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Avatar universal

New to PVC's and associated meds......

Hi,

History is, sometime around the 10th of Dec, I was stressed out on the phone, working, got up, and noticed a strange "lump in the throat" feeling and kind of a cold sensation. I have been on Benicar for the past year or so for minimal HBP so it is instinct for me to feel my pulse. Upon doing so i noticed the beat,beat,beat,early beat,pause,beat,beat,early,pause pattern and the "lump" coming at the beat after the pause. This threw me right away into a full panic attack, i yelled for my wife and we drove the 5 min trip to the ER in about 2 min. Did the whole work up at the hospital over the next 24hrs and they never happened or saw anything abnormal on any machine. My blood tests did show low mag, and potass so supplements we in order. My GP reffered me to a cardio and as luck would have it, the day before my appointment, the crazy pattern happened again. So we end up at the ER again, this time they see them on the monitor. "Yep, you've got PVC's" about every 3rd, 4th, 6th, beat I see the PVC, then, after 5 min or so, they go bye bye.. The cardio called in and told the ER doc to put me on 25mg Atenolol, and send me home. At the cardio appt, the next day, we discussed what these things are and why and how and decided to stay on the Atenolol, get off Benicar, and see how it goes. Well, fine for about 2 weeks then during a nice quiet walk with the wife, bam, again a episode of erratic beating. After a hour they didnt go away, so off, again, to the ER... BLEH!! So now i'm on Atenolol, Rythmol, Paxil, and Xanax-as needed.... Continued....next post.....
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Avatar universal
Just had a run (about a hour) of them today. The first miss usually scares me i think in part to a release of chemicals in the body. I get the missed (early) beat, then a min or 2 of fast beats that slow back down, then a pattern of PVCs but today, they ended up falling into a 2 normal beats, then PVC, pattern, for around 30 min. I tried to remain calm, take deep slow breaths and they went away. I hate the feeling of course and you get the little prickly end of fingers and toes sensation, a bit of sluggishness, and of course panic!! Then the after effects of being washed out like your fighting standing in the ocean against the waves...just wears me out. I still have my 30 day event monitor and filled it up right away, sent them in, and get the "nothing unusual so we'll send you Dr. a report in  24-48 hrs". Seems my stomach turns flips after a event of these also. Just hate wating on the next "wave" and hoping the meds work sooner or later.  Thanks for the positive reply, it helps tons!!!
Helpful - 0
61536 tn?1340698163
Yikes, you're really scared huh?  I can relate.  I've been there.  When all of this started for me, or at least when I started noticing it, I went through a very similar ER routine and many subsequent second and third opinions regarding the nature of my palpitations.  Every doctor told me I had PACs and PVCs (same things, different chambers) and not to worry.  A fine thing when you feel like your heart is fluttering and you've got something bubbling in your throat, right?

They prescribed Ativan (like Xanax) for me and sent me on my way.  I'm a Type A, very prone to stress and usually under a good deal of it.  Had my first panic attack in 1999 and have since learned to manage it and have remained free of them for approximately two years now.  It requires EFFORT, including daily meditation and regular exercise, though far less effort now than in the beginning.

I do agree with whomever said you're on a lot of medication for a benign condition, however, beta blockers are often prescribed to people for anxiety and it sounds like right now you probably need the other anxiety medication until you get these worries down to a low roar.

The thing about these extra beats is that they happen, seemingly, without good reason.  Sure, eating a lousy diet can irritate them (even sugar triggers mine, when I over-indulge) but I can eat perfectly and still get them.  One time in 2003 I was kept in the hospital overnight for observation because I was having 20 PACs and 20 PVCs per MINUTE.  Almost half my beats were ectopics (my heart rate was 110)!  My heart felt like it had gone nuts.  They said as soon as I fell asleep, my heart rate was completely normal, with only 2 PACs the entire time I slept.  I was sent home the next day with a clean bill of health.  I've had one additional episode like that, and thankfully they're infrequent.  I think all of us who suffer with these find it extremely annoying that we don't have control.  Our efforts, no matter how drastic, seem to fail to control the extra beats aside from a very modest decrease.

I guess what I am saying is that you have to find a way to make peace with these.  All of your normal heart tests are extremely reassuring, you do not have any structural or ischemic heart problems per those tests and that is basically the only thing that would make a PVC dangerous.  So rest easy ;)  The heart can handle one heck of a lot of these skips and be no worse for the wear, you'd be surprised.

Hang in there!
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Avatar universal
I personally wouldn't want to be on all of those drugs for a benign condition but it's personal preference I guess.
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Avatar universal
Well, no way to edit posts here so i'll add info i left out..

42YO Male
Overweight
Stressed alot
mild HBP for a year or so, highest it was ever 142-90, put on Benicar HTC 20/40(i think)
No smoking/drinking
eat bad foods of course!

Since the PVCs
Echo -fine
Blood - fine like 10 times tested!
Stress test - normal
Xray - normal
Cardio sez normal heart, ECG EKG look fine, everything is normal.
Now i don't drink sweet drinks, no caffene, no sodas, eating healthier, walk 3000 steps a day.

Still, the last episode of PVCs was the worst, falling into that beat,beat,PVC,pause,beat,beat,PVC,pause,beat,beat pattern for a good while 15 min or more at the ER. It was nice that my cardio man just happened to be in the hospital at the time and looked at the pattern as well, prescribing the Rythmol 150mg twice a day, wanting to wean me off the atenolol, over the next 30 days. So...thats where i am now..scared.. even to walk now since the worst one happened during a nice walk!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
During the last ER visit, we watched them over time, and everyone except me wascalm, oh PVCs yep you got em!  BAH!! they don't have to deal with the feeling of my heart flipping out and beating in my neck instead of my chest!!
The cardio prescribed Rythmol that night, sent me home, and within 3 hrs of taking it the pattern returned to normal. Soo all is quiet now, at my appt today we decided Atenolol in the morning once, rythmol twice a day, paxil for nerves, and zanax as needed just in case.... sound familiar??/ any comments suggestions?????  like i said i'm new to all of this and it scared the **** out of me.... :(
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
hmm, sounds like a regularly irregular pattern there.. I had one for 6 weeks after my ablation, every other beat was premature, in the abscense of any other heart problems, these are probably just going to be an annoyance for you. the long term effects of the meds at some point will definatly outweight the benefits, since medicating for benign pvc's is a personal choice and not nessecary
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