PVC PAC

[cyn123]

Hello and Thank you for answering my question.  First I'll give you my history.  I had SVT for 13 yrs and had an ablation done in 2000.  Approx one yr before my ablation  I started to feel flutting or skipped beats.  After my ablation i have not had one svt moment since but still feel skipped beats.  They seem to come on sometimes in my swimming pool, or when i take a deep breath.  Anyway i had an all day episodes of these and went to my Doctor  not my EP Doctor.  I wore a halter which showed  in an 18 hour period i had 15 pvc and 560  pac.   Although iam greatful  that they finally caught them on tape, i was wondering if i should be concerned about them.  They have really stole my life away from me.  They make me very scared  even though my doc says they are not harmful but annoying.  He talked about  Beta blockers  but i am very scared to go on any meds.  Is they amout of pvc  and pac  enough to go on meds ?  Are there any long term adverse side effects of beta blocker?  I seem like i cant just ignore them like i wish i could.  I guess i really dont believe that they are not harmful and need constant reasurance.  I stay away from caffene and alcohol.  Iam scared to exercise due to the fact that i hate when my heart gets elevated.  I dont know if   beta blockers is the answer to my fears or not.  What do you think?  Thank you so much for you time.  Have a nice day.

[valger]

Hi, and thanks for the reply!!  We do sound alike!  Mine started when I was about 31, and were sort of on-again, off-again type of things, and then I had one really bad summer, where it was like every few beats, and also one short episode of atrial fib caught on my holter.  It was then that I really related it to menopause because I went from that to having them few and far between, and that was also the time that I stopped having cycles.  So, I went about a year with them just once in a while, totally livable.  It's amazing how it changes your life when you're not having them, I was suddenly a totally different mom, doing all sorts of things with my kids, etc.  Then, suddenly, one day, I started getting a few back again, more than usual.  They gradually increased again, and here I am now, getting them all day long again, sometimes as many as every few beats again.  I know I have them in the thousands per day.  I guess I should have another holter because the one I had in Nevada only caught a few, it was at the time they weren't so bad yet.  I think I should probably go back in now that they've increased so much and see if anything else is up.  I did have the thallium stress test, and that came out ok.  I feel pretty good when I exercise, but they come on again right when I stop.  I don't know if they slow down when I exercise, or if I just don't feel them as much.  The thing is, I'm back in Texas now where it's very humid and hot, and that seems to really irritate them.  If I lay around, they calm down, but when I get up to do things, like even load the dishwasher, they sort of stir up again, do you ever have that?  I notice that stress definitely does make them worse.  We are in the middle of a very stressful move, and my Dad passed away last October, so these things have all contributed to this for me.  I don't know much about the anxiety drugs as I have never really taken anything.  I did try a couple different beta-blockers a few years ago when these things first started, but in the long run, it just made things worse.  So, if I know they are not life threatening, I would just rather live with them than take anything.  I sort of do get to the point where I get used to them, and try to ignore them, and it really does help.  I try different things for anxiety, like I drink that Sleepytime Tea, the one with the sleeping bear on it, and that helps.  It really, really helps to drink alot of water.  It seems like supplements like even the vitamin e I was taking, seem to aggravate it, so I don't take any vitamins.  I try to stay away from chocolate, as that seems to be an aggravator also.  I just checked the tea, and it's made by Celestial Seasonings.  It says caffeine free, which is of course really important, to have no caffeine, like in sodas and things.  I also read where it helps to eat that albacore tuna at least once a week, not that it helps the palpitations, but it helps lesson the dangerous type of palpitations, which I'm always nervous the ones I have can lead to.  You're so right about the PVC's and how they can control your day, and sometimes you feel more in control of them.  My husband is travelling back and forth now to his new job in Connecticut, and so I notice I get them more when I'm alone, and maybe more nervous about the kids.  And, fatigue does make them worse.  I'm on a terrible schedule, I stay up very late, and sleep in, so I don''t think that helps much.  Well, I'll let you know if I find anything out about the anxiety medication, I'll mention it to my doctor when I hopefully go this week, I'm going to call tomorrow.  Just for peace of mind before the move.  So, hopefully since I didn't get them for that year, maybe they are hormone related like your Mom had, and we have hope of someday being rid of these things without having to take medication!!  It makes sense, because I didn't have any periods during that time that I didn't have them, and then right after they came on again in Nevada, I sure enough had my first period in quite some time, and two weeks later, another one.  So, something is messed up there.  But, the thing is, they are still here each and every day, not just during that time.  They are still bad each day, I don't really have any good days.  Well, thanks again for the reply, and sorry I've gone on and on here, I'll let you know when I find out more!  Val

