What does a PVC actually feel like

[Catacam]

Hi All,

I am new to all of this and based on my readings here, I am not sure what I am feeling is actually a PVC or not.  What do they actually feel like to you?  What I feel and it doesn't happen to often is almost like a flutter in my chest that last for just a moment.  Maybe not even a flutter, more like the feeling of a stomach turning over, but higher up in my chest.  No pounding or anything else. It seems to happen as I breath out and happen most after I eat.  My pulse doesn't change (although I guess it speeds up do to anxiety)and I don't get light headed or anything.  I do excersise and I don't have the feeling as I am excersising.  The first time I felt it, I almost thought it was something wrong with my lungs as it feels more like a breathing thing.  I have been to the er multiple times due to anxiety and everytime I have been to the er, there is nothing abnormal.  I don't even think any pvcs.  When I spoke with my family doc, he said if they had already tested me and they saw nothing either time, it was probably pvcs which aren't dangerous.  I have had my gallbladder out and I am wondering if maybe I am having digestion issues instead of heart issues.  Either way it is causing anxiety which it sounds like we all have.

Thank you so much in advance!
Cathy

[sb786]

are you saying that anxiety can cause them? if you are then i can accept that because it does seem that when i discovered what a pvc is i started getting more!! However alot of people say that stress and anxiety do not cause pvcs. I can also accept that i probably am very aware of my heart beat and therefore feel the pvcs that i get during the day but i find it hard to accept that i have always had the pvcs at night. i get runs of them the moment i lay down.Even if i don't focus on them i cannot ignore them because they leave me gasping for air.

[Emily34]

There are a few threads on this board about PVC's being linked to digestive problems, and GERD.  Something to do with the vagus nerve being innervated by the gas and acid. I have the flutters and belching just like described in these posts. Nicotine and chocolate sets me off (although I have now quit!  The nicotine anyway :))

[mmfd]

Again, the reason you feel them now is that you are focused on them!  You didn't feel them before b/c you didn't know you had them.  If you distract yourself and get busy with other things, you will notice less and less and be less anxious, thus causing less of them!  Truly!

[sherma]

I feel the same way as you do too.  I wish we had more answers.  I can't understand why they suddenly appeared out of nowhere either.  I find it so frustrating, it's like a circle what came first anxiety or the palps.  For sure I also get agitated when they start up - but when I am busy I can still feel them too. So maybe now we are more atuned to our hearts, but I never remember them happening before - so why now??  I have now lost over 30lb because eating always sets them off - so I don't eat - the least as possible anyway - enough just to keep me going.

Ps I used to live in the UK too.

[Carrie41]

I was sick yesterday with a really bad cold and was laying around all day.  I felt four occasions when my heart stopped and then did a couple of flutters and then a thump.  Does that happen to everyone's heart????  Do others feel that??

[CollegeGirl143]

stress and anxiety most definatley trigger pvc's... Palpitations are one of the biggst symptoms of panic attacks and anxiety disorders..

Sb, i have no idea how many pvc's i get in a day now, when im hooked up to a heart monitor for any amount of time, i always have at least three or four,in the period of an hour or so with a couplet or two in their..

I have no idea why i dont feel them anymore, but i strongly suspect it has to do with my lack of anxiety over them anymore.

[sb786]

I honestly don't think that will do me any good. part of my problem is that i have no faith in medical professionals anymore because my svt was misdiagnosed by many docs for many years. It got to the point where i would have a really long svt attack and suffer at home because i was too embarrased or afraid to see my doctor! I know not all docs are the same in fact my cardiologist at the moment is a fantastic guy who really does know how to listen, but i think i need to figure out a way to accept the arrythmias and move on like you. Its just that at the moment i have so many questions and no answers, such as why have the pvcs suddenly appeared? why do i get none one day and 100 the next? Why do i get svt attacks when i eat? i dare not eat much just in case of another svt episode, i cannot control the svt because they frighten me too much.
Another thing i also noticed my first pvc the day i was diagnosed with svt after having 3 shots of adenosine!! Perhaps the stress of everything has somehow either triggered the pvcs or made me more aware of them?

[CollegeGirl143]

i never felt a pvc until i was diagnosed with svt, but i know i was having them because before i was diagnosed, my doctors always mentioned the skips i was getting, even as a child.. I think it would be a good idea for you to see a pshychiatrist if you already arent sb, if for nothing more than just to have a non judgemental person to talk to! You have to start eating! i guarentee you its only making things worse

[sb786]

I notice every single pvc. i know i am very tuned into what my heart is doing but i think i have always been like that. i just don't understand why now i am feeling the pvcs and never before??
Collegirl you say that you don't really feel the pvcs anymore how many do you probably get in 24 hrs?

