Palpitations

[river1961]

I am a 44 year old female who has had palpitations from the age of 23.  I have been checked out by numerous cardiologists and they say I just have PVC's and PAC's and some runs of beats.  They don't seem to be overly concerned.  

Is it normal for a person to get these things every day though?  The doctors have said they get them as well but didn't specify how many.  I get a couple of quick beats and then a pause and then a thud usually three or four or even half a dozen times a day.  Is that normal?  It just seems like quite a bit to me but from what I have read it doesn't look like that many.

I also sometimes get a run of fast beats that I can stop by holding my breath.  Hasn't been caught on a holter but I get that maybe every couple of months or so.

I guess my main question would be if it is normal for person to get the dropped beats and missed beat sensation as many times as day as I do?  Also why is it that some days I don't get any and then some days I get a bunch?  I just don't get it.  I guess I am just looking for answers.

Thank you for your help on anything you can tell me.

[CCF-M.D.-MJM]

Hello,

Is it normal for a person to get these things every day though?

Many if not most people have PVCs everyday.  

I get a couple of quick beats and then a pause and then a thud usually three or four or even half a dozen times a day. Is that normal?

It is normal for people to feel thuds and pauses with PVCs.  It is important to capture the rhythm and symptoms on holter to make sure they are related.  Other rhythms can present this way as well, it is important to caputre the rhythms to validate the cause.


I also sometimes get a run of fast beats that I can stop by holding my breath. Hasn't been caught on a holter but I get that maybe every couple of months or so.

This may be something different --- again it is important to capture the rhythm associated with symptoms on a monitor.

I guess my main question would be if it is normal for person to get the dropped beats and missed beat sensation as many times as day as I do?

I know I keep giving you the same answer, but all the information is in the rhythm.  I say this because we find incidental rhythms on people with no symptoms and sometimes nothing wrong with the rhythm of people reporting symptoms.  The answers are in the rythm strips.  This can be done with a 24 hour holter, 30 day event recorder, 30 day real time telemetry home monitor, an implantable reveal monitor.... there are many ways to do this.

If the dropped beats are PVCs and you have a structurally normal heart, this is nothing to worry about.  I have seen a holter with 16000 PVCs in a day in the last few weeks.  It all depends on the person.


Also why is it that some days I don't get any and then some days I get a bunch?

The answer to the question is that we don't know the answer.  There is a lot of speculation, but there are likely many causes and it depends on the individual.

I hope this helps and thanks for posting.

[woodruff]

Bless your heart, you're a newbie here!  To see how many of us have these ectopic beats, what trouble we have with them, and how we deal (or not), just scroll down the page, and read pretty much everything.  The majority of comments, I think, deal with this very subject.

If you want to narrow it a little, type pvcs into the search box on the upper right hand of the page.  Tons of responses will come up.

As to how many pvcs we have:  I myself have worn a Holter monitor and had 4800 recorded in a day.  But my heart is healthy and fairly normal, so the ectopics are not medically significant.

The anxiety they can cause is significant, though, and in many cases, THAT is what needs to be addressed in therapy.

[tickertock]

I have had these beats now PVCs/PACs and tachycardia for well over 25 years, though I rarely get them anymore. I used to have them in episodes in the 1000s daily(feeling everyone for months at a time) then they'd disappear for months to years, this is longest break I had from a prolonged epsiode since 1992 going on 5 years , only the odd one or flutter now and then. I have been told this is "just nature of the beast" for most that suffer with PVCs/Pacs. It's just normal for them to wax and wane from time to time.Some get 0-50 per day everyday that they can feel, others get the 1000s per day epsiodes for days to months at a time, then they go away for weeks to years. I take the beta blocker atenolol which I think has helped me a great deal.

[Mgmark]

I would love to be able to ask a question but since it's pretty hard to get one in I thought I'd respond on this latest topic as my "symptoms" are a little similar.

Back in March of last year I had my first "noticed" run of PVCS.  Like everyone else who first feels them I freaked and ran to the ER.  They sent me home saying it was not a heart attack and to make an appointment with my Doctor. Thus the hell began.  

In those first 2 months I made my local Dr a very wealthy man running back and forth over every symptom.  When he wouldn't give me a definite answer and wanted to simply medicate me with things like Ativan while the symptoms still persisted I made the choice to finally go see a Cardiologist.   I need to add this was at my suggestion.  Not my Doctors.  All he kept doing was handing me anxiety medication.  No tests were ever ordered by him.  I was the one who demanded a thyroid test.  I BEGGED for blood tests.   To this day I still feel I was treated poorly.  The only response I ever got from him was... "I have a pill for that"   His nonchalant attitude actually added to my stress.   We all know until we have answers it only makes the situation worse "not knowing" So on to the Cardiologist...

