Do you have GERD and PVCs?

If any of you are suffering with PVCs AND have stomach problems give the following regime a try which has worked wonders for me. I am not a physician and this is just a regime which has worked for me when nothing else did (supplements - i've tried them all believe me - they had no effect whatsoever)

In less than a week my PVCs (constant now for 3 months and intermittent for the last 5 years)  dropped from approx 15,000 a day (and driving me mad !) to virtually nil.

I have pooled together various advice from different forums relating to the theory that an irritated Vagus Nerve caused by stomach acid i.e. GERD / regurgitation also irritates the heart and causes the PVCs. The vagus nerve runs down the throat and has serious effects on both the stomach and heart when irritated.

1.   Cut down (or preferably stop) caffeine intake. I have 1 cup of tea a day.

2.   Do not eat chocolate *especially not after meals* as it affects function of the L.E.S. (the valve which prevents stomach contents coming back up the throat - it also over stimulates stomach acid production) - this was a big ask for me but was worth it !

3.  Avoid fluids after large meals for a couple of hours (this will always give me GERD and PVCs).

4.  DO NOT lie flat at any time (this is very important) - prop up your pillows or raise the head of your bed to prevent nocturnal reflux.

5.  Take a decent swig of GAVISCON at bedtime this will coat the throat and help prevent overnight GERD damaging the throat and those morning PVC attacks. Also do the same if you suffer any GERD or throat discomfort after meals.

6.  Take a good magnesium supplement (i take magnesium malate 400mg a day) not sure if this helped me but can't do any harm.

7.  Some forums also advise taking a daily PPI pill (such as omeprazole) or at least a Ranitidine as well - you can try this but i have not found it necessary.

The aim of all this is to give the throat and irritated Vagus nerve time to heal - and hey presto - no PVCs hopefully !

Try this for a week or two and let me know if it helps anyone....

Good Luck and Happy Xmas !

Paul

Paul -
You are right about the vagus nerve triggering the heart. It works the other way too. I've read quite a number of scientific papers on cardio-esophageal reflex. (Yes, reflex, not reflux.)

Are you sure you have PVSs? Mine are supraventricular. My reflux and tachycardia was always caused by food allergies/sensitivities. I went through quite a long period of keeping a food log on the advice of my allergist, who says she's seen this often. Then I did challenge testing to find out the individual foods and ingredients that were triggering my reflux. I came up with a wildly unrelated list of foods that had one thing in common: sulfite.

Even though I have since had a fundoplication and no longer get acid in my esophagus, I still get tach if I eat more than my tolerance of sulfite.

I'm a 43 year old male and have had heart arrhythmia issues for 18 years. I first suffered from occasion bouts (once a year) of A-fib. I have had all test that you can possibly have and no heart disease detected. (This is great because my father had his first heart attack at 32 and died at 62 due to heart disease.) After 10 years of my occasional A-fib my cardiologist recommended I see a electrophysiologist (a cardiologist that specializes in the "wiring" or electrical systems of the heart.) I had an EP study and an ablation to correct, destroy the errant nerves in my heart that were causing my A-Fib. The first ablation I had did not do the trick and I was back about a year later for a second one. This time it seems to have worked great (knock on wood). It has been about 5 years and no A-fib, but I do have PVCs on occasions, and I don't mean one or two I'm talking days of them, 10,000 - 30,000 a day (holter monitor showed this). I returned to the electrophysiologist to get his take on this, he calmed me down and explained that PVCs are very common, not harmful (under most circumstances), and that it appears that my heart may be very sensitive to arrhythmia's. He told me to evaluate what might be triggering them, alcohol (i don't drink), caffeine (an occasional Pepsi and no coffee, or energy drinks), stress & anxiety (I'm doomed-- I have also suffered with generalized anxiety disorder GAD for years, and my heart doing the cha-cha has never been a big help for that.) I have taken 10mg of Paxil a day for 20 years to keep my GAD's in check, it has been a heaven sent for me. In fact a year ago I thought I would try to get off my Paxil, within month I was anxious and having PVCs, so Paxil for life is my motto. I have found that overeating, eating to late, constipation, or just getting bloated seems to trigger my PVCs on occasion. Around Thanksgiving I over did it, who doesn't, and the PVCs started they last several days and then went away, a couple weeks later another bout, then two more weeks and again. To get to my point, I have always found that PVCs are annoying, scary, unnerving, sleep interrupting, life interrupting, just a pain in the butt. So with these constant occurrences I started searching the web and found that people have had success supplementing their magnesium input. So I stop at Walgreens and purchased a bottle of Magnesium Oxide (On the vitamin wall.) I went home and took 2 tablets (400mg) and within 4 hours my heart had settled right back into a normal sinus rhythm. This after 3 days of constant PVCs. I have been taking 400mg a day for a week and have never "skipped a beat". I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV, not really, but I have seen my share of heart specialist, but this "Google" search about Natural Treatments for PVCs paid off.

