I love this article. I had already learned all the facts in the article, but even so, the interactive animations helped me understand it better. Thank you.
Excitable cells
11–20 of 51 posts
Re: Excitable cells
#12Exciting simulations! :) And an excellent explanation. From time to time I get episodes of sudden tachycardia¹. It's a very strange feeling: one second everything is fine, the next my heart jumps in my throat and starts beating at 230 bpm (not a typo). After a while, just as quickly as it came, the tachycardia goes away and I'm back at whatever HR I was before the trigger. If it doesn't go away by itself, breathing i…
I have a similar condition. Mine is:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/wolff-parkins...
I have the same bouts of tachycardia. They are very intermittent, no real cause. And the same breath holding technique works for me. Very interesting stuff!
Re: Excitable cells
#13Exciting simulations! :) And an excellent explanation. From time to time I get episodes of sudden tachycardia¹. It's a very strange feeling: one second everything is fine, the next my heart jumps in my throat and starts beating at 230 bpm (not a typo). After a while, just as quickly as it came, the tachycardia goes away and I'm back at whatever HR I was before the trigger. If it doesn't go away by itself, breathing i…
I have the same condition. I was diagnosed at a very younger age with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It might be worth looking into.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/wolff-parkins...
Re: Excitable cells
#14I have frequent ectopic beats that I feel as a flutter / heavy beat on my chest. The doc says it won't kill me but it is extremely uncomfortable at times. This has been a great material to learn about the inner workings of heart cells.
BTW Here's an ECG from my Apple Watch showing 3 such beats (you can't miss them): https://link.ekin.dev/l1Vc3Gdf
If you happen to have these, just get checked out by a cardiologist. They are almost always benign but the frequency / daily amount are reasons for concern.
Re: Excitable cells
#15Exciting simulations! :) And an excellent explanation. From time to time I get episodes of sudden tachycardia¹. It's a very strange feeling: one second everything is fine, the next my heart jumps in my throat and starts beating at 230 bpm (not a typo). After a while, just as quickly as it came, the tachycardia goes away and I'm back at whatever HR I was before the trigger. If it doesn't go away by itself, breathing i…
A couple of years ago I woke with a minor headache that I ignored for various reasons all day, then skipped lunch as I had an important meeting later and lots to do ahead of it, and the headache got progressively worse. Just before the meeting I felt nauseous, threw up, and then started having the feeling of palpitations in my chest. I've always had them from time to time - that feeling that ones heart has skipped a beat or taken a couple of extra ones - but this time it wasn't going away after a couple of beats.
To cut a long story short, I went to hospital (instead of that meeting) and it turned out that it was atrial fibrillation and that while it feels medium terrifying it's not necessarily that big a deal.
It went away after a couple of days (if it had lasted longer they'd have done "electroconversion" to try to get it back into the proper ryhythm artificially). Apparently the real danger of this is that it might cause a blood clot which in turn could cause a stroke, but it's unlikely to be an issue in the short term.
They did put me on blood thinners and beta blockers between the occurrence and getting a full check up a month later, so I was very calm when we rescheduled that meeting.
Top tip: don't ignore a terrible headache; go to bed.
Edit: PS I think my heart rate was just above 100bpm at rest (possibly 120?), which was unnerving enough, so I can imagine how much more scary 230bpm must feel! You definitely win.
Re: Excitable cells
#16Exciting simulations! :) And an excellent explanation. From time to time I get episodes of sudden tachycardia¹. It's a very strange feeling: one second everything is fine, the next my heart jumps in my throat and starts beating at 230 bpm (not a typo). After a while, just as quickly as it came, the tachycardia goes away and I'm back at whatever HR I was before the trigger. If it doesn't go away by itself, breathing i…
Do you drink a lot of caffeine? A family member had this occasionally with no family history of issues, and the cardiologist had them wear a portable EKG for a few days that synced with an Android phone, with not much results. Finally the family member cut down from 4 espresso shots a day to just 1 cup of brewed, and the issue hasn't returned.
Re: Excitable cells
#17Exciting simulations! :) And an excellent explanation. From time to time I get episodes of sudden tachycardia¹. It's a very strange feeling: one second everything is fine, the next my heart jumps in my throat and starts beating at 230 bpm (not a typo). After a while, just as quickly as it came, the tachycardia goes away and I'm back at whatever HR I was before the trigger. If it doesn't go away by itself, breathing i…
I have the same condition. I was diagnosed at a very younger age with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It might be worth looking into. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/wolff-parkins...
With WPW you MUST NOT take beta blockers (AFAIR), it may kill you.
I had just plain vanilla Afib and got ablation 2 years ago - best thing ever, cured instantly.
Re: Excitable cells
#18I have frequent ectopic beats that I feel as a flutter / heavy beat on my chest. The doc says it won't kill me but it is extremely uncomfortable at times. This has been a great material to learn about the inner workings of heart cells. BTW Here's an ECG from my Apple Watch showing 3 such beats (you can't miss them): https://link.ekin.dev/l1Vc3Gdf If you happen to have these, just get checked out by a cardiologist. Th…
Many (most?) people get ectopic beats, but the threshold for noticing them seems to differ. Being stressed/anxious makes them more noticeable. There's a self-reinforcing feedback loop: the more you notice them & worry about them, the easier you will notice them ...
The thing about arrhythmias is that they can only cause damage while they're happening, but ectopics are only a problem for a single beat, which is not going to impact your oxygenation or blood pressure or anything else. Even a bunch of them every day won't cause any damage.
Re: Excitable cells
#19I have frequent ectopic beats that I feel as a flutter / heavy beat on my chest. The doc says it won't kill me but it is extremely uncomfortable at times. This has been a great material to learn about the inner workings of heart cells. BTW Here's an ECG from my Apple Watch showing 3 such beats (you can't miss them): https://link.ekin.dev/l1Vc3Gdf If you happen to have these, just get checked out by a cardiologist. Th…
I had something similar for many years (triggered by an episode of afib brought-on by triggering my vagus nerve). The one thing that has helped me fully get rid of these (after YEARS of trial-and-error) was getting onto beta blockers (Propranolol).
These have COMPLETELY gotten rid of my ectopic beats and also helped me deal with the health anxiety.
If you ever want to talk, feel free to hit me up (contact info in profile).
Re: Excitable cells
#20Trying to understand Author’s education. Have they done both Medicine & Engineering? Looking at their articles & github, they are sound in electro physiology, Anaesthesiology & software. Great intersection of knowledge.