I Went through a battery of tests ( ie, treadmill, 24 hour holter monitor, and Echocardiography )  By the way, I found the Echocardiography the most informative and interesting.  Anyway, by the time I was done going back and forth to the docs and dealing with all the horrifying anxiety that comes from all of this I was exhausted physically, emotionally and financially.  I could include stories of hours of missed work over all the anxiety and feelings of horror as if I was going to die but that would take up tons of space.  Lets just say I was a complete mess.

Little by little I did find that once I was able to "accept" these palpitations or skipped beats as benign they came less and less.  At least the noticing of them.  I won't lie I did have to keep repeating to myself like a mantra.. "All tests are normal there is nothing wrong" on a daily basis for self assurance.   After about 12 weeks of intense palps at almost 10 every minute, one night I was sitting having them as usual after a meal ( they were real bad after dinner ) when all of a sudden they weren't just coming one after 6 or seven beats it was suddenly as if my heart was firing off like a machine gun.  No pain but a really odd electrical feeling for about 30 seconds.  Almost like a heart spasm but real noticeable.  After that suddenly no more PVCS.  NONE.  Not the next day or the next or the next.  It was like some electrical change and my heart was back to beating "normal" with no skipped sensations.  Ever since then I may feel one every once in a while but nothing like those first 12 weeks almost a year ago when I could both hear and feel that hard thud.  HOWEVER...... The lingering anxiety of a year ago still remains.

Some nights when I lay down at night just as I'm falling asleep all of a sudden I get this feeling as if I'm suddenly falling or dropping in an elevator.  It literally takes my breath away.  It's very scary.  It's a feeling as if I'm going to faint.  After that my heart rate will increase for just a few minutes and I try to breath through it and not freak out too much.  I have also felt this sensation which I call "the elevator drop feeling" while sitting watching TV.  Once when I was checking my pulse I noticed just prior to this feeling that I had one of those "silent" pvcs and then that elevator drop feeling.  My heartrate always elevates right after this faint dropping feeling and of course I can definitely feel my adrenalin level ( fright or flight feeling ) raise real fast.  So I'd say I can relate to the sudden switch in heartrate as the first poster mentions.

If by chance this is not exactly what is being discussed then my question would be...Do others feel this sudden faint or dropping feeling ocassionally just as they are about to fall asleep or while they are relaxing at home?  Last night was probably the worst I've ever had this.  It happened three times while trying to get to sleep.  Never happened more than once prior.

I am one month shy of having all my doctor bills paid off from my last journey into hell and I would HATE to go back and give them more money when it is not needed.  I want to say it's just anxiety related and leave it at that.  In fact for as frightened as my body responds to the dropping feeling, mentally I just lay there half scared and half disgusted with it all and say to myself... "if I'm dying why don't I just die already instead of going through all these horrifying symptoms?"  After this thought it seems to subside a bit.  

Anyone relate?  Any suggestions?

[stacie123]

mark
I get that same elevator feeling.  It is so hard to describe, usually people don't understand what i am saying.  I was calling it like a wave that comes over my body.  It is over by the time it starts.  no doctors have ever diagnosed it .  I do have 'inappropriate tachy.'  I also get these beats that feel like they are in my throat.  Do you get those??

[LaurelN]

I have EXACTLY what both of you feel: the dropping elevator feeling and then the adrenaline rush washes over.  I can't tell you how much I hate this, have had both of those types of arrythmias for years and the pvc's or pac's are one thing but the upper heart flutter is much scarier to me.  I am 57 and aging fast over this, believe me. My biggest handicap is not having any medical insurance and am in the income level that doesn't give you enough to live on but too much to get help.  I check in to this forum for the comfort and reassurance that takes the edge off, doesn't fix it but it really helps to see what others have to deal with.  I have never been able to get it to do the crazy beats, or lack of beats, when on a holter or any other testing machines (this was years ago when I DID have insurance) so when the doctor would tell me it wouldn't kill me I always wondered how he knew when he was not seeing it recorded.  This is the most frustrating thing I have ever had to deal with.  I feel your pain. Really.

