Lifelong heart palpitations gone

(Jeanne Wagner) #1

Well, I’ve given up coffee. It’s been three weeks, starting four. No heart palpitations. I’ve had them since my teenage years and I’m 49 now.

I had been thinking about trying to go coffee free for months because of all the danged conflicting information out there about either the benefits or drawbacks of caffeine. It was almost impossible to do, similar to giving up smoking (I did that a dozen years ago, had to be diagnosed with T2D to get me to quit). SO I came down with a horrible cold. Five days of fever. Then bronchitis afterwards. Was on Amoxicillin for 1 week. This was three weeks of hell. During that time, I gave up coffee. It was kind of a catalyst for me. Five days into the sickness I had been having 24/7 palpitations and I was SOOOOO over it. My doctor listened to my heart - yup your heart is racing… being sick can sometimes do that (except it was never a 24/7 thing for me before). Nothing to worry about. After the 5th day, they stopped. I mean altogether. And it’s been over a week and they haven’t come back. That was also the 5th day of taking the Amoxicillin. Coincidence? I have no clue.

All I can think of other than the Amoxicillin or constant eating of oxtail soup for two weeks, is that I have given up caffeine. I’ve been drinking coffee since age 10, the palpitations started in my teens. I’ll never know for sure, but I am so stinkin’ glad! It’s hard to explain.

Like when I went gluten free before I went Keto, my migraines disappeared immediately and I have been migraine-free since. I’ve been having migraines since around age 18. It was like a miracle to me losing the migraines, and it’s very much the same feeling with the palpitations gone.

Oh how I miss my coffee, but it’s not that hard to stay away when the benefit is this. This will allow me to finally start training for my 5k, 10k, and beyond races. I participated in the 2019 Disney Half Marathon this weekend and just did the 5k. Mostly walked, jogged about 1/3 the way. My heard had palpitations once, for less than a minute. It went back to normal and has been normal since. I am SO happy!

#2

This is great news, Jeanne!
I will be interested in any updates on being coffee free. I’ve recently cut back, but haven’t given it up yet.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #3

You’re doing bomb! Way to be. I know how tough it can be giving up coffee. I’m a rabid coffee lover like people who like wine, or IPAs. I even really loved dark chocolate covered espresso beans as snacks lol.

After palpitations started, I felt I had to give up my buddy coffee, and did, and it sucked so bad at first. But then I felt so much better. I didn’t drink coffee for about a year to heal my adrenals, but then went back to it, but now I only have a cup in the morning, and on the weekends I may end up having like 16 oz. I used to drink some crazy espresso concoction before the gym, and I go to the gym at night on weekdays, so going to bed was always a challenge lol. The instant Cafe Bustello is like crystalized rocket fuel foreal. I never went back to the instant rocket fuel. I permanently cut that out.

(Jeanne Wagner) #4

Thanks since this was a lifelong plague, I will definitely post updates. I had considered having caffeine free coffee, but I don’t want to chance it. I don’t think it is completely free of caffeine, and it could be a slippery slope into getting back to the caffeinated kind, and drinking my calories/fat since I have to have heavy whipping cream with it.

Also, it takes a good 3 days to get caffeine out of your system. If you have even one cup during a 3 day period, you are perpetuating the caffeine in your system. You have to give it up for a while. I’m also interested if I have benefits of healing adrenals over time.

(Jeanne Wagner) #5

I’m well on my way to being coffee free for the rest of my life I think. The draw is no longer there. That was the hardest part. Akin to smoking, we have rituals around coffee. It was difficult to figure out what to do in lieu of drinking coffee. I’ve started drinking caffeine free tea, but I need to look into it to make sure it truly is. I have a palpitative ‘blip’ (like one heartbeat then back to norm) every now and then, so I wonder what is still causing that.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #6

I think even in the caffeine free varieties, there is a small amount of caffeine still. At least it’s like that for coffee. I’m not sure if they make it, but these days, don’t they make just about everything? lol

#7

This is really great news! So glad that you’re feeling better!

(Jeanne Wagner) #8

Yes I looked it up and there is trace amounts of caffeine still in the decaf products. The processing can also be different in how they remove it from the tea and coffees…i.e. more than one way to do it.

I also read that the truly decaf ‘teas’ aren’t made with the same plant as we are all used to having. Quite interesting.