Am i ok?

[anxious john]

Thank you for taking my question. I am a 27 yr old male in generally good health. I work construction and try to walk every night. I have had skipped beats for about 10 yrs. I have just got a chest X-ray, blood tests, EKG, cat scan, and an echo which are all normal. I am taking 50 mg of atenolol which helps a little. I just want your opinion on if anything would concern you right now. I have checked my pulse before and when i feel the wierd beat by pulse doesnt really pause at all, it just feels like it beats harder once. And on the atenolol when i do get the beat it seems more apparent than before. I notice these beats about 20 times a day on a bad day but usually about 5-7 times a day. I would appreciate any feedback on this. Thank you very much

[Cleveland Clinic]

john,

thanks for the post.

If it makes you feel better, you are not alone in this.  PVCs and palpitations are very common in the population.  With a normal cardiac workup, there really isnt a significant long term risk from the palpitations.  However, the symptoms can really be quite bothersome for a lot of people.  You might search back through the archives to see how some people have coped with the symptoms in the past.

good luck

[wingtip]

Haye to post off topic, but I have a general question about loop recorders.  It looks like many people here have used them.  DO you have to have symptems and feel them to make a loop recorder useful.  Are they programed to come on automatically if somethinfg happens.  Do they connect with the stick=-on things like the holter monitores I have used?

Thanks for any help

[Momto3]

I have worn several event monitors.  The ones that I have worn have two leads attached to the monitor via two sticky electrode patches.  I do have to "record" events that I feel by pressing the "record" button on the monitor.  The recorder continually records my heartbeat on a 45 second loop.  When I push "record," the monitor recaptures the previous 45 seconds and records and additional 15 seconds of data. The monitor can store up to 4 events.  At that point, the data must be transmitted via the phone lines.

The doctor said if this doesn't capture what she wants to see, she could implant a loop recorder.  It would be surgically inserted (similar to a pacemaker, I think) and it could be left in for a period of up to a few years.  I think I would still have to record events, but there would be no sticky patches.  

Holter monitors generally have around 5 leads and are worn for 24-72 hours.  They record and store a full day (or more) of data.

Good luck!

[wmac]

Hello, I do have a implanted loop recorder implanted now. The batteries last 12-14months. It is the size of a cigarette lighter, just a bit thiner. It can automatically record four recordings if my heart rate gets above 215 or below 40 and I can also do three patient activation recordings. If you are going to get one of these and you do not live close to your cardiologist ask if they can get the equipment to your local doctor. I live 115 miles away from my cardio and I was quite upset that I would have to drive the distance each time to get it downloaded. The rep for the company which is medtronic's was there also for my surgery he did the programing of it, and he sent up a rep to show my local doctor how to do all of the downloading and also had the equipment brought here too. So that was really wonderful, beings im the only one in this town who has ever had one. It is a very simple procedure to get the implant they give you versede so your out of it. I was a bit sore for about a week after wards. Its a tiny incision so its quite amazing that you are that sore, im a hairdresser and I could hardly lift my arm to cut hair, but I just kept lifting my arm all the time to excersise it. Sometimes still I do get a bit achey (achy) around where its implanted Ive had it since Oct.18th 04. Most of the time I dont even know its there now. Why are they considering a loop recorder for you? I have nsvt.
wmac

[Jeff67]

Have you had your NSVT captured?  How often do you get it?  Why do you need the implanted loop monitor?  Do you otherwise have a structurally normal heart? I assume that since you have a loop monitor implanted the NSVT does not happen very often. I have a tachy every now again and I am convinced it is NSVT. It has never been captured and the doctors are not interested in trying to capture it and have said that even if it is NVST it is not significant in someone with an otherwise structurally normal heart.

[wmac]

Yes we captured my nsvt several times. I also get a racing heart
which totally feels different thant he nsvt and each time I would have the king of hearts monitor on Id never get it. Of course Insurance companies dont like paying for them more than once or twice a year so the doctor decided to do the loop recorder, because my racing heart last longer than the nsvt. So she wanted to know if it was a sustained vt or something else. Of course I have had the monitor since Oct 04 and no racing heart episode yet. But we captured several nsvt and the worse one yet so thats why I had the ep study.
wmac

[Jeff67]

Did the EP study find anything? Is your heart otherwise normal?

[wmac]

Sorry I didnt answer that question. They did not induce my vt so they say my vt is not life threating. Although they did induce v-fib, but they are not worried they can do that to anyone in that situation. I have a normal healthy strong heart.
wmac