Svt caused by bowel issues

[sial72]

Hi all
For over 2 years now I've been having these "episodes" where just before a bowel movement I start to feel really odd and then I begin to sweat, shake and my heart rate suddenly goes up to 165 bpm. This use to happen very occasionally but now it is almost daily. I have been to numerous doctors, gastro docs and cardiologists, no one has any idea why the bm can be triggering this reaction although vagus nerve has been mentioned. Cardiologist has put me on betablocker as pip but wants me to go on them permanently or have an ablation.
It's terrifying when it happens and I'm missing a lot of days at my new job because of it. I have tried gluten free, dairy free and various diets but nothing seems to help.
Any suggestions please? I'm desperate and afraid to do anything in case it happens.
Sorry just one more thing, gas seems to be involved because when I feel gas shift in my body then my heart rste comes down.
Thank you for reading x

[nomorepanic]

Yup the vegus nerve. This happened to my ex as well but his just went away on its own in time.

[sial72]

Hi Nicola
Really? It just stopped happening without him doing anything in particular?
Do you know if it happened for a long time?
I'm desperate. Thanks

[nomorepanic]

It didn't happen for long no and once they checked his heart out and told him he was fine I think he just kind of forgot about it.

They did tell him not to drink so much coffee though!

[sial72]

Thanks for getting back to me

[lobbie]

I have been experiencing similar things to you now for a while so I thought I would write about how it is for me.

It should be mentioned that even in the past (long before I had any kind of anxiety) I could have a mild version of this occasionally. I remember sitting on the toilet having a bm and feeling my heart rate go up, but I wouldn't pay much attention to it and it would dissappear shortly after leaving the bathroom.

Lately I have started to experience exactly what you describe though; fast heart rate, could start feeling hot or cold and I would feel all jittery and weirdly energetic afterwards, like it's almost hard to sit still and I feel like going on a jog right then and there. Time it takes for me to calm down varies... I'm pretty sure the more I think and worry about it the longer it takes.

I usually have one bm every day which is either in the morning or noon. It gets triggered by me eating breakfast or lunch. So it's like I feel hungry so I eat something, then I start feeling my belly acting up (it can start gurgling and I need to pass gas) and then shortly after I need to go to the toilet. It always feels like it's in a hurry like I'm about to have diarrhea but that's not the case. After the bm I continue feeling shaky, hot/cold, jittery etc for a while.

So it's like eating triggers the bowel movement which triggers the anxiety response.

I started noticing this pretty recently and honestly I'm not too surprised about it as I've had a period of a lot of belly problems (IBS) lately, so I've been putting a lot more focus on the belly area and bm's these past few months than I ever have in the past.

I've been thinking that maybe this phenomenon occurs is due to me hyper-focusing on everything I feel in my body and then immediately getting scared that I'm about to pass out/getting sick/die or whatever. So when a bm is about to happen I start to feel "something" in my body which immediately make me have a stress response (anxiety) before I know it's just a bm. But by that time the stress hormones have already been released so that is why you still feel anxiety even afterwards.

Maybe this could be similar for you too?

[sial72]

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, we are having very similar experiences. I have thought about the possibility of me hyper focusing but the fact is that sometimes I would just be happily doing something without thinking about anything and bam!
I don't know, what certainly is true is that I now very rarely am happily doing anything as it has been going on for a long time and I have become very frightened to do anything due to my symptoms.

[lobbie]

Yeah I know what you mean Sial. I too can have a really hard time to just chill and do something fun. And even though I can feel totally fine and not focusing on my body at all its like sometimes it need to remind you "Hey you have anxiety remember! You can't just relax and enjoy your day. What if something happens?"

Sometimes I don't even want to do anything in particular because all I want is to sit and "be prepared" if I need to act on a sensation. It's kind of silly really.

However even if it's hard I usually start feeling better if I just push through and think I'll be fine and my symptoms are just temporary.

[sial72]

"sit and be prepared" oh my God, how well said, that is the story of my life