PVC's and/or VENTRICULAR BIGEMINY

[rdlove]

I am a 42 year old male, very active.  Recently lost a great deal of weight.  After a very nerve racking 2 weeks, I have been diagnosed with Ventricular Bigeminy or also PVC's.  I have had every test, given what seems to be gallons of blood and am being told that my heart is chemically and physically healthy, but this is just something that I will need to live with.  In this day of medical miracles, etc., I have a hard time thinking that I just have to live with this, but if that is the way it is, so be it.  My question is this, I am wondering if there are any vitamins, etc., that I can take that may help these to not be so bad.  I know I can take Atenolol, but that is a stronger BP med and if would only control, if there is some vitamin or something less harmfull, I would like to try that.  Also, if there is anyone who is reading this that suffers from the same thing, I would love to hear from you as to how you are dealing with these.  I have been given the OK to return to my regular 6 day a week work out schedule and so I do plan on doing that.  I would just appreciate any advice that anyone can give me.
Thank You...RDLOVE

[Kimma]

i noticed you are a mom to 3 and wondered if your pvc's started before or after your last baby. if so ,did pregnancy make your pvc's alot worse?? did they ever return to the pre-pregnancy state? i didnt start getting pvc's until after i had my son, we really want another baby in the next few years but im SCARED TO DEATH it will make them worse and my entire pregnancy will be one big panic attack or worse i develope VT or some other scary arrythmia. my last pregnancy i had a psvt or an avnrt episode every two weeks that lasted for hours. that was cured with ablation but now i have pvc's. a big reason why i had the ablation was so i could get pregnant again someday without having to worry about my heart the whole time, i had no idea i would start to get pvc's. the only thing the ep said was you might notice your heart skip whenever it tries to go back into your old arrythimias, yeah right, i wish i only had pvc's every two weeks.
kim

[Ling]

Hey I started at 17 having PVC's very rarely, mostly accompanied with PSVT once in a blue, and I mean blue moon.  However, I turned 30 last year and about 2 months ago, out of the blue, I have been hit with PVC's.  Bad, like what you described.  Mine were occurring in bigeminy (every other beat), or 16 or so a minute, for hours.  All day.  I went on a beta blocker and it stopped the bigeminy almost immediately.  Now I still have PVC's, they are better, but the medicine did not completely get rid of them.  I am on a low dose beta blocker.  You may want to talk to your dr. about meds.  It is still very scarey, but at least I have small reprieves at times.

good luck.

[Momto3]

Good luck with getting your pvc's to behave :)

I had them for over 20 years.  Some of my holters showed 22,000 in 24 hour period and too many bigeminal cycles to even bother counting. I guess my point is, if the doctor tells you that your ectopic beats are benign, it comes down to finding a coping mechnism, as opposed to an actual cure.

I took beta blockers on/off for years, and they helped on/off. For about 5 years, I was able to use the beta blocker (Inderal) on an as-needed basis, which really worked pretty well for me. Because I ran into problems because of the increasing frequency of my pvcs (tens of thousands/day), last year I was put on antiarrythmics. After 7 months, I finally was brave enough to try an EPS and ablation. For me, it was like a miracle. I am feeling better and I have very few pvcs. Work with your doctor to develop a regimen that works best for you, and don't be afraid to check out biofeedback and/or relaxation techniques....Take care and good luck

[rdlove]

Well as the originator of this conversation I hope I have not started a big old fight here. :-)
I appreciate all comments, believe me I do.
At this point I am sort of feeling cheeted since I have worked so hard and come so far in bettering my health that to be faced with this now seems to be a real set back for me.
However, that being said, because I have worked so hard I am not going to throw in the towel over this.  I returned to my health club this morning for the first time and it felt great!  I was a little scared, but I did it.
Also, it wont hurt me to try some of the things mentioned if I decide to and I greatly appreciate everyone comments.
I still welcome anything else anyone else has to say or contribute.
Thanks,
Rick

[Gaspipe]

Hi jeff I'll make some follw up comments and rest my case. As a healthcare provider myself I often "observe" things when treating patients however I realize my observations are likely just that..my observations; and may be the result of other unknown factors. So clinical recommendations must be based upon scientific evidence gained from well documented and well conducted research. Incidently the one study I know of that showed antiarrthymics are dangerous in patients with certain arythmias was the CAST study and I believe this study was done on patients with known cardiovascular disease. In patients with pvcs and structurally normal hearts as verified via testing some antiarrthymics do not pose a greater risk. Just my humble opinion and nothing more .As I said i've been there and done it all. And i'll keep trying...

[Kimma]

im 5'3, 100lbs
i take
fish oil 1000 mgs
coq10 50mgs
vitamin b complex (the recommended dose on the bottle dont remember the mgs.)
magnesium oxide 500mgs
i dont know how much they help with my pvc's because i still have my bad days and good days, i think the magnesium helps alot with the pvc's , the vitamin b complex helps for energy and i take the coq10 and the fish oil as more of a preventative measure because i have heart disease in my family. im only 18 and have alot of pvc's i cant even imagine what they are gunna be like when im 30.
atenolol is a strong medicine and usually doesnt even work well with pvc's. when i started taking atenolol right away i got like 6 pvc's in a row, i had never had pvc's in a row before...i was having constant pvc's while taking it so it didnt do any good for me.
kim