Palpitations/skipped beats with crohns?

[Dowie]

I've recently been diagnosed with a mild case of crohns - some inflammation present in the colon, stomach and oesophagus.

I get various abdominal pain, sometimes chest pain from acid reflux etc.. too. But one thing has been bothering me is a regular pain just to the left of the base of my sternum... sometimes I feel it and it causes a flutter or skipped heartbeat. I'm presuming this is related to my oesophagus or stomach being inflamed and a nerve being irritated or something. Would be interested in hearing if anyone else has experienced something similar?

 

[Crohns08]

Are you anemic? I know anemia can cause palpitations or other heart problems. Have you been checked out for it by a doctor?

 

[shamrock15]

I have had this too, and I think for me it is related more to diet and nutrition. Hard really to say why, but it was a sense that I had based on observations at the time. I do think that there is a possibility of anemia being at least partly responsible too though as Toni mentioned above. Pretty freaky thing when it happens. Hope you get it resolved soon.

 

[crohnsinct]

I have had palpatations recently also. I do not have Crohn's though, my daughter's do. Yes, anemia can cause it as can low vit b12. Both are issues with Crohn's patients. Maybe get your levels checked. Mention it to your doc. I had to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours to make sure this wasn't an issue.

Interesting about the diet observation. My diet has been garbage lately and I thought the same. Also thought to blame stress.

 

[Dowie]

thanks for the replies, have been to the doctor re: the palpitations. It does seem that they can be quite common in general.

I don't think it is B12 as my blood test was normal for that, I do have low ferritin though am not anemic. I have been doing rather a lot of googling... seems like there can be a whole bunch of causes from stress, vagus nerve being irritated etc.. and I think both stress and various gastro issues irritating the vagus nerve could apply to me.

 

[poing]

Could it be low vitamin D because of its effect in keeping blood calcium levels in balance? Low vitamin D seems to be one of the side-effects of inflammation and if you've got Crohn's then you have inflammation.

It's easy to get tested for the vitamin D - the calcium will probably be fine, because it's only pushing it's limits momentarily.

I am quite vitamin D deficient at the moment. It may be coincidence, but I have also noticed that I am getting occasional palpitations again - something that I haven't suffered from for a number of years.

 

[Ihurt]

I get premature ventricular contractions as well ( skipped beats). They feel like skipped beats( like that fluttering feeling) but what is actually happening is the heart is beating prematurely. Lots of things can cause this. I know stress can bring it on for me. Also certain medications bring it on as well. It can feel scary, I know. I at one point had them so bad they were occurring every couple seconds. Try and de stress yourself or do some sort of relaxation technique as stress definitely will make them worse and occur more frequently. They are pretty harmless from what I was told, unless they are happening all day long constantly. Then they prescribe Beta blockers for it. Have you had a heart work-up like a Echocardiogram? If not, you should just to make sure everything is ok with your heart..

 

[Dowie]

Yup I have got low vitamin D as well as low ferritin, high C reactive protein.

am seeing a cardiologist just to be on the safe side, have been under a bit of stress recently... friend died a couple of weeks ago, lots on at work + this recent diagnosis of crohn's... so quite possible it is anxiety/stress if not just some irritation of the nerves from the various gastro issues

 

[Dowie]

rather oddly I've calmed myself down a bit and my resting heart rate seems to be around 54... normally I'd be quite happy with this but I've not been to the gym for quite a few months thanks to the various bouts of abdominal discomfort. I wonder if the pentasa has an effect on pulse rate? Previously when I was more anxious I'd be at around 90 - 100 when sitting at my desk at work, 80 or so at home and it would only get down to 70 or very occasionally high 60s when I'd been in bed for a while... yet now it is strangely in the 50s