Many possibilites. The fish-oil may be oxidized which can disrupt blood glucose levels and cause possible insulin/glucagon imbalances, your acetylcholine activity may be out of balance, environmental contaminants can make the fish-oil unstable, low blood pressure may lead to the palpitations, or you may need extra potassium/magnesium in order for the omega-3’s to stabilize your heart rhythm.
If I were you I would stop using them and switch to pharm grade fish-oils instead and see how you respond. ~5-10% of people report heart-palpitations as a result of fish-oil supplement use…
Its important to increase your intake of co-factors needed for fatty-acid metabolism when you add these supplements to your diet as a disruption of your prostaglandin homeostasis is a possibility…
Just an FYI, I have experienced this and I imagine there are some on this board as well. Should I use Flax and olive oil as my fat source?
I have recently experienced this bad enough to nearly send me packing to the hospital a couple of times until I figured out what the hell was causing it. I don’t know why it suddenly started after years of fish oil supplementation but it did and the culprit seems to be Twinlabs Dale Alexander liquid fish oil. This feels more like some sort’ve allergic reaction with the palpatation as a side effect of that. I lie down to sleep and start to feel a strange sort’ve vibration in my head and buzz in my ears, followed by shortness of breath, followed by my heart beating off kilter. It took me a good month to figure out what was causing it.
Hey guys that’s concerning. I consider fish oil the 2nd most necessary supp, after a good protein. The O3s are supposed to PREVENT incidents like this, correct? I assume an impurity in the liquid you’re taking.
I’ve been using Carlson’s brand. I just started noticing this as well and have been using the fish oils for a couple of years now. My symptoms are more of a “pounding heart” not rapid or erratic.
This happened to me as well. Took me about a month too because I ran out of fish oil and forgot to order more, and the pain went away when I was off of them. So, I just decreased my dosage, and I’m fine now. I was taking ~ 5.5g EPA/DHA. I use 1/2 that amount now.
I think dosage is a key factor here. Just because a little is good, doesn’t mean more is better. Like the posts I read on the T-mag forum about popping 20 tabs a day. Keep in mind that most of the demographic studies linking fish consumption with reduced heart disease show that the protective effect of eating fatty fish pretty much peaks out at only one or times a week. How much EPA/DHA is that? A couple grams maybe?
There have been a lot of concerns with excessive fish oil intake, mostly related to the easy oxidation of long chain polyunsaturated fats. The quality of the oil might be a factor, as well as the level of Vit E intake with regard to preventing excessive oxidation of the oils. But the key is finding the optimal dose, which is probably pretty modest. A little goes a long way.