[Mgmark]

Stacie you are now my Kindred Spirit :-)  I too get the beats in the throat/neck area.  In fact those thuds in the throat area are what first alreted me to my PVCS.  For a while I actually thought I had indigestion.  Upon feeling my pulse thats when I realized it was my heart doing crazy things.  When I get real fast tachy I definitely feel it primarily in my neck pulse.  Thank you also for describing that elevator feeling as a "wave/rush" feeling as well.  Thats a perfect description.  It really is a sudden wave and it's very alarming.  My body imediately responds by me slightly jolting a bit and taking in some air because it's so alarming when it happens.  It really does feel like you are going to pass out or slip away but then it quickly vanishes and whats left is a very scared feeling wondering what the heck that was.  

I've been dealing with "the elevator wave drop" off and on for almost a year now.  It started happening right about the time as the PVCS were noticed.  The Cardio didn't seem concerned with it at all after all the tests were run.  So even though I still have these waves and other dingy sensations I continue to chant my mantra... "they said all the test came back normal.  Everything is ok with my heart"  and try my best to accept this crazy sensation.

Although I have said I wouldn't wish this stuff on anyone it does help knowing others have these sensations and they are living with it.  Thanks for replying.

[Mgmark]

Hi Lauren.  Thanks for responding to my comments and letting me know you understand those sensations.  I do have to say I did get lucky durring my tests.  On my EKG, ECHO and Holter they all showed PVCS so they were able to isolate the situation and go from there.  My treadmill showed no signs although I have had PVCS durring exercise and post exercise.  I know many who eventually get to the Cardio and say their PVCS disappear. That has got to be so frustrating.  Durring my testing it was the only time I wanted them real bad  :)  The one thing my cardio noted from my holter which surprised me was that my heartrate dips below 60 when I am sleeping.  Sometimes I wonder if that wave or rush that I feel when I am about to fall asleep or when I'm in a real relaxed state sitting up is associated with a dip in my heartrate and possible a dip in my bp?  I average 116/68 in the evenings but have never monitored it while sleeping.  I do recall about 18 years ago when I was 20 that durring my appendectomy surgery my BP dropped very low and they were a bit concerend and kept me in the ICU a bit longer after surgery to moinitor it.  So I would have to say I do have a little bit of history with a drop in bp and heartrate.  I guess when I'm relaxed I'm really relaxed  LOL.

Sorry to read about your frustration over all this.  I know it all too well.  When it first all came about I wanted to climb the walls.  My Doc really wasn't any help with the symptoms so I suffered much longer than needed initially worrying about it.  My Cardiologis though I was very impressed with and trust his expertise.   The burden financially to find out whats going on is also added stress.  Then there is the aftermath of still wondering if they missed something. It's a viscious cycle but I have to believe the longer I'm around the more obvious it is that everything is alright.

[LaurelN]

Thanks for responding.  This forum is a godsend to me, I read it every day and more when I'm having a bad episode.  Mine started August 1975, with a bang, scared me to death (almost) and my gut feeling is that it is caused, or at least aggravated, by a nose spray addiction.  A 40 year nose spray addiction, and since I cannot sleep if I breathe thru my mouth I use generic Afrin to keep clear.  I really think that is what the underlying problem is and I have done many things to kick the spray and it hasn't helped.  Nose spray is such a common addiction I wonder if it could be the common denominator for others.  I can go months without feeling any heart problems then wham, I get them for weeks at a time.  I sure hope they don't kill me.  Every day I check the obituary column in the paper and if my name isn't there I go ahead and start my day, ha ha.

[squidqueen]

Hi I'm a 23 year old female and have been getting what I assume are PVCs or PACs since last september. They started very suddenly for no apparent reason! I also get the elevator feeling you described, only when falling asleep, but at any time of day! I've also felt a 'silent' ectopic beat when these occur, I get up to 10 before I can fall asleep.
I can really relate to how scary it is, I've become an insomniac due to it and often the only way I can fall asleep is to resign myself to the fact that if I do die it will mean an end to all this horrible stuff! I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so maybe that is related... I've been trying to post a question about my symptoms but as you know it's rather difficult, and I guess there are plenty of people with more serious heart problems who need to feedback more than I do!
So I have a question for the other members if you don't mind.... Do you get palpitations which feel like a hard thumping in your chest but actually quite slow? My doc says it's tachycardia but I don't get why it's when my heart is beating at a normal speed! It's like someone is thumping on my chest and I have it most of the day and night.
Hope you are all as well as possible! :)

[sb786]

I have too experienced the elevator feeling and the silent pvcs whilst trying to sleep. In fact i have had very little sleep for 2 nights now because of the PVCs. Why is it that i get more PVCs as soon as i lay down? Last night i kept jolting awake because of the PVCs. Does anyone else actually wake up because of them? I also noticed that whilst laying if i take a deep breath in or yawn it triggers a pvc too.
How do you guys cope with the pvcs at night and actually get some sleep?