I can only say I am so happy to have found this forum, I know I have IBS and GERD, but never felt the palpation's until the other day, and it scared me!! I did notice I had a lot of gurgling in my stomach but was not burping or not to be rude, passing gas..I also noticed with every gurgle i felt a palp. I do suffer from Anxiety, but I don't think the anxiety kicked in until I felt the palps. Not that I'm happy anyone else suffers from it but it does make me feel a little better to know I am not alone and crazy..lol..I read a post someone wrote about magnesium and gaviscon. Gas X also helps me. I ran to the pharmacy and purchased.. Centrum Cardio health, and magnesium. I also take zantac. Since I do take Prozac, i spoke with my pharmacist to make sure it was ok to take everything else. He mentioned palps are common with both GERD and IBS and recommended I try Oral Aloe, he said not only does it help but it does promote healing. I went to GNC and got it, it's inexpensive and the cashier said he uses it for erosion in the esophagus along with a change in diet. I got the berry flavor and it taste ok, just chill it and drink it fast!! I am willing to try anything, because as harmless as I have been told the palps are for me they are scary!! I try to understand that they come along with the IBS symptoms, like bloating, gurgling feeling. I hope I can make someone else feel a little better too!! Thank you to everyone who shares their symptoms!! HERE IS TO FEELING BETTER!!!!!!! yeah....PS- Thank you Paul UK,

You are all on the right track. I have had Afib/SVT symptoms now for almost 4 years and I have also isolated it to problems with digestion/swallowing food/acid reflux relatedness. I saw many cardiologists over the years who say that that shouldn't be the case... well they are wrong. I have been diagnosed with minor Barrett's Esophagus (GERDS) and I use to experience Afib attacks when eating. I realized that I had acid reflux irritation that was causing esophagitis (irritated lining of esophagus), which caused my food to travel slowly down my esophagus and basically back up, or not pass thru to the stomack, triggering Afib. Well, I figured out that Aloe heals cuts, why can't it heal the inside of my body? I got on Aloe (inner filet) and changed my eating habits and within 3 months, all my Afib episodes went away. Was episode free for about a year until I went on a bachelor trip to Vegas with my buddies (too old for that... 39 now) and drank all night... and ended up with a weird arrythmia the next day that I now have been battling for the past 6 months. Not Afib, but doctors thought it was SVT. So I went in to get a cario ablation and they could not induce an arrythmia and said my electrical pathways were fine. I just got off a 2 week juice fast and I felt completely normal while on it with 0 arythmia issues... now that I am eating food again, I experience PVC's or this "SVT" like symptoms when I eat to heavy or wake up in the middle of the night... Anyway, blabbering but just wanted to share. You all are not crazy. These arythmia's are related to our esophagus and our nervous system some how and are triggered by acid reflux/food we eat. I have also done the prilosec OTC, and after 5 days, my symptoms also have gone away. I am a HUGE fan of the aloe and recommend everyone having this problem to try it. Take it 3 times a day (big swig or 2 ounces) after every meal. The most important is to take it right before bed and don't drink anything after taking it so it stays in your esophogeal path and has time to soak in and heal throughout th e night... I found this nightly treatment to be a huge success. I will chime in more as I learn more... hope this helps someone...

George's brand of Aloe does not have citric acid in it ( which might irritate esophagus). George's also tastes like water and easy to take. Just thought I'd mention this. You might already know this!

Yeah, thanks for reviving this old but good thread. When my GERD was its worst a few years back, I was having Palps and it was pretty scary. In retrospect, as I've attacked my GERD with meds and diet, the Palps have subsided.

Yesterday, I received the results of a heart monitor I wore for 2 weeks. Sure enough...what I was feeling were PVCs! I also can't believe it took this long to convince a doc to try a heart monitor just to rule out everything, but I'm glad I did. I wish I did it sooner.

Thinking back to all the times with PVCs and all the issues, it's interesting to note NOW how it related to GERD and ode issues.