Arythmias from sports drinks?

Quoted message said:

I'm wondering if anyone else is having this experience.

FWIW, ANY caffeine sends my 64 yo heart into a "Pitter Patter." Chocolate,
coffee, whatever.

Fortunately it goes away when I don't do the caffeine thing.

However, I have never had any kind of chest pains. That sounds pretty scary.

Hope everything goes OK with the stress test.

http://members.aol.com/foxcondorsrvtns
(Colorado rental condo)

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(Family Web Page)

psycholist said:

This past weekend I did a mountainous century. It was VERY hot ... around
90. I drank a ton of cytomax. We also had a couple that was running around
in a car replenishing bottles for the lead riders so we didn't have to stop.
I'm sure I probably had some Powerade, some Gatorade, some ? I had a little
of everythings.

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All things
looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided to
beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop using
sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

Time was, a "sports drink" only had electrolytes and sugars (and weird
food coloring), but in the last couple of years a new idea in "energy
drinks" has been to overload them with caffeine. Even for a coffee addict
like me, this is not a good idea. The amount of caffeine in some of
these drinks is dangerous. I bonked badly on a ride about 2 years ago,
and the guys I was riding with found a store that had one of these drinks.
I did manage to get back without a visit to the ER, but I was definitely
buzzing. This from a guy who only drinks espresso, and can do so just
before bedtime. Those drinks are loaded.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | It is a scientifically proven fact that a mid life crisis can
_`\(,_ | only be cured by something racy and Italian. Bianchis and
(_)/ (_) | Colnagos are a lot cheaper than Maserattis and Ferraris. --
Glenn Davies

Quoted message said:

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All

things

Quoted message said:

looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided to
beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop using
sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

I'm going in for a full stress test on Wednesday.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever had a similar episode with a
similar conclusion about sports drinks?

Hmm. I just took a look at my Cytomax container; no caffeine but does
contain ginseng. Your doctors might be going for the easy answer.

But the truth might be kinda obvious. Your heart muscles are driven by
electrical impulses, and it's the balance of electrolytes in your body that
allow those impulses to work properly. So let's look at what you did... you
road a hard, VERY hot (your words) century during which you drank a ton
(again, your words) of Cytomax. Odds are high that your body wasn't
operating within its normal range as far as important electrolytes are
concerned... you could have been high, you could have been low... who knows?
Lately, there have been some scary studies that too much water during a ride
can actually be bad for you (although, given my normal weight loss during a
long ride, I doubt I have that problem!).

But between the end of the ride and Sunday, your body is trying to adjust to
a normal level of sodium and, in the effort, might have overly diluted or
concentrated various other things. That can definitely play with your
ticker.

It's interesting that it only took a heart rate of 200 to cause such
symptoms (dizziness, shortness of breath, etc). Once in a blue moon I'll
notice my heart racing a bit...doesn't happen very often, maybe every couple
years or so. One time last year it happened on a ride, while I had a heart
monitor on, so I got to actually watch the event. My normal high bpm is
around 177 and this went to 215 or so, and lasted for, curiously, about the
same amount of time as yours. It felt like it was fluttering more than
anything, almost like fast muscle twitching. No pain, no dizziness, no
shortness of breath. I didn't stop, but rode at a more casual pace for a
while (it happened at the top of a hill, so it was no problem taking it easy
on the way down). I took it easy for maybe 15-20 minutes before going hard
for the rest of the ride.

I look forward to hearing how your stress test goes. Maybe because I'm also
48?

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm wondering if anyone else is having this experience.

I ride quite a lot ... 10 - 13,000 miles per year. I'm in pretty awesome
shape for my age (48). I regularly train with Cat. 2 and Cat. 3 riders

and

Quoted message said:

I hang at the front with all the racer types in century events.

This past weekend I did a mountainous century. It was VERY hot ... around
90. I drank a ton of cytomax. We also had a couple that was running

around

Quoted message said:

in a car replenishing bottles for the lead riders so we didn't have to

stop.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure I probably had some Powerade, some Gatorade, some ? I had a

little

Quoted message said:

of everythings.

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All

things

Quoted message said:

looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided to
beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop using
sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

I'm going in for a full stress test on Wednesday.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever had a similar episode with a
similar conclusion about sports drinks?