[kitcurious]

You know, all this "thud" this and "thud" that is so subjective it's not really meaningful. If you have a strcuturally normal heart  you are fine. How you experience sensations in your own body is really your own interpretation.

[kitcurious]

PVCs are commonly triggered by being still. Hence them starting when you go to sleep. Since they are benign, accepting that they are benign, rather than winding oneself up with anticipatory anxiety and causing more of them, would be helpful.

[Lecah]

Hey everyone, I am a sufferer of PVC's also and the one comment in this thread and the one a couple of days ago regarding palpitations that is a mystery to me is how in some people they will get them and then all of a sudden they are gone for months or years. Unfortunately I have to deal with them every day, it seems like bigeminy is my normal rhythm and when it tries to "convert" itself to a normal rhythm I then get trigeminy then the normal rhythm but I do feel a thud as it switches. I wish mine would stop for months or years. I know they will never go away but for me and my anxiety that would be a relief but then when they come back I am sure I'd panic and be in the E.R.!! It was just uncommon to me that they would go away for a period of time and everytime I read something like that it just makes me wonder. I also have a question for the regular people I see here everyday responding and helping others: tickertock, momof3girls, nurse kagone, kitcurious, woodruff, al dente to name a few, do you guys have a forum that you go to where you contimue to talk about your heart issues besides this forum? I like the lady above mentioned when I am feeling bad or anxious when I am having some odd PVC's and palp's. I come here to read for reassurance but I wondered if you guys have a chat room or other place where you meet to talk about this "life annoying" heart issue. We only have so much space here and we need to focus on helping those with questions at hand so they can be heard and helped.

[kitcurious]

No we don't have separate space. We've been here for years. We tend to take up a lot fewer characters than many though LOL.
Look, the bottom line is that the only real way over this is to do somemthing to get over it. Truly, it just is. Sometimes the boards and the Internet really just feed anxiety and many physicians have asked their patients to stay away from them.

[kitcurious]

I speak for myself, the others named should also speak for themselves.

[momto3girls]

Hi there (:

No, we don't have a separate space for talking over issues.  I too was like many of the people on this board who were frightened, almost paralyzed with fear when my heart decided to let it's beats be heard!!  It took lots of time and reassurance (gained from this wonderful forum) to come to terms with it all.  It's like kitcurious said, you need to make a decision to be ok with it all.  You can't let it frighten you to the point where you don't live your life.  I have 3 little girls and it was hard to learn this lesson but I needed to because they needed me.  I couldn't sit around waiting to drop dead (:  Goodness, if I were going to die because of these annoying little beats and runs, I'd have been buried a while ago and pushing up daisies!  I do realize that for some people, reading the forum or researching the internet feeds their anxiety but for me, I felt comforted.  The doctors can run a thousand tests on you, tell you you're fine and still if you truly don't believe it yourself, it makes no difference.  It's like a struggle within, isn't it?  Well, good luck to you.  As I'm sure you know, you are in EXCELLENT company here with lots of amazing resources (by that I mean the doctors and people on this forum).  Best wishes and take care (:

momto3girls

[kitcurious]

Momto3 Thank you, :-) You express how I feel, but with tact and diplomacy. Much appreciated. I'm not good at tact and diplomacy but my responses are, indeed, quite caring. No one should live a day of their life in fear over what amounts to something harmless in the scheme of things. As long as it's viewed as BIG, instead of little, it will be BIG emotionally, even if it's not dangerous physically.

I went through some of this starting a few years back. I was unaware of any "problem" but my docs noticed some things and kept bringing certain things up to me, trying to medicate me for tachy I was unaware of etc. "It's not good for your heart" quote from my cardio. I went to the boards here with my questions and they were answered quite thoroughly. After a few months of concern over the issue I determined that if something is benign it just is and it should not consume me. The tachy has left on its own for now, though it was a persistent thing. I exercise more and make sure I stay hydrated, no caffeine etc.etc. Could be me helping, could just be better on its own...

I also wake with a start, shortly after going to sleep, almost every night for months, and I get bummed because I'm sleepy, but I know I am likely not going to die. I have no idea why... PVCs, some type of tachy, sleep apnea, hormones? Probably will never really know and it, too, hopefully will pass.

I find the Med Help Fourms (I read other forum topics from time to time too) very interesting but I do have a particular interest in this one due to so many family members having serious heart issues.

Yes, some people will be helped here reading the support forum (though this isn't it, it's the other page LOL). I was.  Some others will not be helped because they are not looking to move on yet, they are looking for someone, somewhere, to tell them that they truly are ill (adding a little descriptive twist here or a little twist there that will suddenly make normal results abnormal) and reassure them of THAT.

