Post Ablation - PVC's or "Heart Block"?

[darthdeadly]

I am a 30 year old male who had cathater ablation for WPW Syndrome in Sept/05. Post ablation i have been having alot of PVC's, which are emotionally problematic. after that I have worn a holter and cardiac event monitor, and my specialist tells me i am OK.

Over the past year i have been noticing a feeling of pressure on my chest and i can feel every single heartbeat sometimes, especially at night which keeps me up. I have PVC's very frequently still, especially with excercise.

How do they know that i am just having PVC's and not a type 1-2 heart block? It sounds like a heart block can be caused by the ablation damaging the AV node...would my post ablation holter/ekg's have picked up a heart block if there were one?

Is a PVC supposed to pound so hard that it jolts you up your neck? Is my heart supposed to pound like that?

Thanks,

Warren

[Jon79]

I am 27 years old and also had an ablation done because I was diagnosed with WPW this past summer.  I had some form of tachycardia where I'd get runs of fast beats every so often, but it wasn't that frequent (nevertheless scary).  I had the ablation done in June 2006 due to the fact that there was a small chance that people with WPW could suddenly die.  I didn't know, however, that after the ablation was performed I'd end up with a different, more unnerving problem.

I now have what I believe are "skipped beats", where I can feel my heart flutter in my chest, sometimes followed by a feeling of light-headedness (not sure why?).  Anyway, this has been a problem since the ablation, and now, some 10 mos. later, I am having the skipped beats even more often.  At first I noticed it mostly during the cool-down period after exercise, but it did still happen while inactive.  The post-exercise skipped beats remain today, but it seems as though the skipped beats occurring while inactive have increased dramatically in the last few days, from 3-5 a week to about once every couple of minutes.

I had an event monitor for a month previously & also did a stress test (of course the skipped beats didn't happen during/after the test at all), and my EP says everything is "normal" and the skipped beats were "normal".  Well, they weren't "normal" for me...I never had them before!

I've since gotten a halter monitor for 24 hr. constant monitoring, & later another event monitor for a month.  I'll be finding the results out when I go back to my EP later this month.  However, other than a few episodes, I don't predict them seeing anything other than what they consider "normal".  I was hoping they would at least subside, but I'm now getting more skipped beats than ever, immediately after I returned the monitor!

Needless to say this is causing emotional stress as I'm sure you can relate.  Any time you feel your heart beat irregularly it's not something you can just ignore like they tell you to.

I'm interested in finding out about others who have had similar experiences and what options there are (if any) to decrease/eliminate the skipped beats I'm having post-ablation.  I'm also wondering if these skipped beats can cause a drop in blood pressure or something such that I feel light-headed for a few seconds after they occur sometimes?

Good luck to you & everyone else with similar problems...it's at least good to know that I'm not the only one.

Thanks,
Jon

[darthdeadly]

Jon,

You have my situation EXACTLY. Since my ablation i get a ton of skipped beats that i didn't get before. They happen almost everyday at random, but alot when i excercise - and just like you especially when i am cooling down...I run 7K twice a week and on the latter part of my run when i slow down or walk it is a PVC-O-RAMA.

I just got back from my meeting with my heart specialist today where we discussed the results of my Holter Monitor. While wearing the holter I had a ton of PVC's that scared me. My specialist said: yes these are all PVC's, they are ALL benign and although they are scary, i have NOTHING to worry about.

WHen i run I get them alot, sometimes 10 in a row, and i asked the doc if i should stop running or excercising when this happens, he said no way, they won't hurt you just keep going.

He said if i keep having them alot he could put me on beta blockers to reduce the pvc's and put my mind at ease...but then i would be tired all the time and have no sex drive.

Bottoms line is the PVC's (at least in my case) are normal and not detremental to my health. I feel way better after talking to the doc again.

Hope this helps!!

Warren

[Rach0325]

I am a 26 yr. old mother of two. While pregnant with my second child I started to get the skipped beats,they did a 24hr halter monitor and it showed nothing. 3yrs later I was having them so bad that I was getting nausea,dizzy and almost passing out, when I went back in they put a 30 day monitor and found PVC's well they did the ablation surgery, and low and behold I have them back. It's been almost 4yrs since the surgery and I started to get them back about a yr. after the surgery but I am just now being seen again. But that's not it about 4 mos. ago I was in the hospital for my asthma and I was taking so much albuterol that it started my heart problem and they put me on a monitor and the doctor from the ER said that it was Fibrillation. So I am still waiting to be put on the Kings of heart 30 day monitor to find out if it is the same thing or something else... I know it's scary I fear of losing my life and leaving my girls without a mother but all I can do is leave it in the professionals hands.. I am hoping to solve the mystery as well.

If anyone has any advice it would be well appreciated