Thanks,
Bob C.

I have had arrhythmia since 1985. The diagnosis was that it was induced
by an adrenaline surge brought on by caffeine.Since I have given up the
caffeine, I have had no more arrhythmia traceable to that. I do have
occasional spells traceable to extreme fatigue.

I use Cytomax as a sports drink on a regular basis and particularly on
rides over 60 miles (and all Centuries) and have never had any problems.
In fact, I had the medical people vet it for me (I'm on chemotherapy)
- they said it was chiefly amino acids that shouldn't do any harm to
anyone and that the rest of the ingredients would neither help or hinder.

David L. Johnson said:

Time was, a "sports drink" only had electrolytes and sugars (and weird
food coloring), but in the last couple of years a new idea in "energy
drinks" has been to overload them with caffeine. Even for a coffee addict
like me, this is not a good idea. The amount of caffeine in some of
these drinks is dangerous.

Which drinks have caffeine? I like a little caffeine to help me
along sometimes. Usually it's ineffective for me, though.

I try to limit myself to drinks whose ingredient list is short and
clear. Mostly, that leaves me drinking Gu2o. Cytomax and similar
drinks scare me with their ingredient list.

In fact, Cytomax doesn't even list the ingredients on their site,
but here's the list (from another site):
:CytoSport's Unique Complex Carbohydrate Blend including
:Amylopectin Starches and Maltodextrins from Corn Hybrids,
:Alpha L-Polylactate (our patented l-lactate formulation
:containing non-acidic l-lactate ionically bound to l-arginine,
:fructose, glycine, l-histidine and l-alanine, sodium l-lactate,
:potassium l-lactate, l-pyruvate), Fructose, Glucose, Potassium
:Succinate, L-Glutamic Acid, Inosine, Magnesium Succinate,
:Calcium Succinate, Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Natural Flavors,
:Ascorbic Acid, L-Alanine, L-Glutamine, Food Gum, Chromium
:Polynicotinate (chromeMate gtf)

I recognize a few good ingredients and a couple that may not be
great. I don't recognize a whole bunch of that. Chromium
Polynicotinate (chromeMate gtf)? What am I, a pickup truck?
--
Rick Onanian

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm wondering if anyone else is having this experience.

I ride quite a lot ... 10 - 13,000 miles per year. I'm in pretty awesome
shape for my age (48). I regularly train with Cat. 2 and Cat. 3 riders

and

Quoted message said:

I hang at the front with all the racer types in century events.

This past weekend I did a mountainous century. It was VERY hot ... around
90. I drank a ton of cytomax. We also had a couple that was running

around

Quoted message said:

in a car replenishing bottles for the lead riders so we didn't have to

stop.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure I probably had some Powerade, some Gatorade, some ? I had a

little

Quoted message said:

of everythings.

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All

things

Quoted message said:

looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided to
beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop using
sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

I'm going in for a full stress test on Wednesday.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever had a similar episode with a
similar conclusion about sports drinks?

Thanks,
Bob C.

In re-reading what I originally wrote, I see that I kinda left out an
important detail. I made it sound like this event happened during the ride.
That's not the case. It happened the next day just after I finished doing
some very hard manual labor on my farm. But I was pretty wiped out from the
ride the day before. I would have been recovering, but some friends brought
me a couple of goats as a present and I had to spend my recovery time
building a compound for the goats, instead. It was a very physical weekend.
That's when the chest pains started.

The arrythmia came the next morning while already in the hospital and
resting. My heart rate is quite low at rest ... around 35. It went from
there to 200 bpm for 12 seconds.

From everything I've learned and read over the last 24 hours, it sounds like
the answer is a combination of overexertion, electrolytes, maybe caffeine,
maybe dehydration.

But there is something different about the new cans of Cytomax I've just
opened. You have to use about twice as much as before to achieve the same
taste and the directions say to use about twice as much. I don't know if
the electrolyte delivery or anything else has changed (I just haven't looked
at the label yet), but I know it's nowhere near the value it used to be.

Bob C.

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

It's interesting that it only took a heart rate of 200 to cause such
symptoms (dizziness, shortness of breath, etc). Once in a blue moon I'll
notice my heart racing a bit...doesn't happen very often, maybe every couple
years or so. One time last year it happened on a ride, while I had a heart
monitor on, so I got to actually watch the event. My normal high bpm is
around 177 and this went to 215 or so, and lasted for, curiously, about the
same amount of time as yours.

