Palpitations and PMDD

I seem to get a fair amount of traffic through searches for “palpitations and PMDD” or “palpitations and fatigue”, most of which seem to land on this entry.  I think that warrants an update regarding something I learned last week.

I went to my gynecologist for my annual exam, and while catching up with the nurse midwife who I’ve known for several years, I mentioned that I’d been having bouts off and on of palpitations and chest pressure (enough to make me cough and affect my breathing), but that I didn’t know what was causing it, since Mitral Valve Prolapse was ruled out earlier this year and all the other heart-related tests had come back normal.

“I’m really thinking it’s hormonal,” I told her, “Since it seems to happen most during the two-week PMDD time.”

And she told me that those are among the symptoms of PMDD.  I hadn’t known that before, and I feel a lot better, now, knowing that, and knowing that it isn’t something to worry about.

Evidently, “palpitations” didn’t show up on any of the PMDD symptom lists I went by when I made the spreadsheet that I linked to in the other entry, because it isn’t showing on the spreadsheet.

I have noticed a connection between certain foods and palpitations, but I was particularly confused by the last two-week stretch when I had a lot of palpitations and the pressure and breathing difficulties almost constantly, and it didn’t seem to be affected either way by eating or not eating, being too full or too hungry or neither, sleeping or not sleeping, etc.

So, now I understand a bit better why that was happening.