pvc and pac

[caleycan]

i am a 26 yr old man who has just recently started having pvc's and pac's and tachycardia. i haven't exercised because i get nervous when the palpatations start coming. it's been 5 mths since i have exercised well or regularly. i had normal echo, stress test (tredmill), holter and blood work. i have a mother and sister who also have my situation with their hearts. there are days when they go mad, happening all the time and i feel them in my chest, that makes me feel like i will die. i saw my cardiologist recently for a talk and she said that i had nothin to worry about and that i should live a normal life.
1-when i drink they happen constantly...should i stop (only have 3 or 4 maybe)
2-i played softball this weekend for the first time in 2 years (tring to overcome my fears) and whenever i ran from 1st to home i got pains in my chest all across the front buy they stoped pretty soon after i stoped running (should this concern me?)
3-last night i got freaked cause on every hicciup i had i got a pvc, i felt in my chest and i could also feel a very long pause in my pulse...is there a risk my heart could stop on these long pulses?
4-i want a normal life, i want to exercise and be happy again. please help me to understnad why i shouldn't fear dying from this. i feel the doctor has meissed all of the palpiatations i have that are the ones that are dangerous. i think they missed something on my tests tat is important.
5-i am new to all of this and i don't understnad why i shouldn't worry about them, it feels really BAD and SCARY and my palps are very unassuring.

HELP

[CCF-M.D.-MJM]

Hello,

You are in a tough position.  Your doctors are telling you one thing and sounds like you want to believe them but the fear of the PVCs is too strong.  With the tests results you report, the PVCs do not sound like they are dangerous.

1-when i drink they happen constantly...should i stop (only have 3 or 4 maybe)

It depends on how much they bother you.  If you don't want any PVCs and you know alcohol triggers them, you may want to stop.   Do you have less PVCs with less alcohol.

2-i played softball this weekend for the first time in 2 years (tring to overcome my fears) and whenever i ran from 1st to home i got pains in my chest all across the front buy they stoped pretty soon after i stoped running (should this concern me?)

Not with a normal stress test, echo and no other risk factors.  This may also be deconditioning.  You might need to start back slowly.

3-last night i got freaked cause on every hicciup i had i got a pvc, i felt in my chest and i could also feel a very long pause in my pulse...is there a risk my heart could stop on these long pulses?

No.  Everyones heart will pause after a premature beat.

4-i want a normal life, i want to exercise and be happy again. please help me to understnad why i shouldn't fear dying from this. i feel the doctor has meissed all of the palpiatations i have that are the ones that are dangerous. i think they missed something on my tests tat is important.

This is the tough part.  You have convinced yourself that you are sick.   I can tell you the same thing -- there  is no increased mortality in people with PVCs and a normal echo, ekg and stress test.  If we knew differently we would certainly tell you.  I know the PVCs are very symptomatic and feel like something is very wrong.  What I tell people in clinic is:  The problem isn't that you have PVCs, the problem is that you can feel them.  Beta blockers can sometimes decrease this sensation, but people don't want to feel sluggish all the time.

5-i am new to all of this and i don't understnad why i shouldn't worry about them, it feels really BAD and SCARY and my palps are very unassuring.

I understand, but you must do what you can to move on or they will control you life.

I hope this helps.  Good luck and thanks for posting.

[moosejuice]

I also have this issue combined with pain in my chest, numbness and dizziness.
I also have pvcs with hiccups. strange.
Mine are symptomatic and somedays i cant even figure out where  am.

[caleycan]

You get the hiccup thing too, that is messed up. why does that happen? that is what bothers me, wondering about this stuff and not knowing whats going on in my body. i get dizzy sometimes but when i was running i got the pain and nothin' else, sob but my heart rate was super high from the sprint. no numbness either, that sounds bad and scary. how old are you? what do you mean you don't know am? i don't understnad what your tring to say.

[Celeste07]

I also get PVC's when I get the hiccups, at times, every hiccup is followed by that dreaded pause and then a surge of fright.
If it means anything, I have had these darn things for 25 years now, and I'm still here.  
Somedays I have thousands, others just a handful. I've also gone years with only very occasional PVC's, followed by months of daily (thousands) of them. Just Saturday night, I was in the ER again. I had bad sinus tachy (161 bpm)coupled with PVC's, and as always, I was assured that they are not dangerous at any point. The Cardiologist did however start me on a full month of Xanax therapy to see if that will get my system calmed down.
For me, stressful times brings them on, which in turn triggers an extreme adrenaline sensitivity. Right now, I can't even clean the house without getting them in the dozens to hundreds daily.
People with constant anxiety (a given with PVC's) can become adrenaline sensitive; their bodies experience unpleasant symptoms when their bodies produce any bursts of adrenaline. These symptoms often include heart palpitations, tingling, chest pain, choking sensations, etc.