People just do not want to have anxiety and doctors will tell you that most people they know who have it are being treated by doctors who are not experts in it because they won't go to someone who is trained to help that.

If people find it "unsupportive" to hear words like "normal" "benign" "healthy" ... it's certainly suggestive that they don't want to be considered those things.

It all depends on the person and their (both conscious and subconscious) desires and motives, which will vary with each individual.

This is the longest I'll ever go.

Mea Culpa.

[sb786]

My PVCs are not relly triggered by being still but rather when i change positions. The worst time for me is when i lay down. As soon as i lay down i get heaps. If i even move my leg or arm a tiny bit then i will get a pvc. I am just finding it difficult to accept this sudden onset of PVCs. I'm still convinced that there must be a reason why i have suddenly started to get PVCs. Am i the only one to get a sudden onset of PVCs and find it difficult to accept them as BENIGN or NORMAL?

[fearfactor]

I get the "dropping elevator" feeling followed by a sensation of tingling all throughout my body - it is like electrical tingling or heat.  It is over very fast.  I am guessing it's adrenaline rushes, but wonder why in the heck they happen!

[LaurelN]

There is a separate section of this forum you can go into to discuss back and forth the issues you have. At the top of the page is an option for Heart Support Forum and it's not moderated by a doctor but is a good support place for back and forth conversation.

[kitcurious]

Of course you are not alone. Your diffculty lies in that A. You notice your heartbeat a lot more than most people do and B. You are afraid of the sensations.

There are meds that can sometimes reduce the sensations and if you don't like those, there are lifestyle modifications, and there are also Eps you could consult about "zapping" that SVT away.

If docs could make you not feel them LORD KNOWS they would. Do you think they enjoy this? Nobody here has more answers than you've been exposed to. Not unless they are a research scientist finishing a new study on PVCs in healthy people.

The fact that they are present in people who do not notice them is beyond well-documented. I noticed one working out just now and I am fine, there could have been more, I don't wait around looking for them because, bottom line, it doesn't serve any purpose to do so.

The heart does not beat like a metronome. It's more sophisticated than that and can compensate for little blips here and there thousands of times a day. It is montiored by the brain, it does not stand alone.

Everybody has PVCs, therefore if having them, alone,  was a problem we would all be in cardiac care and dropping dead like flies with miserably short life spans.

[tickertock]

I'm in total agreement with the your last comment, very well put. I'm at lost as to what to say anymore regarding PVCs, except I know when you feel them , it's a lousy feeling, but you can train yourself to overcome the fear and the feeling, it just take courage, encouragement , a strong will and time.

[kitcurious]

You are exactly right about it taking time, that everyone is on their own schedule with this. Just, sometimes I feel the urge to say- please don't waste so much of your happiness being scared and "on guard" about something you don't control.

I'll try to speak more tactfully in future though.

Thanks for the supportive words.

:-)

[jmdco]

Well I am certainly glad for this site. I felt very alone and scared until I found it. I have yet to go to the Cardiologist (going in a couple weeks just to make sure there is nothing wrong besides the PVCs- but deep down know everything will check out fine) but my mind has been put at ease to some degree. I know I’m not dying because that’s how I have felt the past month. I used to only get PVCs/PACs after I drank too much alcohol, but since the end of NOV I have gotten them A LOT. Usually, exercise and rest would make them stop within a day or two. Almost like they happened when my body detoxed the alcohol out...BUT NOW- I get them almost everyday in the evenings until I fall asleep...which is very hard sometimes. The past 5 months have been extremely stressful which I am sure is the case. Back surgery, my appendix out, a very stressful break up and then I lost my job when my company closed all of a sudden- almost lost my home because of the financial burden. I have stopped drinking any alcohol or caffeine, exercise and get a lot of rest, but they have not gone away. It is maddening at times. I get these weird light headed- head aches when I have a strong run.
My mom’s co-worker has them also and is taking Beta Blockers with success and no real side affects. Has anyone else had that luck? I am worried about the side affects.

[Lecah]

I am taking a beta blocker Toprol XL. My Dr. gave it to me because he felt it would lessen the sensation of PVC's not get rid of them. I was initially on .25 mg but my new EP Dr.(moved to a new state) told me to just play with the dosage. He said I am on such a low dose that it basically is not doing much and to play with the dosage like taking 2 at once .50 twice a day or take 1 in the morning and 1 at night. I have tried taking 2 and have noticed that I do not feel the sensations and that helps me with my occasional anxiety that I get from the thud and burp sensations of the PVC's.