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Excitable cells

(jenevoldsen.com)
304 points johannes_ne | 1 comments | 28 Mar 25 13:05 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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eknkc ◴[01 Apr 25 14:19 UTC] No.43547077[source]▶
I have frequent ectopic beats that I feel as a flutter / heavy beat on my chest. The doc says it won't kill me but it is extremely uncomfortable at times. This has been a great material to learn about the inner workings of heart cells.

BTW Here's an ECG from my Apple Watch showing 3 such beats (you can't miss them): https://link.ekin.dev/l1Vc3Gdf

If you happen to have these, just get checked out by a cardiologist. They are almost always benign but the frequency / daily amount are reasons for concern.

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rdegges ◴[01 Apr 25 15:48 UTC] No.43548209[source]▶
I had something similar for many years (triggered by an episode of afib brought-on by triggering my vagus nerve). The one thing that has helped me fully get rid of these (after YEARS of trial-and-error) was getting onto beta blockers (Propranolol).

These have COMPLETELY gotten rid of my ectopic beats and also helped me deal with the health anxiety.

If you ever want to talk, feel free to hit me up (contact info in profile).

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1. grumpy-de-sre ◴[01 Apr 25 16:25 UTC] No.43548662[source]▶
Propranolol is such an underrated drug, or at-least it was when I first started using it twenty years ago (initially for hand tremors but I found it did more than settle just my hands). Glad others have been discovering its usefulness over the years.

I think they've even recently found use in cancer therapy [1].

Sir James Black the pharmacologist who developed it is an absolute legend [2].

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2162402X.2023.2...

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPe0sLghRBQ&list=PLVV0r6CmEs...