PAC's and PVC's

Thank you for taking my question!  I am a 51 year old female.  I have had PAC's and PVC's since my early 20's and been checked out by three different cardiologists because I insisted there was something wrong with my heart.  They just found run of the mill PAC's and PVC's and said since I have a normal heart not to worry.

My question is this.  When I am under ANY amount of stress or anxious about anything these skips can come one after another.  I was totally anxious last night when I was laying in bed thinking about some stressful things and I was getting either PAC's or PVC's about every other beat.  I tried to calm myself down but just got more an more anxious every skip it did.  I tend to become obsessed about these things.  I guess it finally went away because after an hour or so I finally went to sleep and they were gone this morning.  Is that a bad thing when they come one after another like that???  I was at the point that I was going to take myself to the emergency department but knew what they would probably say.  Do most people get one after another like that when they are anxious or stressed or do you think that is anything to worry about it I have a normal heart?

[CCFHeartMD19]

Hello there,

It is hard to give you an accurate assessment of the situation without seeing your EKGs but I will give you some general advice which might help.

Most normal people have PACs and PVCs and we generally don't worry about them as long as they are not symptomatic or are too frequent which may ultimately cause reduction in heart function.
It appears that you have done well from the standpoint of PVC burden till date except when you get stressed.
I think it would be reasonable to touch base with an electrophysiologist to quantify the amount of PVC burden that you are having. If it is greater than 10%, things should be done to reduce the amount of PVCs that you have in a day. This can be either done using medications like beta blockers or by invasive procedures.
Bottomline is that you should seek help from electrophysiologist so that he can determine further course of evaluation and treatment
Hope that helps.

[808]

Greetings, I'm a 50 yr old male and I've had skipped beats since jmy late 20's      
I've had very few bouts with A-fibs through the years and they were caused by stressful events such as a death of with my family. In most cases, I get a few skips here and there everyday. I do notice that they become frequent after eating a full meal; or even a small meal.

[808]

continued....
Sorry for typos in my previous post prior to me falling asleep. Well since I had experienced panic attacks that were associated with my irregular heart beats, a shrink I visited prescribed me 10mg of Doxepin, an antidepressant drug. The Doxepin greatly reduced my panic attacks and actually keeps me composed during minor panic attacks from time to time. In my case, I truly believe that my skipped beats are attributed to my digestive problems.

The bottom line is that I've had this problem for decades and survived through the ups and downs that comes with it. Hang in there and you'll have better days.

[shannonm75]

Yes definitely. I have PVCs as diagnosed by my EP three years ago. I am 37 and have had them since I was nine or ten years old. Stress, anxiety, and so forth can bring them on hard. Even worrying about them can make it worse. Also PMS can aggravate them. Now that I take a beta-blocker, they are not as bad but stress will cause them to act ip sometimes.