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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
The study mentioned by deedle1976 is very interesting and discouraging at the same time. I wonder if there are more studies like this, possibly more recent. I think I can get access to PubMed papers online so I'll try to do some research and see what I can find. If I do find something interesting I will post it here. I very much respect the results cited by a well run clinical study. But I do have to say there are several things I am absolutely certain of, all studies aside. Stress increases PVC frequency and intensity for me, and the effects seem to gradually accumulate and dissipate as the stressful situation changes. Several years ago I changed jobs and it was a very stressful experience. I had the worst PVCs ever during those months, so bad I actually got headaches and could feel them throbbing with each PVC. Coffee also has a real influence on me as well. But the onset of PVC when I have lots of coffee is not so gradual, it happens that day. Other than those things which are definite contributors, everything else is questionable.

Crazyheart25, about the thyroid, I thought something similar might have been a problem for me too and I actually went to an endocrinologist last year. I had a panel of tests done that probably funded the lab for an entire month. So the results came up completely normal across the board. Of course it makes me very relieved to have these result. But it gave me no information about the PVCs.
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Avatar universal
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

I am a 25 year old female that was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis in January of this year.  There is nothing "normal" about the way I feel anymore and my constant PVC's started in March.  I've had most of the tests you all have had (Echo, EKG, Holter...)  Of course, mine are also benign PVC's, but like most of you part of me wishes there was something really wrong so we could try to fix it (not mask it.)  I know how crazy that sounds, but everytime I have a skipped beat my chest hurts and my stomach drops like I'm on the highest roller coaster ever built.  It is a disgusting feeling and impossible to ignore.  For a while, it was all I could think about.  I was just waiting for my heart to give out.  I guess I'm as used to them now as a person can be.  I am noticing now that they worsen about 10 days before my period and stay bad for about 10 days after.  So, if you do the math I get about 2-3 days a month where they are not so constant--woohoo!  

I don't really have anything new to add, I just wanted to throw the thyroid problem out there for anyone else going through this and to let you all know that there is yet another person out there you can relate to.  PVC's suck, but life is good.  I guess the best we can do at this point is to take the best care possible of ourselves and trust that God's got this under control, just like everything else in this crazy world.  Rest peacefully tonight and just know that you will wake up tomorrow:)
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Avatar universal
Pepto Bismol (bismuth subsalicylate) helps me.
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Avatar universal
I agree with many above comments that suggest PVCs are not some condition of an abnormal heart. I'd like to suggest or propose that they are more related to general irritability of the heart muscle, and see what people think. If the muscle is irritable then it seems it would be more likely to spasm and/or depolarize prematurely. Supposing this is correct, then the question would be what causes the muscle tissue to become irritable (and how to eliminate or reduce those things)? Triggers that people have mentioned above include allergies, certain foods, stress, caffeine, menstrual cycles, illness, infection, etc.

I have observed that several of these things, especially in combination, can greatly increase PVCs for me. For example, after I remove stress and caffeine, the PVCs often settle down --but it takes time-- as if the irritability must gradually go away over a period of several days or weeks (certainly not hours). Maybe this is why it is so difficult to pinpoint direct cause and effect? The results of eating chocolate, having stress, or whatever, are averaged or smeared out over time. So perhaps it is hard to identify exact cause for this reason, and it's too easy to pick out other things (like what you ate that afternoon) that might not be directly related. And certainly everybody has different triggers, with certain common things like stress or caffeine.

So at least for me, this is how I have started to think about it. Very interested to hear what others might think. Is this plausible? If so does it offer any help toward some solution or helpful understanding? I'd really like to figure this out with help from others, maybe symptoms could be reduced. Medical community only offers beta blocker, but no real understanding about this problem that so many people suffer with.

For me the triggers do seem to be stress, coffee (caf/decaf), certain teas, adrenaline. I do notice more PVCs in the spring allergy season to bill_chatfield's comments, but I've never suffered from other allergy symptoms that I know of(?). And as I mentioned, backing off those triggers does seem to help but only after several weeks of saint-like behavior. Even then it's not a definite.
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Avatar universal
Thought you guys might be interested in this study of the effects of caffeine, alcohol, smoking and excercise on PVCs. (Published in the journal 'circulation' in 1979).
They found that total abstinence from caffeine, smoking, reduction of alcohol and engaging in a physical reconditioning program for 6 weeks had no significant effect on the number of PVCs.

