BAD PALPS on 4th day of PEM? Anybody else??

[grapes]

I have never had this happen. I am in day 4 of a bad PEM. Have been on high dose ubiquinol since the 2nd day, which did help the fatigue a bit. But fatigue comes back in the evenings.

And last night around 3 am, major palps. And It's now noon and they are STILL going on. I took 400 mg magnesium 1 1/2 hours ago, which I thought helped. But the palps are definitely going on

I have also started on d-ribose about 1 1/2 hours ago, too. First of three 5000 mg doses. Still palps.

Would love to hear from others about palps with PEM and what you have learned!

 

[Mary]

@grapes - you might need potassium. Low potassium can cause palpitations. One good way to get potassium is to drink low-sodium V8 or other vegetable juice. I would try a couple of glasses if possible and see if that helps. I have to take a potassium supplement daily to keep my levels up.

 

[MTpockets]

Don't disregard the fact that it may not be related to CFS. You may need to go in and get things checked out. You can have other problems too, so be careful not to blow it off. A heart problem is not to be taken lightly.

 

[Sushi]

Would love to hear from others about palps with PEM and what you have learned!

For me, a large can of low salt V8 or very veggie stops them as they use potassium instead of salt and many palps are related to potassium. Taking enough potassium in supplements is hard on the stomach.

 

[grapes]

@grapes - you might need potassium. Low potassium can cause palpitations. One good way to get potassium is to drink low-sodium V8 or other vegetable juice. I would try a couple of glasses if possible and see if that helps. I have to take a potassium supplement daily to keep my levels up.

That may be true. I was low a few weeks ago, and I was drinking tomato juice. Maybe I haven't consumed enough. I'll go back to doing it today and onward.

 

[grapes]

@grapes - you might need potassium. Low potassium can cause palpitations. One good way to get potassium is to drink low-sodium V8 or other vegetable juice. I would try a couple of glasses if possible and see if that helps. I have to take a potassium supplement daily to keep my levels up.

Mary, you DO get the gold star. I drank about 1 1/2 cups of tomato juice, and my palps have subsided. 1 1/2 is approximately, 700 mg of potassium. Now I have to be COMMITTED to being on high potassium foods and I plan to also use potassium supps. I've been so busy that I stupidly let it fall off my radar.

 

[Mary]

@grapes, I'm so glad it helped you! I don't know if you're aware but people with ME/CFS can have low intracellular potassium despite normal blood work. This post explains why. I used to get a severe fatigue - different than PEM etc. - and never knew why, never went to the doctor, there was no point, I just had to ride it out for a couple of days (losing more days of my life), until I discovered my potassium was tanking. This never would have been picked up by a doctor because my blood work was always normal, albeit on the low side.

I take 800 - 1000 mg potassium gluconate a day in divided doses - 200 mg with each meal and often more in the middle of the night and it's never bothered my stomach though I guess some people have trouble with it. But tomato juice, low-sodium (high in potassium) V8, etc. are good quick sources of potassium too.

 

[Judee]

I don't so much get the palpitations when experiencing PEM as the racing heart but I do still experience palpitations from time to time.

One thing though: I know a lot of websites and even people recommend the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 but I find that for me it is too strong or something and actually makes me get palpitations whereas the other form (ubiquinone?) tones palpitations down for me.

Another thing: sleeping on my right side makes them worse as well, that and the racing heart.

I've also found that a pinch of taurine can help calm my heart down but I can only take just a bit or it actually has a rebound effect and makes the situation worse.

Hope you get some relief. The heart issues just seem to tire us out even more.

 

[Sushi]

I've also found that a pinch of taurine can help calm my heart down but I can only take just a bit or it actually has a rebound effect and makes the situation worse.

And again, we all respond differently—high dose taurine helps me. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16797868

 

[ljimbo423]

Mary, you DO get the gold star. I drank about 1 1/2 cups of tomato juice, and my palps have subsided. 1 1/2 is approximately, 700 mg of potassium. Now I have to be COMMITTED to being on high potassium foods and I plan to also use potassium supps. I've been so busy that I stupidly let it fall off my radar.

I use to get heart palps quite often and they were often worse during PEM. 1,600 mg a day of potassium stopped about 99% of them.

I now rarely get them even during PEM. I think it was also one of Mary's posts that gave me the extra nudge I needed.

 

[grapes]

@grapes, I'm so glad it helped you! I don't know if you're aware but people with ME/CFS can have low intracellular potassium despite normal blood work. This post explains why. I used to get a severe fatigue - different than PEM etc. - and never knew why, never went to the doctor, there was no point, I just had to ride it out for a couple of days (losing more days of my life), until I discovered my potassium was tanking. This never would have been picked up by a doctor because my blood work was always normal, albeit on the low side.

I take 800 - 1000 mg potassium gluconate a day in divided doses - 200 mg with each meal and often more in the middle of the night and it's never bothered my stomach though I guess some people have trouble with it. But tomato juice, low-sodium (high in potassium) V8, etc. are good quick sources of potassium too.

No, I didn't realize that we could have low intracellular potassium, which now I see the majority of our potassium levels. I was a bit shocked to see my serum potassium several weeks ago. So I can only imagine how low the intracellular potassium might be. I've never had low potassium!! I'll read what you linked me to. Thank u.