My experience with arrhythmia came in the service, when I was also
racing a bit. To get through language school awake, I drank two quarts
of coffee in the morning and made another two quarts for the
afternoon. Also had a couple of cups at breakfast and lunch. To get
cleared for bike racing, I had to quit cold turkey. The arrhythmia
occurred at much lower levels, and the more serious symptoms at a
lower threshold than what I would hit later on the bike. In fact, I
think they were most concerned with some symptoms almost at rest.

I never bothered to find out if it is a bunch of conjoined symptoms
(arrhythmia, shortness of breath, etc.) or the arrhythmia inducing the
others. It was enough to deal with the week worth of piercing
headaches from giving up caffeine (without going back and strangling
the doctor).

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm wondering if anyone else is having this experience.

I ride quite a lot ... 10 - 13,000 miles per year. I'm in pretty

awesome

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

shape for my age (48). I regularly train with Cat. 2 and Cat. 3 riders

and

Quoted message said:

I hang at the front with all the racer types in century events.

This past weekend I did a mountainous century. It was VERY hot ...

around

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

90. I drank a ton of cytomax. We also had a couple that was running

around

Quoted message said:

in a car replenishing bottles for the lead riders so we didn't have to

stop.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure I probably had some Powerade, some Gatorade, some ? I had a

little

Quoted message said:

of everythings.

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All

things

Quoted message said:

looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided

to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop

using

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

I'm going in for a full stress test on Wednesday.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever had a similar episode with a
similar conclusion about sports drinks?

Thanks,
Bob C.

In re-reading what I originally wrote, I see that I kinda left out an
important detail. I made it sound like this event happened during the

ride.

Quoted message said:

That's not the case. It happened the next day just after I finished doing
some very hard manual labor on my farm. But I was pretty wiped out from

the

Quoted message said:

ride the day before. I would have been recovering, but some friends

brought

Quoted message said:

me a couple of goats as a present and I had to spend my recovery time
building a compound for the goats, instead. It was a very physical

weekend.

Quoted message said:

That's when the chest pains started.

The arrythmia came the next morning while already in the hospital and
resting. My heart rate is quite low at rest ... around 35. It went from
there to 200 bpm for 12 seconds.

From everything I've learned and read over the last 24 hours, it sounds

like

Quoted message said:

the answer is a combination of overexertion, electrolytes, maybe caffeine,
maybe dehydration.

But there is something different about the new cans of Cytomax I've just
opened. You have to use about twice as much as before to achieve the same
taste and the directions say to use about twice as much. I don't know if
the electrolyte delivery or anything else has changed (I just haven't

looked

Quoted message said:

at the label yet), but I know it's nowhere near the value it used to be.

Bob C.

sounds awfull. Hope it will not happen again.
<sick joke> The good news is that your heart beat went up to 200 and not
down to zero </sick joke>

--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

Rick Onanian said:

I recognize a few good ingredients and a couple that may not be
great. I don't recognize a whole bunch of that. Chromium
Polynicotinate (chromeMate gtf)? What am I, a pickup truck?

I'm pretty sure you're a mammal (no knowing you personally) so this
should be relevant:

"Chromium is involved in the metabolism of glucose and the
synthesis of cholesterol, fats and protein. Chromium is
essential to maintain stable blood sugar levels by helping insulin
do its work, and so can be helpful for people with diabetes and
hypoglycaemia (see caution below, however). Chromium has also been
used successfully to control blood cholesterol, and it promotes the
loss of fat and increases lean muscle tissue. Studies have shown
it may increase longevity and help prevent osteoporosis.

"Chromium deficiency, which is extremely common, can lead to
fatigue, glucose intolerance, Syndrome X (hyperinsulinism), poor
protein metabolism and increased risk to coronary artery disease.

"Excessive intake can lead to dermatitis, gastro-intestinal ulcers,
and kidney and liver impairment.

