Funny beats

[leila]

I am a 45 year old female with chronic fatigue syndrome and trigeminal neuralgia, for which I am treated with fluvoxamine and amitriptyline.  I have only recently changed to fluvoxamine, as sertraline was beginning to have little effect.  I had an episode ca. 12 months ago of tachycardia due to another anti-depressant drug called reboxetine (an SNRI). Depression has been a long-standing fact of life for me, unfortunately.  The tachycardia, which stayed at 137 bpm for up to a fortnight, was a frightening and disabling experience, but fortunately resolved when I came off the drug (I had only been taking it for 2 weeks prior to the heart disturbance).  My problem now has been happening for a while (ectopic beats), but they seem to have become more frequent and are occurring nearly all day every few minutes now.  The situation is uncomfortable.  I am prone to getting them when I lie on my left side in bed and when I do get them they seem to irritate my left lung and make me cough once.  I am finding this very uncomfortable and a little worrying, and I don't understand why they should make me cough too.  I am finding I have feelings of faintness, whilst experiencing these funny beats, but have not fainted.  I recently had an ECG and check with a cardiologist several weeks after the palpitations had subsided (I had been referred when they occurred).  There was no sign of them by the time of the appointment.  I am concerned about the increase in the ectopic beats, though, and the way they seem to irritate my lungs and make me cough.  Does this make sense?  What do you advise

[Phil65]

Hello, (i am phil 38 years old) I have been experiencing palpitations for about 18 years. I went to severla doctors, cardiologists- they all told me i was fine- eventually i went to a therapist and just got used to the fact that my heart skipped beats all the time- I continued my active life style.  then, 3 years ago my resting heart rate slowed to 32 beats per minute.  the doctors said the cardiomyopathy/ myocarditis almost killed me.  since then i continually have every test known to man.  Notwithstanding, the doctors now tell me i am fine.  here is the problem, i am convinced that most of the time gas causes my heart to beat irregular.  sometimes it stops, then beats fast.  other times it beats unusually fast for a long period then unusually slow.  always my heart skips beats.  of course the slow bothers me the most.  why do doctors ignore this stuff.  for years they told me i was basically a hypochondriac (sorry about the spelling i am in a hurry) nonetheless, heart disease almost killed me.  i don't know anybody my age who has these symptoms nor anyone my age who has had heart failure.  where do i go?

[dartmouth03]

hi there, i hope you're feeling better.  whenever i'm sick, have a cold, flu, fever, etc. - i always have more pvcs and pacs.  i think when the body is under extra stress, whether it be an illness, lack of sleep, anxiety, etc. there tends to be an increase in pvcs/pacs.  had you ever had pvcs before this?  i'm 23 and get them all the time!  they are annoying as heck but all the doctors say they're normal and that everyone gets them but just most people don't feel them.  i was curious to see if maybe you took any type of decongestants that day b/c whenever i take those the pvcs go nuts!  it's the pseudoephedrine in there that causes the heart to act up.  hope you are well.  take care.
alex

[sarahsue]

I had strep this weekend, and noticed that when my fever was up, my heart PVCs were crazy!!  When I took Advil, and my fever went down, my heart calmed down, too.

Has anyone else ever noticed a corolation between illness/fever, and their PVCs?

Sarahsue

[kann]

I posted here in the beginning of the month with concerns of my heart palpitations. I have had tests done and the dr says my heart is fine, but found out one thing wrong. I have hyperthyroidism. Which does cause palpitations, nervousness, racing heart, etc.
I felt started feeling palpitations when I was pregnant and the drs said it was due to being pregnant. I accepted that until I was having them after my daughter was born. I asked the endocrenologist (sp?) if I could have had hyperthyroidism when I was pregnant. He said it could have been a possiablitly that I had it, but the only way they would have known is if they tested my thryoid.
I feel much better now knowing that there was an underlying cause to my funny heart beats.I suggest if you haven't already get your thyroid checked. Sometimes you may not know its your thyroid until you have it tested. My father in-law had a racing heart for a year and some weight loss (thinking nothing was wrong) before he found out he had a thyroid problem.
Good luck to everyone and thanks for posting because your comments helped me feel at ease. Have a wonderful day!
Kerri

[Steve-M]

I would also like to know about exercise. I have always heard that exercise will help reduce the PVC's. In my own case it seemed to make them worse. (At least worse during the workout since they went back to normal within an hour of stoping the exercise).

Now that my PVC's are going away, (and are also harder for me to detect), it's easier for me to get back to exercising. I think it helped to work out very regularly, not just once or twice a week. It also helped to increase just a little at a time. The more you think about your heart the more strange beats you will detect.

Since 99% of the world says that exercise is a good thing I think I will continue. That 1% can't be right.

Steve

[alexa's mom]

Well it's a beautiful spring day here and I just got back from about an hour long walk. Big mistake that was. About half way through the walk I started having PVCs, couplets, triplets, flutters, the whole works. If it wasn't for my mom being there I probably would have passed out right there on the sidewalk. Now what scares me is I read on here a while back that PVCs during exercise can be a bad thing. Does anybody else experience them while exercising? Why is it bad if this happens during physical exertion? Once again you have all reasured me that I am not going to drop dead.......at least I hope! :) It's nice to know that I can count on this web site to make me feel a little bit better.

***Michelle***