Hang in there, I hope you get the answers you seek.
As you can see here at this forum, there are thousands of people just like you.

[caleycan]

your comments sit very well with me, they ease my mind. it's hard to understand that something that feels so bad and wrong can be so ok and fine. thats what i have a hard time understanding. as for the adrenaline sensitvity, when you said that i was like OMG that is me, it is so whats happening to me. your right...i must be adrenaline sensative now, cause the littlest fright can send me into a tachy episode and a panic feeling. i dont' want to just exsist, i want to live LIVE! and i refuse to let these things take my life away from me but it is really hard at times. i'm hanging in there, thank you all for your comments, they make me have a "normal" feeling i haven't had in a while. i will keep reading this forum and learning about my condition and listen to your stories and experiences.

[arthur]

If it's of any comfort, there are explanations for what you and others go through re. PACs and PVCs.  One such explanation can be found in my notes to Talylor (see Jul 25).

Relax.  It's the trick when fighting off an adrenaline mediated arrhythmia.  It works for me, and I play competitive soccer (where's there is definitely a call for at least some adrenaline).

-Arthur

[oneil420]

I wanted to drop this linked it is very informative arryhtmia's, knowledge is power.


http://cvcheart.org/Arrhythmia%20%20booklet.htm

[CollegeGirl143]

great post.. i see you also have svt. just wondering, have you ever considered ablation?

[caleycan]

The doctors response is good, I will try my best to take his advice to live and start seeing myself as sick and weakened. I will try my best to view these as a nusience and not a sickness. Thanks for the help everyone! I will continue to read at this forum to learn more.

[ihatepvc's]

I think it's important to understand that studies were done proving that pvc's do not increase mortality. For me, I needed proof that I wasn't going to die because like you said, they feel really wrong. I'm going on twenty years now with them and just like the doctors said, they did not kill me. In fact, I'm totally fine even after hundreds and thousanads of them. "Just ignore them" is truly the best advice you can follow or your life will be wasted away for nothing because in the end you will almost surely die of something totally unrelated. I have noticed something in the past couple of years that I find really interesting and remember reading a posting on the same idea. There was a man who said that his relentless pvc's stopped when he started antibiotics for some sort of stomach ailment while traveling and was wondering if that had anything to do with his pvc's coming to a complete hault. Well, I have been on antibiotics since July 3rd and have had all of two single pvc's since being on the antibiotics. Before that I was getting them all the time. Has any one else noticed a correlation? I'm not saying to go on antibiotics as a preventative, but just pay attention to next time you are on them and see if you notice a decrease.

[wildcat27]

Hi everyone…I’ve been having trouble posting an original message to the docs…so I thought I would try posting a rider to a post related to my issue.

Brief history…
In Jan/Feb of 2006 first felt the sensation of PAC and went to see cardiologist. They did an EKG and general exam…said my heart was in great shape and that many people jus live with these. Mine seemed/seem not triggered by anything, but lying down, bending over seem to exaggerate them.

In March I had a complete workup (EKG, sonogram, stress sonogram, stress EKG, blood work, etc.)…everything came back great. And at that point I was no longer feeling the PACs.

Felt good through April…but then in May started feeling some tightness in my chest (left side only) and in my back. I started thinking the worst, but then talked with my cardiologist and they said, I was fine because exercise actually made the feeling go away. They were not worried about anything heart related.

Then in mid July (without having felt PACs for a long time) I rolled over in bed one night and went into A-Fib. I was not woozy or dizzy, but could tell that my heart was all over the place. I was admitted and they tried to medicate it, but after 12 hours they decided to electro-cardio vert me. They did a sonogram again and an endoscopy? (thing where they go in to look at the back of your heart) to make sure there were no clots. Cardioversion was successful and I have been back in sinus for almost a month. They had me on coumadin for a while (ended yesterday) and a calcium blocker. My symptoms now are off and on tightness in my chest and back, 5-50 PACs a day. I have been going on 2 mile runs for the last three weeks without incident…my heart feels great after a run…but these symptoms scare me…and I am scared of going back into A-Fib.

Then, last night I talked with my mom about it for the first time and got really scared b/c of this info. My grandfather died in 1992 from complications related to lung cancer. He was treated (misdiagnosed) for infectious disease for six months and then went into cardiac arrest because the cancer had wrapped around his heart. About three months after he got sick, they had to cardiovert him b/c his rhythym got out of wack. Ofcourse this scared me and made me think I might have a tumor growing around my heart that they have not scene or diagnosed. I don’t see how they would not have seen it after the endoscopy and electrocardiograms…but I still worry, especially since he was misdiagnosed for so long.

I called my cardiologist today to check that they had looked for that…but wanted to get everyone’s opinion…

Also, does anyone else notice PACs when they bend over, lie down, or just a general weird sensation in their chest?

thanks in advance.

