Oh thank God I'm not alone.

I had posted on here a long long time ago asking about it but didn't get a response. It's always a good feeling to know you're not alone in the world.

I seem to have two main causes for palpitations. I get them more frequently when I'm detoxing or when I've had an abnormally large amount of starch/sugar, and also when one or more of my ribs are out of place.

It's never "hurt" so to speak when I have them, it just seems like either a butterfly is in my chest or an extremely rapid pulse. Never lasted more than 15 minutes. It's only happened once when I was exerting myself. I remember I had just put a computer monitor in my trunk and was in a hurry jogging from the car to my back door. It was a rapid-beat type and it was the only time I thought I would black out. I guess I would classify that under the "out of place" category since I was moving things.

Here's the lowdown I got from my healer-guy. (can't think of a better term for him) Just his opinion and it's hardly backed by tests or scientific fact.

He told me that sometimes some of the food I eat feeds harmful bacteria in my GI tract. This bacteria then has found a way out into my system where my immune system destroys them. The waste that this produces is a sort of "endotoxin" that can cause muscle spasms and can effect my nerves. He said that was one of the causes of my heart palpitations.

The other he said was when my ribs are out of place sometimes a ligament or a bone or other tissue can rub against a nerve (the vagus nerve I think?) and cause a palpitation.

Actually I just remembered a third cause that I ran into. Gas. A couple of times when I got gassy eating something it irritated my (vagus?) nerve which triggered a palpitation. I guess this could be sort of classified under the GI tract since (I believe?) most gassiness is caused by bacteria breaking down your food for you. The gas is a side-effect.

Anyways, his recommendations for getting out of a palpitation are
1. Relax, don't get scared. This isn't going to kill you, and even if it was, being scared isn't going to help.

2. Cough - He didn't recommend this, but I found coughing can sometimes help.

3. Hold your arms straight out in front of you and push your shoulders forward. Flex your arms, shoulders and chest muscles. Sit straight or hold your arms down a bit while doing this. This has helped me pretty much every time that I've had a palpitation due to something being out of place. It really helps to reset the position of your muscles and bones and such. If you are familiar with yoga a pose known as the "cat pose" can have similar results. It sort of simulates how a cat would stretch.

Doctors have recommended I plunge my head into an icy bowl of water. Tried that, didn't work. Thought I should list it though since it is a documented fix in the medical community. I found it did more harm than good though. (Great, my heart is palpitating AND I'm cold AND I'm wet. Great =)

I'm hardly a health-care professional ( I work in IT) but these are some techniques that I have found to work personally. I just thought I'd share the wealth to the rest of the family.

Take care all.

Cody.