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221122 tn?1323011265

PVC's are now constant

I have had PVCs, PATs,and Vtach leading to SVT since I was 20. I have been to several cardiologist with the same results. Benign. Lately, I had an attack of a few PVC's in a row followed by a tachy rate that I could not count. It lasted for about 5 minutes.  It happened again right before a trip to DisneyWorld. It ruined my trip). Again, EKG showed nothing.  I do try to eat pretty well, and take supplements.  Now I started a new job that I love, but I am TOTALLY exhausted all the time.  Plus my PVCs have started coming constantly, probably thousands a day, with couplets, FELT:(kick in chest, sharp pain, tightness for seconds, breathlessness at time of palp). No ignoring these. I had a holtor and an event monitor before the symptoms got too bad and of course only light PVCs showed on the test. My doctor told me everything is benign with a normal heart and that I don't have heart disease. How does he know?  My chol. is 240, my LDLs are 138 and my HDL's are low.  I have had no stress test or any other.  My mother has extensive cardiac disease.
I take 50 mg of atenelol, and .25 of Xanax daily.  It is like telling me to ignore a sharp pain. I have high anxiety.  Who wouldn't?  But I am really tired of being told that it is causing it. I had PVC's first. I wonder why money is spent fixing men who have problems with their sex lives, but I see no one trying to come up with any help for those of us who suffer with this.  Any help would be appreciated.
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Avatar universal
My comment is also for you too frs87. :)
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Avatar universal
Please don't be offended because that's not my intention. Why are you torturing yourselves? I understand your anxiety but using stethoscopes and wanting personal holter or event monitors to monitor your heart arrhythmias would only add to your suffering. This is becoming your whole world and I can't imagine the life's you are enduring. How are using these instruments going to help you, except make you more obsessive in tracking every single PVC etc. Get rid of them and start treatment for anxiety, this will truly help you, I know, because I've been through it.
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Avatar universal
Hi
I too am in my 30s and I have a  lot of palpitations in a day. I don't know how they are related to eating with me but I do notice they are definitely related to my cycle. It may help you to keep a chart for a couple of months and see if they increase at certain times in your cycle. I am in the process of doing that myself. I don't know of any holistic approaches to dealing with these awful things but I am always on the look-out and will share anything I find out...with the rest of this thread too. If the palpitations are showing up on the holter monitor, they are not in your mind. Find whatever it takes to help yourself relax a bit more. Hopefully, these things will go away as quickly as they came on for you. Good luck!

Heart_and_soul <3
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Avatar universal
I have been getting PVCs off and on for almost 20 years now, but only during the last 4-5 years have they been enough to really bother me. To answer your question about fatigue, I do not generally get any feeling of fatigue or of being tired as a result. But when I'm getting a series of palpitations I do feel a little drained at that very moment I suppose. I think light headed is maybe too strong a description, but sort of gives the idea. Almost as if the cardiac output is not as efficient during these times. But I do not get any heart burn or symptoms of indigestion. Never have. Very interesting you mention the connection with eating. I almost always get these PVCs after I've eaten, but sometimes in the morning before getting out of bed. There is a very strange connection between PVCs and eating (for me). Other contributors to this forum have also mentioned a connection. And stress and coffee as I've mentioned before. I've heard people also suggest spasms of the esophagus that may feel like heart palpitations. I guess some people do get that, especially after eating. But at least in my case they are not from that, they are PVCs of the heart. The EKG will determine.

I have not really heard of a holistic approach to managing these, but would be very interested if you came across something. I don't think they are completely in the mind because there are many PVC events all through the night (when my conscious mind is not active) and they show up on my holter reports. It is something very physical, like how the heart (ventricular) muscle can occasionally depolarize in a funny or premature way on certain beats. As if the heart muscle is irritable, or if there are some overly excitable areas of the ventricular muscle that fire off before their time, and the rest of the surrounding heart muscle will then depolarize in response to this rogue "command". It is good in the sense that your heart muscle is working (depolarizing) just as it should, only the various parts have gotten their signal to "beat" in a way that is unusual and a little out of order. So what you feel is this heartbeat that has not progressed at the right time or in the usual orderly way. The fact that the ventricles can and will eventually depolarize on their own without the usual command from the atrial sinus node can be a life saving mechanism in the heart. It's a really beautiful and amazing thing. But it seems like this mechanism can get out of hand, or alternate pathways or blocks can develop to alter the normal propagation of the heart beat. In the case of PVCs this is said to be benign. Anyway, I believe this is all very physical and not only in the mind.

What may be in the mind is whether we're tuned in to it, or anxious about the effects that we feel from it. Plus stress and the mind/body response to it does release lots of cortisol, adrenaline, and other things that may cause the heart to become more apt to behave this way. That's just my layperson theory. But if stress is a trigger, which it seems to be in my case, then I'd say in that sense it is definitely in the mind. Stress can do tremendously bad things to our bodies and overall well being. It can also save our lives.

So with the possible connection to stress, maybe you are very correct in looking for a more holistic approach to managing this. I'm very interested in this idea too and hope to hear back from you. Best wishes.
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Avatar universal
I am a 35 y/o mother of two little boys....   I've been having PVCs for about 2 wks now.  I woke up one morning 2 wks ago & there they were.  I went to my doctor & he said he could see nothing wrong w/ me so he had me go get the holter monitor.  They said I was having palps, but that they were benign and they called them PVCs.  I went back today for an EKG & Thyroid test.  Both were normal and I am "said" to be fine.  My hubby thinks these are brought on by stress as we have a very stressful life and that if I would slow down a bit I might be able to control them.  Also, I had not slept well for months and had not drank water like I normally did.  I am a health nut, but I have been taking care of an ill family member for years now, and this has taken it's toll on me.  So, anyways, I am wondering how much of PVCs are in the "mind"???  I probably have about 25 or more a day and I notice they are when I am more active and always when I eat... that one is strange.  I am gonna try & keep my stress to a minimal.

Are there any wholistic remedies for PVCs?????  Would love to hear any/all comments on that.  Thanks!  
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Avatar universal
P.S.  I also wanted to say I enjoyed reading all the posts on here and they gave me some comfort & support I longed for!!!

Also, does anyone else w/ PVCs suffer from heartburn & extreme fatigue after you have a lot of pvcs in a day???  My doc never mentioned anything about being tired w/ them, but I am.  Is that a bad sign??  I have never had heartburn before, ever!  So to get this the same week as the PVCs has made me wonder what is up!?  I hate the exhaustion...  I hope that gets better.  I am too young for this.  God bless you all:)
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