Heart health and TRT

[Punkrocker]

Hey guys I have recently noticed an issue with myself and I am wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that I have been on trt for the past three years and have used a little bit of prohormones and anabolics here in there, and when I say here in there I mean a little bit of anavar or EQ or maybe upping the test just a bit. I've never done anything crazy. Anyways I've noticed since last year I guess that I have been getting heart palpitations occasionally otherwise known as PVCs. They seem to happen more often in the summertime when I'm at work running and flinging trash barrels or in the morning after I've had a good amount of coffee. I've been to the doctor for this and she listened to my heart and told me she noticed the palpitations and told me not to worry and to just drink more water and things like that and that it's pretty benign and a lot of people get them. I have also been on a heart monitor before and I have also had an EKG done and all the results came back normal. My blood pressure is in the normal range and I have very good cholesterol. The only cardiovascular issue I have ever had that I know of is an increased hematocrit which right now is not really that bad. What do you guys think? Is this common or do you guys think this could be an underlying problem. I don't trust anything doctors say because they are all full of crap. Opinions? Suggestions?

 

[Buja]

Try to take a break from caffeine and the heart palpitations will disappear, thats what i did and im not having any problems now.

 

[Punkrocker]

Try to take a break from caffeine and the heart palpitations will disappear, thats what i did and im not having any problems now.

I only drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning...hmmmm guess I could try it for a day and see if there is a difference

 

[Nac]

I get benign PVCs too bro. Been on a 24hr holter, ekg, echocardiogram, and assessed by a cardiologist.

Theres tonnes of stuff you can try to minimise them occuring. Ive tried all the obvious stuff, but ultimately what made the biggest difference for me was

1) getting assessed by a specialist. My doc was like yours, said my PVCs were likely benign. I pushed him to give me a referral to a specialist, and Im glad I did. These things can feed off anxiety, like a vicious circle. Being told by a specialist that the evidence suggests sh1t is all good has a huge psychological impact for the better.

2) fish oil greatly reduced occurence for me when the PVCs were at their worse. I can honestly say that, without a doubt, no placebo effect there. For some people omega 3s can make PVCs worse, though. OTC "remedies" are hit or miss, trial and error unfortunately, simply because there are numerous causes for PVCs.

3) controlling e2. When my e2 gets too high on cruise/trt, anxiety increases and so do PVCs.

4) staying the fuk away from stims, preworkouts, fatburners.

Im no doc of course, but if you find PVCs worse during summer, might be an electrolyte symptom? If youre drinking more water, sweating more, etc, could be that your symptoms are due to mag/potass/sodium? I dunno. Do you ever get electrolytes measured for your trt bloods?

 

[B5150]

I began experiencing benign PVC several years ago and it was alarming to me. I was abusing stimulants and stressed. Excessive dehydration and sweating surely tipped my electrolytes out of balance.

Now I always make a point of being well hydrated and drink electrolyte rich drinks.

Today I can use a stimulant or two but caffeine is my trigger. I can take other stimulants concurrently but caffeine in the recipe is the culprit. Anything above a strong black cup of home brewed Starbucks is enough to set them off.

If and when they occur today they are always with the presence of caffeine and they are always cardio excercise or resistance exercise triggered.

Nac post is spot on.

If a mild episode happens a Vagus nerve compression/stimulation via the Valsalva maneuver can be very effective if done right.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver

Dwelling on them is unproductive and usually perpetuates them and usually result in anxiety episodes.

 

[Nac]

Interesting you bring up the valsalva, Mr Dunn.

Bit of trivia, which I found interesting. Looking up SVT one night recently, I saw that the valsalva technique is routinely used to alleviate symptoms and "reset" heartrate. One study lead to another, and I came across one which examined breathing techniques during exercise.

We are all somewhat familiar with "holding our breath" when pushing the weight out of the bottom position of a lift. The highest measured blood pressure for a subject whilst doing this was 370/360, mean BP for the group was 311/284.

Obviously those states are transient, but holy sh1t.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7741618

 

[kisaj]

Holy crap.

 

[Nac]

Lol, literally: they say straining doing a crap can generate similiar BP forces.

 

[B5150]

Lol, literally: they say straining doing a crap can generate similiar BP forces.

True story.

I've struggled with regularity all my life.

This just in: High fiber diets can save you from a Tortuous and redundant colon, hemorrhoids and now stroke and heart attach but...not how and why you'd think...get the whole story...news at 11!

"Im going out like Elvis"

 

[Nac]

Might not get a movie made about us but, if any of us go out like Elvis, at least we'll look good for the coroner.