Don't bother trying to dose yourself with potassium. The only supplements authorized for OTC sale are incredibly tiny amounts. Ask your doctor if you want to consider it.
Don't bother trying to dose yourself with potassium. The only supplements authorized for OTC sale are incredibly tiny amounts. Ask your doctor if you want to consider it.
My doctor increased my Diltiazem dosage to 180mg. So far I haven't noticed any side effects from it, but it doesn't make a huge change in my blood pressure either. Still, I'm right around the 120/80 range, so that's good enough for me.
I can't tell if it's helping with the premature heartbeats or not. I started taking Magnesium regularly around the same time the Diltiazem dosage was increased. My heart rhythm seems "slightly" more regular, but I don't know if the Diltiazem or Magnesium is making the bigger difference. Or, it might just be coincidence, one of those lulls between the periodic flare ups. I want to wait at least a month or two before I feel comfortable saying either is really having an effect.
When I was in hospital they made me take potassium not magnesium. I don't think you are supposed to just take it unless someone prescribes it though.
Yes, be very careful with Potassium. Remember, potassium chloride is used to stop the heart of people during the execution of the death sentence...
of course those are very high doses, but still! Only take this under medical supervision.
Other potential issues at lower doses:
What are the heart risks of having too much potassium?
chest pains
heart palpitations
a weakening pulse
shortness of breath
sudden collapse
Yes, be very careful with Potassium. Remember, potassium chloride is used to stop the heart of people during the execution of the death sentence...
of course those are very high doses, but still! Only take this under medical supervision.
Other potential issues at lower doses:
What are the heart risks of having too much potassium?
chest pains
heart palpitations
a weakening pulse
shortness of breath
sudden collapse
Scary. I only take vitamin d as per my doctor right now.
I think blood pressure meds have a side effect of raising potassium in some cases though.
How is your caffeine intake? I've cut mine roughly in half and it has (apparently) reduced my palpations significantly.
I've also been taking Magnesium the last couple months. I tried Magnesium Oxide first as it's what I first found in the store, but have switched to Magnesium Glycinate recently. I haven't seen that either has any effect either. I still want to track down some Magnesium Taurate, but I have my doubts that will do much either.
When in doubt - get tested for Pot/Mag/Ca, etc. All the electrolytes which affect the heart and kidneys should be on your doc's yearly list of things to check, I would think but YMMV.
Unfortunately, that's not correct. "-ate" endings just designate a salt type. There are lots of "ates" (most people know sulfate, nitrate and citrate; there are many more). If you want a chelated product you should buy a bottle that specifically mentions this.My doctor friend says it's best to use a chelated form of magnesium if you're taking it as a supplement, so anything that ends in -ate will check that box.
Had my PCP visit last week and am getting new Rx going from lisinopril 10/12.5 to two pills, 5 mg lisinopril and a 12.5 mg water pill. I may spilt the water pill in half and take it in the morning, and the lisinopril at night. I am not sure if it's been mentioned, but cutting down your salt intake can have very positive results. My problem is I crave salty snacks which are probably the worst things one can eat and it makes me wonder if I could cut out blood pressure meds entirely if I could drastically reduce my salty snacks.
mountainsoft I am not one to get medical advice on utube but have you ever looked at Sanjay Gupta York Cardiology videos. I was just directed to one on blood pressure but I notice he has some on other topics and wondered if there was anything there for you. He seems very down to earth and explains things better than some doctors I have seen anyway. One was titled Why pvcs, pacs, and ectopic heartbeats hurt so bad. I didn't watch it as not currently one of my problems.
I can tell you what lowered my blood pressure rather dramatically within a few weeks, from around 135/90 to 100/68. (I am not overweight). I cut out all sugar and flour from my diet, and added two tbls of flax seed daily. I had reduced salt but I added it back in with no blood pressure rise. Same with coffee: no BP rise. I have changed nothing else.
I did notice my potassium level was only 3.5 mmol/L on my last blood test, the absolute bottom of the "normal" range accordingave toto Kaiser. Though I see other recommendations saying 3.6 to 3.7 is the bottom of normal.
In any case, it had been closer to 4 in previous blood tests. Since it didn't trigger a "flag" on the blood tests, none of my doctors have mentioned it. Might be worth asking about.
Kind of odd considering I eat a banana every day, as well as often eating potatoes and peanut butter.
Bananas aren't that high in potassium. At least not like oranges and vitamin C where one orange is all you need. You'd have to eat 7-8bananas a day to get your daily requirements
Just had new blood tests last week. Potassium was back up to 4.4 mmol/L. So much for that theory. All other readings were perfect too.
The first thing my cardiologist said for treatment is zero caffeine... Sometimes the bad beats occurred on every second or third real beat and once I captured them occurring after every single real beat.
They outfitted me with a 24 hour Holter monitor and that showed that on average, the PVCs and PACs were 10% of my heartbeats. The bad beats went away at night