PVCs. Side-effect of Zoloft? .....or blue tape toxicity??

[Country4ever]

Hi all,
I haven't been here in awhile. My sleep has been fairly consistent on the cpap machine, although I seem to be going through a spell of NOT LIKING IT!!
I was started on Zoloft for depression several months ago, and did fine on it.....for the first month. Then I got horrible diarrhea that didn't go away. I cut back on the med, and was doing okay, except that I developed benign irregular heartbeats. I've had episodes of these for many years...they were usually associated with too much caffeine, hormone fluctuations, GERD, or sleep apnea. But they recently got much more numerous and continuous......even throughout the night.
So now I'm trying to figure out what's causing it. My heart has been tested, so I feel fairly certain that it truly is benign stuff..........just highly irritating to live with! I don't think its from having too high an AHI........which is usually below 5 (with a reasonable leak rate).
Besides suspecting the Zoloft, I also am wondering about something in the Blue 3M multisurface tape that I began using consistently every night around the same time that all these palpitations started.
I realize its probably really unlikely that its the tape, but it made me wonder if there's something funky in the tape.........like something that we shouldn't be ingesting or absorbing.
Have any of the rest of you who consistently use this tape ever experienced an increase in your irregular heartbeats?

I'm getting really frustrated with these beats. I know they are benign, but I think they send my body into alarm mode.
Any common experiences?

[MrSandman]

Hello - I think I am going through a rash of these the past two days. Can we compare symptoms? Does it feel like you are just breathing and then all the sudden it feels as if a breath in didn't actually work and you feel a thump and is followed by anxiety. Do they sometimes occur in a row? The only thing that changed before the last two days is I fell asleep on the sofa and acid came up into my throat and I am giving up smokeless tobacco so having nicotine withdrawal symptoms. It is a scarey feeling though. Kind of like a flutter,thump.

I also took Zoloft for 8 years or more without this symptom.

EDIT : Something else we were doing just prior to this starting was burning several candles which we never do. We then found candle soot on the toilets and white stuff around the house and blew it out of our nose. My wife also began to complain of stuffy nose and sneezing. So no more candles here.

I have severe allergies and wondered if these are PVCs or bronchial spasms?

Maybe a clue here for you.

[Country4ever]

Hi Browser,
I'm thinking your's might be reflux related. I've learned that the vagus nerve goes beside our esophagus, and if it gets irritated, it can cause irregular heartbeats. Actually, the zoloft has flared my GERD up (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) so maybe it is just a matter of my esophageal lining being irritated. Also, I've heard that you can have an irritated esophagus, without necessarily feeling heartburn.
Yes, that's exactly how a PVC (premature ventricular contraction) feels for me. Its like a thump in my chest, and it takes my beat away and makes me cough. It also triggers anxiety.
Good luck on your nicotine withdrawal. Its not easy, but you will be sooooo glad when you've conquered it!

[echo]

I've been fighting pneumonia now for a few days, I 'officially' had it since last Thursday but I had been feeling pretty cruddy for a few weeks prior. During that same time that I was having very high heartrate (tachychardia?). My GERD has also been acting up quite a bit (and perhaps contributing to the pneumonia?). There's a very low probability that what happened to me is what's happening to you, but hey you never know!

I don't know what PVC is. Sometimes my heart skips a beat but it's hard to tell if it's really happening or if it's just my fingers not picking up the heartbeat.

I personally wouldn't use the blue painter's tape long-term because it's not actually meant (or tested for) human consumption. Even if you weren't allergic to it in the beginning, it doesn't mean that you can't develop an allergy to it. But I ain't gonna tell ya what to do country4ever

Browser - stick with it! Today's my 4th day as a non-smoker and it was the absolute pits. I didn't have any nicotine withdrawl per se, but I was a bit of an emotional wreck. Don't forget that the withdrawl and recovery can take a week or more (ignore that they say that nicotine is out of your system in 3 days - that doesn't mean that your body will get used to functioning without the nicotine so quickly!)

[MrSandman]

Hi Browser,
I'm thinking your's might be reflux related. I've learned that the vagus nerve goes beside our esophagus, and if it gets irritated, it can cause irregular heartbeats. Actually, the zoloft has flared my GERD up (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) so maybe it is just a matter of my esophageal lining being irritated. Also, I've heard that you can have an irritated esophagus, without necessarily feeling heartburn.
Yes, that's exactly how a PVC (premature ventricular contraction) feels for me. Its like a thump in my chest, and it takes my beat away and makes me cough. It also triggers anxiety.
Good luck on your nicotine withdrawal. Its not easy, but you will be sooooo glad when you've conquered it!

