Bigeminy?

  My husband went in to have an epidural for a herniated disk yesterday and while he was there the doctor told him that he was suffering from bigeminy and that he needed to go to his family physician to have it checked out.
  What is bigeminy and why wouldn't anyone have noticed it before?  Is it something to be very concerned about and how is it treated?
  Thank you,
  KH

[CCF CARDIO MD APS]

Dear Kat,
First you need to know what a PVC (premature ventricular contraction) is:
This is a beat of the heart that the ventricle initiates prematurely (i.e. the ventricle does not wait for the normal message-'sinus'-from above.
This is capability that EVERYONES ventricle has the ability to do, as a matter of fact the majority of persons have these beats on a regular basis but are completely unaware-this is normal!
For those who 'feel or sense' the extra beats/PVCs they are told to avoid stimulants of these extra beats, for instance caffeine, chocholate, tea, stress, and alcohol.
Bigeminy is a PVC that occurs every other beat, and this can be seen in normal individuals especially after
having received anesthesia via the lungs or via an epidural. What your husband needs to do is go see his family physician/general internist
who knows him and will take a history and physical, and potentially order a holter monitor which is a 24-48 our recording of the heart rhythm and go from there.
It is highly unlikely that your husband will have the bigeminy on his holter, i.e. it was a side effect of the anesthesia, however should he see his physician anyway?- the answer is yes.
Good Luck.
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general medical informational purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnosis and therapies.  
Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.  The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your problem.