Ventricular premature contractions: a randomized non-drug intervention trial in normal men.

The influence of a 6-week intervention on factors thought to be related to ectopic cardiac rhythms was tested in normal men with frequent ventricular premature contractions (VPCs), using a randomized, controlled and partial crossover design. The VPC intervention trial experimental regimen included total abstinence from caffeine and smoking, reduction of alcohol intake, and a physical conditioning program. Effects were studied in detail among 81 healthy men with persistent VPCs. VPCs were measured during standard states of rest, dynamic and isometric exercise and other stresses, and 24-hour ambulatory monitoring. Adherence to the treatment was excellent. The experimental group achieved more than 80% of activities asked of them, and little "contamination" occurred in the control group. VPCs were analyzed according to VPC/min, VPC/man and VPC/total number of heart beats. Moderate changes in VPC rates occurred in both experimental and control groups but no significant group differences were found at rest or during any induction test. This 6-week, multiple-factor "hygienic" intervention program had no significant influence on the frequency or occurrence of VPCs in apparently normal men with persistent and frequent VPCs.
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Avatar universal
A very fascinating read.  I have far less PVCs than many here.  I am in the uk and aged 69. I first had Missed Beats occur following a cold affecting the chest, which took 5 weeks to clear.  The MBs began at the end and over the next 2 years there were a number of days with MBs, 39 in my diary.  The comment by Bill Chatfield about digestion is born out here as I found that at that time 2000/2001 after a day out on the local hills if I ate fish and chips then on 5 days out of 11 I had MBs for 1 to 3 days following.  I am now taking the beta blocker, atenolol, and this no longer happens.  I have also had at least 4 long sessions of tachycardio over the last 8 years.  I also think like Bill  that it is not the heart itself which is the cause.  I have wondered if it is inflamation of the pipes around the gullet or bronchia or perhaps scarring.   I also agree with AnthonEE and TomPi  that food seems to cause problems but I find that drinking tea after a meal often calms the heart again, possibly by easing upper wind.  I have often noticed that upper wind seems to be implicated and burping reduces the frequency. Usually exercise makes MBs stop although this year has been an exception in that I had non stop missed beats all day when out working in the countryside on one day and starting when in the garden on another.
Over the years the most likely time to start having MBs is when sitting calmly especially if leaning forward although they may not be quite so frequent then.  The most puzzling thing is the constant variation in frequency.  In the 7th year from the start I only had about 13 days of MBs  but at the end of the year just before christmas I ate a mince pie late in the evening and had double beats start which happened every day for a while in the evening and increased until I seemed to get into an anxiety state.  I blamed the winter blues due to the very dark days we were having but it took months to feel normal again.  By the time I saw the hospital consultant there was no problem.  Although all tests done so far have missed any events I have recordings made myself using an electronic device I made over 30 years ago to detect brain waves.  It enabled me to take the electrical signal  and convert it to a sound recording which I could display in the computer.  I have printed out both the tachycardio, 148bpm, and  PVCs (missed beats) appearing as double pulses with a gap following.
I am surprized to note that on these posts no one seems to refer to using atenolol at the dose that I need which is 50+50 mgs.  My doctor wanted to reduce my BP and I wanted to reduce the MBs but while adjusting to the dose I had worse symptoms.  Initially when on 25mg after 3 weeks I started having MBs the moment I layed down at night.  On 50mg after 3 weeks I had MBs on waking each morning until the tachycardio which I recorded to take to the surgery after the weekend.  Since then I have used 50+50mg.  I do not seem to get so much of the horrible sinking feeling using atenolol.  After a long tachycardio of several hours, the pulse seems to calm completely. Since using the higher dose the number of MB days has been 2003 = 31days, 2004 = 8days, 2005 =7days, 2006 = 13days, 2007(6months) = 75days July = calm(almost).  Also 4 longish tachycardio events, usually in bed.  They always continue until after I get up but do not stop if I stay up late.

Hoping this gives some ideas to those thinking what to try next.        
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