Interesting about the vagus nerve. I ate a whole bunch of chips and salsa too close to bed and then passed out on the sofa watching Planet of the Apes reruns and was awakened when acid and stuff came up in my throat and took my breath away. I am still having a lot of the flutter/thump today and it provokes anxiety if I think about it too much. It makes one afraid that their airway is going to close and not reopen.

I quit the Skoal for 6 months last year and then went back to it. I decided it is time to stop the skoal and next comes the Mountain Dew or caffeine. I want to get to a baseline of how I feel without these substances in my system. I am very strong willed and never have trouble stopping things but man my head and nervous system is feeling it.

[MrSandman]

I've been fighting pneumonia now for a few days, I 'officially' had it since last Thursday but I had been feeling pretty cruddy for a few weeks prior. During that same time that I was having very high heartrate (tachychardia?). My GERD has also been acting up quite a bit (and perhaps contributing to the pneumonia?). There's a very low probability that what happened to me is what's happening to you, but hey you never know!

I don't know what PVC is. Sometimes my heart skips a beat but it's hard to tell if it's really happening or if it's just my fingers not picking up the heartbeat.

I personally wouldn't use the blue painter's tape long-term because it's not actually meant (or tested for) human consumption. Even if you weren't allergic to it in the beginning, it doesn't mean that you can't develop an allergy to it. But I ain't gonna tell ya what to do country4ever

Browser - stick with it! Today's my 4th day as a non-smoker and it was the absolute pits. I didn't have any nicotine withdrawl per se, but I was a bit of an emotional wreck. Don't forget that the withdrawl and recovery can take a week or more (ignore that they say that nicotine is out of your system in 3 days - that doesn't mean that your body will get used to functioning without the nicotine so quickly!)

Google for PVC - you don't have to be checking your pulse to feel it. It is an obvious flutter feeling in the middle of the upper chest and then a strong thumping heart beat. It kind of feels like if you have ever fallen onto your back and had the wind knocked out of you except it is here and gone way faster. Just enough to freak you out.

[WearyOne]

I've had PVC's off and on for years. People often refer to it as a "skipped" or "missed" beat, but actually it's a beat that happens before it should, and then the next one is harder than usual. It can feel a little harder, or a LOT harder. You feel it in your chest. Besides heart issues, there are lots of other things that can cause it---medications, anxiety, caffeine, hyperthyroid, etc. Sometimes people have them but a cause can't be found. Sometimes the only thing I can do is just try to ignore it, but believe me, I know that can be easier said than done, especially it it's happening as you're trying to go to sleep. (I know that beta blockers can help reduce them, but beta blockers can have side effects of their own for some people.)

[Country4ever]

I've always wondered if it means our hearts are stronger, when the next beat is stronger. Its called the "Starling response". When our hearts beat too soon, there's very little blood in our hearts to pump out with the next beat. So our hearts, in their infinite wisdom, know to wait a little longer than usual to fill up. When it has alot of blood in it, then it has to contract harder to pump it out. That's the thump we feel. I feel the premature beat a little.....like a little flutter, but then the compensatory beat is a real thump.
For you women in perimenopause, or even menopause, you might have alot of these beats. My OB/GYN told me that we can have fluctuating hormones for 10+ years after we stop having periods. (Isn't that nice? NOT!). What's interesting is I would always get PVCs when my hormones were fluctuating.......along with visual auras and migraines. Well, this afternoon I had my second visual aura in 3 days.......so hopefully all these irregular beats are my ovaries last hurrah!
But.......getting back to the blue tape question.........anybody have these after longer use of the tape? I think I'll call the company tomorrow and find out if there's anything funky in the tape. After all........its not meant for our mouths! It sure works nice though!

[WearyOne]

<snip>
For you women in perimenopause, or even menopause, you might have alot of these beats. My OB/GYN told me that we can have fluctuating hormones for 10+ years after we stop having periods. (Isn't that nice? NOT!). What's interesting is I would always get PVCs when my hormones were fluctuating.......along with visual auras and migraines. Well, this afternoon I had my second visual aura in 3 days.......so hopefully all these irregular beats are my ovaries last hurrah!
But.......getting back to the blue tape question.........anybody have these after longer use of the tape? I think I'll call the company tomorrow and find out if there's anything funky in the tape. After all........its not meant for our mouths! It sure works nice though!

Wish I could help with the tape issue, but I don't tape.

Now, with regard to what's highlighted above---no, don't tell me that! I thought now I'd be rid of those stupid fluctuations. Argh!

[Country4ever]

You have to give those ovaries credit for persevering! I started all this craziness in l997 and its still going on!! (Sorry for the bad news!)