How the heart influences what we perceive and fear • Hacker News Board

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#41

Post by troughway » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

rootinier wrote: post #31

troughway wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from VESs; isn't a strong heart beat that you can feel (and sometimes hear if someone puts their ear to your chest) a sign of a healthy heart? I'm not talking about fast palpitations, but rather feeling your heart through your chest wall, albeit at a regular, steady rhythm.

Not so sure. Palpitations are often nothing serious, but what I heard is that not feeling your heart beat is normal. Except when you exercise hard. I feel my heart pumping when I lay in bed an my pulse is 60-70 bpm.

I've been told otherwise by a doctor (not a cardiologist), and I've always wanted to know a definitive answer on this but it's hard to find information on the subject; almost all literature is focused on the rate of heartbeat, not on the loudness of the drumming itself.

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#42

Post by bllguo » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 8:18 PM UTC

A bit off-topic, but this has puzzled me for awhile: there are times when at night I will suddenly feel like my heart is beating ridiculously quickly and loudly. It subsides with deep slow breaths. The strange thing is that I've tried putting my hand over my heart during these episodes and physically it does not feel that my heart is beating abnormally. Any ideas what's happening?

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#43

Post by pkaye » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 8:30 PM UTC

bllguo wrote: post #42

A bit off-topic, but this has puzzled me for awhile: there are times when at night I will suddenly feel like my heart is beating ridiculously quickly and loudly. It subsides with deep slow breaths. The strange thing is that I've tried putting my hand over my heart during these episodes and physically it does not feel that my heart is beating abnormally. Any ideas what's happening?

Heart palpitations? I had a similar feeling when I got up in the night to urinate. I used a pulse oximeter to reassure myself that its okay and eventually over the weeks it stopped happening. I think there a lot of common causes as listed in the link below.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-palpita...

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#44

Post by kqr » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 8:57 PM UTC

troughway wrote: post #27

rootinier wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, my potassium is not constantly low. It's great and sad to hear that there are people out there with similar issues. I also feel my heartbeat effectively all the time. Caffeine makes it worse, so does alcohol. I stopped drinking alcohol, it made it a tiny bit better.

Aside from VESs; isn't a strong heart beat that you can feel (and sometimes hear if someone puts their ear to your chest) a sign of a healthy heart? I'm not talking about fast palpitations, but rather feeling your heart through your chest wall, albeit at a regular, steady rhythm.

For the most part, your mind will tune out the regular, "background" rhythm of the heart. When it deviates from normal, or if you have certain special sensory differences to regular people, it makes you aware of it.

But normally your mind should tune it out unless you focus on it.

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#45

Post by darkerside » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 9:01 PM UTC

thdrdt wrote: post #15

darkerside wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you done any mindfulness training?

I don't want to be rude because you are being helpful, but mindfulness is not the answer to everything. Mindfulness made me even more anxious because what I really needed was to see a psychologist.

Agree it's not a silver bullet, especially when someone needs actual medical help. But mindfulness can certainly help break the cycle of self perpetuating stress.

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#46

Post by bllguo » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

pkaye wrote: post #43

bllguo wrote: post #42

A bit off-topic, but this has puzzled me for awhile: there are times when at night I will suddenly feel like my heart is beating ridiculously quickly and loudly. It subsides with deep slow breaths. The strange thing is that I've tried putting my hand over my heart during these episodes and physically it does not feel that my heart is beating abnormally. Any ideas what's happening?

Heart palpitations? I had a similar feeling when I got up in the night to urinate. I used a pulse oximeter to reassure myself that its okay and eventually over the weeks it stopped happening. I think there a lot of common causes as listed in the link below. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-palpita...

thanks, didn't know what to search. striking to me that it seems to be all mental. I suppose it's reassuring that this is somewhat common

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#47

Post by darkerside » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

rootinier wrote: post #7

darkerside wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you done any mindfulness training?

Tried it, with limitted success. Maybe I should dive in deeper.

It's not going to solve all of your problems. But I know it's possible to be so anxious that you can't even bring yourself to get other forms of help you need. And in other cases, it can help break the vicious cycle you described.

Learning to slow down and breathe are the simplest thing that many never learn.

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#48

Post by UncleOxidant » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

nonbirithm wrote: post #22

rootinier wrote: post #4

My heart brought me a solid anxiety disorder. I have ventricular extrasystoles, been to a couple of different cardiologists, done longtime ecg monitoring, echocardiograms and everyone told me my heart is fine, and I should chill. Coupled with low blood potassium levels and increasing distrust in my heart, I developed a fear that I could get ventricular tachycardia, and basically die instantly. I'm 33. I know it's sli…

I have had this exact feeling regarding my heart for a year and a half and until now felt nobody understood. For me it is constant chest pain that comes and goes essentially whenever it wants. It is quite varied and never fails to keep worrying me with its novelty. Sometimes burning, sometimes squeezing, sometimes stabbing. Been to the doctor and ER dozens of times. No diagnosis. And it isn't even correlated with anx…

> Sometimes NSAIDs make the pain unbearable.

This sounds like an upper digestive tract issue. You should look into Roemheld Syndrome. https://cara.care/digestive-disorders/upper-abdomen/roemheld... I was having a lot of feelings of skipped heartbeats and my doc realized I was also having a lot of digestive issues so he told me that Roemheld seemed most likely. What I noticed is that skipped beats occurred around the time when I needed to burp. The burping releases pressure on the vagus nerve which goes to both the heart and the stomach. When I realized this my anxiety was much reduced.

In my case I found that I needed to limit chocolate consumption, sit up straighter and practice deep breathing.

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#49

Post by mypalmike » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 11:01 PM UTC

athenot wrote: post #38

marz0 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried supplementing with magnesium? Seems to help a lot of people with anxiety, including myself. There also seems to be a link between low magnesium levels and heart rhythm issues. > The risk of heart rhythm problems with low magnesium levels is particularly high in people who also have low potassium levels. [0] [0] https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/ask-the-doctors-...

At the risk of sounding obvious, it is always a good idea to get labs drawn first and then consider supplements if needed. Blindly taking supplements can cause issues in the opposite direction. Most of us taste our food before deciding whether to add salt, same should go with supplements.

Blood tests are not particularly useful for detecting magnesium deficiency. Deficiency is in the cells, not the blood, and blood levels are fairly transient.

That said, it is definitely something to discuss with a doctor. I've had good luck recently working with a naturopath who is highly knowledgeable about nutrition and has far more time to discuss such things as diet and supplements than any general practitioner I've ever visited.

Re: How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

#50

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 11:19 PM UTC

nonbirithm wrote: post #22

rootinier wrote: post #4

My heart brought me a solid anxiety disorder. I have ventricular extrasystoles, been to a couple of different cardiologists, done longtime ecg monitoring, echocardiograms and everyone told me my heart is fine, and I should chill. Coupled with low blood potassium levels and increasing distrust in my heart, I developed a fear that I could get ventricular tachycardia, and basically die instantly. I'm 33. I know it's sli…

I have had this exact feeling regarding my heart for a year and a half and until now felt nobody understood. For me it is constant chest pain that comes and goes essentially whenever it wants. It is quite varied and never fails to keep worrying me with its novelty. Sometimes burning, sometimes squeezing, sometimes stabbing. Been to the doctor and ER dozens of times. No diagnosis. And it isn't even correlated with anx…

[deleted]