wheat. He was also given basic supplements including minerals and extra magnesium. Well, we followed those instructions for several months and he never had another problem except for one day when under extreme stress.

Don't know if this has anything to do with your pain but it sounds like what he was feeling exactly, and it really was a problem of mineral imbalances (from adrenal stress, poor nutrition). I would guess that green juices would be excellent. You can always try to seek out a doctor that uses hair analysis labs.

[avolove]

Shannon,
How long have you been raw? I had/have the exact same thing. It was terrible and very scary before going raw. They were so bad when it happened they would ignite a panic attack, just as you mentioned. It really is an unsettling feeling!!! My Dr. said something similar, very common, nothing to worry about, blah blah blah. I didn't start raw with the thought that they would go away, but they did. (Along with the panic attacks :)) BIG BONUS! I noticed that they had stopped about a month into being raw. The interesting thing is in the past year of being raw I have fallen off the wagon and eaten sad, although vegetarian, foods. Each slip up lasted about a week and EVERY time the palpitations and skipping returned straight away. One night after eating rye bread it was particularly bad. I'm not sure if this is a food allergy issue or what, I just know there is a direct correlation and when I stay dedicated to raw the disappear. Hope that helps and you find relief, I feel for you! :)

[vata]

I suffer from palpitations and skipped beats too, which for some reason get a lot better after an epsom salt water flush. That leads me to believe that mine could be the result of a magnesium deficiency. But they can become debilitating for me. We'll see if being rawer helps.

[beckx]

i've had heart palpitations infrequently for the last 6 years. the only one i've had since going raw was after eating something that contained a good amt of raw cacao, which leads me to believe that mine personally are triggered by caffeine. you've probably considered possible triggers but i figured its worth mentioning.

i'd second the green juice recommendation, though... its miraculous stuff.