"Caution: Chromium can reduce the need for insulin, and people
with diabetes should therefore use it only under the supervision of
a qualified medical doctor."

http://tinyurl.com/yqm5n

--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com
In Excelsis Escendo

psycholist said:

This past weekend I did a mountainous century. It was VERY hot ... around
90. I drank a ton of cytomax. We also had a couple that was running around
in a car replenishing bottles for the lead riders so we didn't have to stop.
I'm sure I probably had some Powerade, some Gatorade, some ? I had a little
of everythings.

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All things
looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided to
beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop using
sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

Sports drinks often contain electrolytes, on the assumption that you will
sweat out important electrolytes that the drink will replace. Some of
these electrolytes, Potassium in particular, can cause cardiac arrhythmias
when blood levels either too high or too low.

I assume they must have drawn blood for an electrolyte panel in the ER? If
so, what did it show?

Caffeine is also known to induce cardiac arrhythmias, but mostly
supra-ventricular IIRC.

--

-John ([email hidden])

Curtis L Russell said:

I never bothered to find out if it is a bunch of conjoined symptoms
(arrhythmia, shortness of breath, etc.) or the arrhythmia inducing the
others.

Arrhythmias often cause dizziness and shortness of breath because they
significantly reduce cardiac output.

--

-John ([email hidden])

John Thompson said:

psycholist said:

This past weekend I did a mountainous century. It was VERY hot ... around
90. I drank a ton of cytomax. We also had a couple that was running around
in a car replenishing bottles for the lead riders so we didn't have to stop.
I'm sure I probably had some Powerade, some Gatorade, some ? I had a little
of everythings.

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All things
looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided to
beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop using
sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

Sports drinks often contain electrolytes, on the assumption that you will
sweat out important electrolytes that the drink will replace. Some of
these electrolytes, Potassium in particular, can cause cardiac arrhythmias
when blood levels either too high or too low.

I assume they must have drawn blood for an electrolyte panel in the ER? If
so, what did it show?

Caffeine is also known to induce cardiac arrhythmias, but mostly
supra-ventricular IIRC.

Husband ended up going to the ER in an ambulance -- fainting, vomiting,
low blood pressure, clamminess, etc. By the time they took blood in the
hospital it was perfectly normal and he felt lots better. Turns out the
saline drip in the ambulance cured his electrolyte imbalance from too
much sweating during the day -- a long bikeride at noon in July. It
happened once again, but he chugged a bottle of gatorade and we saved a
couple $thousand.

We also know his heart is in fine shape in spite of the best efforts of
the staff cardiologist to prove otherwise :-)

--
Cheers, Bev
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
It's cheaper." -- Quentin Crisp 1908 - 1999

This sounds like a reaction to the sports drink. Stress test is a good idea
however, for a piece of mind. I suspect you just overdid on the sports
drink, like you doctor stated. I had a similar reaction to coffee years
ago. I used to drink Cuban coffee and coffee all the time. Now I can't
drink caffeine. I have some strange reaction. I really don't miss it at
all and to be honest have tons of energy without any of that [censored] in my
body.

Let us know how the test went, but I suspect you will be fine and told to
watch how much sports drink you consume.

Curt

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm wondering if anyone else is having this experience.

I ride quite a lot ... 10 - 13,000 miles per year. I'm in pretty awesome
shape for my age (48). I regularly train with Cat. 2 and Cat. 3 riders

and

Quoted message said:

I hang at the front with all the racer types in century events.

This past weekend I did a mountainous century. It was VERY hot ... around
90. I drank a ton of cytomax. We also had a couple that was running

around

Quoted message said:

in a car replenishing bottles for the lead riders so we didn't have to

stop.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure I probably had some Powerade, some Gatorade, some ? I had a

little

Quoted message said:

of everythings.

Sunday I had some serious chest pains and was rushed to the ER. All

things

Quoted message said:

looked extremely good ... blood work, ekg, sonogram, etc. BUT ... I had
this ventricular arythmia. For about 12 seconds, my heard just decided to
beat at a 200 bpm rate. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my heart was
turning cartwheels in my chest and it made me dizzy, short of breath and
scared.

In the end, the conclusion was that something in the sports drink was
over-stimulating my heart. They said my heart was fine, but to stop using
sports drinks and stop drinking caffeine.

I'm going in for a full stress test on Wednesday.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever had a similar episode with a
similar conclusion about sports drinks?

Thanks,
Bob C.