[sherma]

Just a quickie to say thanks for the support that you have given to us all on the "other" thread.  I am - as I am sure there are others who have and are very nervous about it all.  This thread running here now is proper support which is what this brilliant site is all about.

Thanks again.

Debs

[sb786]

Collegegirl: I want to stop being afraid of the pvcs. Like you and Sherma i also don't eat much because i'm too afraid of the pvcs and svt. I have been on soup for the past 3 months :( no-one in my family believes me but i know i will have pvcs which will trigger the svt after or during a meal. I was already under weight but now my weight is way too low:45 kg. I hate looking like a bag of bones. when did you become aware of your pvcs? was it before or after being diagnosed with svt?
I am now considering an ablation for the svt but the waiting list to see an ep is at least 6 months and there is always a possibility that the ep cannot do anything for my svt.

Sherma: i personally think that we probably have always had pvcs but just not as much, perhaps 1 or 2 a day but fear and anxiety has caused them to increase. I know the day i realised them was the day i was admitted to hospital with a racing heart of 200bpm and i was diagnosed with svt. As the fear increased the pvcs too have increased but my doc doesn't agree with me. He is not too keen on the idea that anxiety increases pvcs.

[CollegeGirl143]

no problem!, i really do only have everyones best interests at heart.. I know that type of nonsense really upsets people, and when I can dismiss it, not even being a licensed physician, thats saying something..

you sound like me before i got my svt under control! I refused to eat because it always set my palps and svt off, i lost an extreme amount of weight like you have as well

Im very concerned for you :( ... It was a terrible ordeal for me, and it took me over a year to get my body back on track and gain some weight, i was under 100 lbs and considered an emergency case, i dont want this to happen to you..

In the mean time, please be sure you are drinking PLENTY of water, this always helps, and it will keep you hydrated.. Also, try eating frequent small meals during the day for now, to get the same amount of food intake as three large meals, but without the bulk that sets off those pvc's.. I also noted i got less pvc's with eating at night.. Just some ideas :) i hope you feel better..

[Catacam]

So does it sound like what I am having is a PVC?  The reason I ask is there is certainly no thump/strong heart beat after the flutter.  Does this sound digestive?

[stevie_wonder]

When I am lying still sometimes I feel like my heart should be racing. I can feel something going on in my heart, like I am vibrating but when I take my pulse it is really slow, like 50-54. What is that?
Stevie

[Momto3]

Hi Cathy,

My pvcs sometimes feel like something soft fluttering around my heart. There is a pause, then a harder thumping beat.  If I get several in a row, it's like a tumbling sensation.  Doesn't hurt, no pain, no real discomfort, just weird and jumpy.

I know there are websites where you can hear "heart sounds," but I'm not sure about pvcs.

connie

[CollegeGirl143]

Sounds like you're all set then!! I used to be hypersensative to my body as well.. Ide feel very single little thing, and think it was something horrible!.. Now i have pvc's and dont notice them a tall, its only when i focus on them that i feel them.

[Catacam]

Thank you all for your help.  When I spoke with my dr, he said because other test came out normal, EKG, Thyroid, Blood Work, Chest xray, that is what they would be.  He thinks that since I have had my gallbladder out and continued to have attacks (3 gallbladder attacks after it was taken out), that I have become hypersensitive to what my body is doing.  I never feel it when I am occupied and doing something else.  I don't feel them when I lay down or after I excersise so who knows.  But just the same, I think I will hang out on this forum for a while for the support.  Thank you all again!

[CollegeGirl143]

amen anacyde..

Catacam, if you think you are having pvc's, its always best to get checked out by your doctor :) good luck!

[anacyde]

My husband and I describe it exactly the same...and deep emptiness in the chest followed by a hefty thud.  Quite unpleasant.

PACs, on the other hand, feel like two quick light thumps followed by a not-so-hefty thud.  For the sake of comparison.

I'll take a PAC over a PVC anyday!

[sb786]

to me it sounds like you are having pvcs. i used to think that it was trapped gas in my oesophagus as i have alot of indigestion. However its weird that i do tend to burp after a PVC too!! I have no idea why!