[PAT65]

Hi Val! Your case seems so much like mine. I am 37 years old and thought maybe I was going through early menopause as well. So many women on this site seem to start their PVC/PAC problems somewhere around their late 30s to early 40s. My multiple PVCs(I had 8,000+ and 9,000+ on two separate holter readings)started suddenly about a year ago and I have been trying to find a solution ever since. My mother had PVCs and was on Quinidine for years. Since then she has went through menopause and just quit having PVCs except on rare occasions. I hope to go that route. She no longer has to take quinidine. Some days my PVCs control my life, other days I'm in control.I am considering taking some kind of anti-anxiey drug because these things are very hard to deal with on bad days. Right now I am very tired and am probably having a PVC every 3rd or 4th beat. Fatigue seems to be one trigger for my PVCs. I have read some people out there take Zoloft for anxiety others take Xanax. Which is the best for anxiety instead of depression? Any advice would be great.

[valger]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to thank you all for the comments, I don't know what I would do without this board!!  Tonight I'm again having a particularly bad night with the PVC's, and was even considering a trip to the ER, if nothing else, than just to catch them on tape and make sure what's going on.  But, then I come on here, and it kind of calms me down.  I'm definitely going to call the cardiologist on Monday, but you know how it is, the ER is such a pain, you can wait for hours.  I have PVC's so bad most of the time, that it takes alot for me to want to go in to the ER.  I usually have somewhere around 5 per minute, and then when I get nervous is when they seem to come around every 3 beats or so, and also seem to increase in the force of it, like the fluttering is really hard, and then the hard beat after is especially hard.  Anyway, I was wondering if anyone out there gets them as often as I do.  I was thinking maybe, if I have them that often, that I should be on medication or it's dangerous.  I was on medication a few years ago, but it ultimately made mine worse.  It helped for a while, and then they seemed aggravated by it, and we tried a couple different ones.  The thing is, if I know they are not dangerous, then I guess I can live with them without medication, but I am not convinced that they are not dangerous.  I have had holters done and all that, but when I had the holter, I wasn't having them as bad as I am now.  The doctor said that they are benign, and I was getting PVC's and PAC's, and he said my Q wave was fine and all that.  But, at the time, I think the doctor said I had something like 10 PVC's, and now I have more than that in a couple of minutes.  I started getting these when I started going through menopause, and am still having them.  I am 43 years old, which is a little young for that, maybe that's the problem!!  I also thought it might help to move from a high altitude area, which we just did, and it seemed to at first, but now it's kind of back to normal with the skipped beats all the time.  Well, thanks again for any advice!!  Val

[cyn123]

Hi  I do know stress brings on these skipped beats and it sounds like you are going through a lot.  GO see a  doctor to make sure and make yourself feel better.   Good luck and Dont forget    living in a one bedroom apartment --- happy   beats any big house  and  not happy.

[Mozzer]

I am 48 yrs old, have just gone through divorce and moving house, to my 1 bed appartment. For the last few weeks I have noticed that my heart is skipping beats and generally fluttering all over the place. Are these PVC's or PAC's I have no idea. Sometimes its occuring 2 or 3 times a minute and is very scary. I have also recently started to take 20mg Prozac daily, is there any link here. I did experience something similar to this several years ago. I was fitted with a recorder, which picked up some irregular heart beats. I was also going through a stressful time then too. Is this all related to stress, or could there be some underlying cause which should be investigated. My doctor says its all stress related and his advice is just to cut down on the caffiene and try to control my stress levels. (Easy for him to say) I would appreciate any feedback Thankyou

[pebo]

Your welcome Bandit---I believe diet can play a roll with your heart. Certainly stimulants like caffeine, alcohol, do affect me, I think also MSG.

I agree the Net is a great tool and provides a lot of info.

It sounds like your episodes are quite new to you. I hope they don't cause you too much grief.

Regards-----Pebo