[yoshi74]

My palps are sometimes triggered by reaching for something, bending down or bending over or picking up something semi-heavy...I got them really bad the other day just by picking up my 30lb 3 year old son! Sometimes it is the strangest thing that brings them on. It seems there are days when I am more sensitive to them, where every move I make, they start up. No rhyme or reason.

[dmil241]

Yes, I do notice my premature heartbeats can be triggered by bending over or twisting around. They might start up when I lie down or they might just start up out of the blue. Then they will settle down and it seems like nothing will bother them not even a good dose of stress and frustration which is an ALMOST 100% guarantee to trigger them. I also get 'weird sensations' in my chest like flutters or where my heart seems wildly out  of sinc for a short time. It is 'my tachy time' or maybe a run of the premature beats. I hate those.

[yoshi74]

I am a 32 year old female who has had palps since I was 18. I have had countless EKG's, 3 Echo's, 3 holter's and many blood tests...I have also seen 3 different cardiologists and they all say the same thing...the thing that we are all told and the thing we all hate to hear..."They're benign...learn to live with it." It has been a constant struggle.  I have good days and bad days. It is really a battle in my head more than anything. I, like you can not seem to wrap my head around the fact that these things can make you feel like your dying, yet we are told they are harmless.  I found this forum a few months back and it has done wonders for me. It is nice to finally be able to talk about these things with people who actually relate to you. I am on a beta-blocker and a blood pressure medicine...Even with the beta-blocker, I still feel the palps...lately they have been really bad and my anxiety level has gone through the roof! I am trying to hang in there and stay positive and trust the Dr.'s. Basically, what I am saying is that you are not alone and everyone here has and is in your shoes so please come back to this forum anytime you need to talk.

[caleycan]

thanks for your kind comments, i'm so happy i found you all and this forum. it's a kind of "peace of mind" for me. i will no doubt come back and continue to take part in this site. take care.

[Celeste07]

I also get the ones caused by bending over, as does my Cardiologist who is a leading specialist in Arrhythmia's and Electrophysiology. He laughed when I brang them up a few weeks ago and said, "oh yeah, those nasty little critters do feel really aweful don't they?"
According to him everyone gets them also, we PVCers are just overly sensitive to them. I guess I'm actually blessed in alot of ways as I have a Cardiologist that has hundreds of noticable PVC's  himself, and therefore he has always been really sympathetic of my fears, but...he is also very firm and reassuring that they are totally benign in a heart without disease or structural damage.

BTW, he knew of this site and forum and actually complimented it's support factor. :)

[wildcat27]

celeste...where is your cardiologist located? thanks for the info...:)

[caleycan]

Do you have a family history of a fib? It's weird and not very assuring to me that all of your work ups came back great and then BOOM a fib. That scares me, it's what i fear, something happening after all the check ups. Arg, it is another thing to think about. I hope your doing well now, what did they say they think triggered it? Ttyl

[wildcat27]

they think it is the mitral valve pro lapse...but I am going to see an electrophysiologist when I get back to Kansas City next week...I think he can give me a more definitive answer...

[caleycan]

Best of luck with that. I hope you find the answers your looking for.

[wildcat27]

Hey everyone...just after I posted my last message my cardiologist called with the result of my 48 hour heart monitor from a few days ago. No A-Fib...but definitely PVCs and one recorded incident of non-sustained ventricular Tachycardia...I am a little scared as I don't see my electrophysiologist until next week...anyone have some words of wisdom/comfort they can share???

thanks

[jimmyb]

I'm a 50 year old man who has dealt with pvc/pac and psvt from about the time I was 12. They have given me a constant source of anxiety, and it wasn't until I finally figured out that they weren't going to kill me that I learned to relax about them and lead a normal life. I suggest you try to do the same. Easier said than done, but if you look at this site, probably the majority of the posts are about this affliction which can scare the **** out of you. Interestingly enough, during the past five years I have almost completely lost them. They will reappear every so often, but nowhere near as bad as they were at their peak. I do contribute at least part of this to having quit drinking alcohol about six years ago. That was always one source of the irregular beats. I also do a lot of cardio, jumping rope about a half hour a day. I think that also helps. Good luck to you, you are young and I would hate to see you wasting time on this like I did when I was your age. You will be fine.

[wildcat27]

jimmyb,

thanks for the encouraging words. how similar is psvt to non-sustained vt?

last night was a rough one for me...felt like I was having a full on panic attack. I even had to call my cardiologist's PA (a friend of our family) at his home. He did a pretty good job of talking me down off the ledge...but it has been pretty scary. Going from a March diagnosis of "we don't see anything wrong, you are 100% fine"...to A-Fib episode in July...to them seeing PVCs and one instance of vt on my last holter monitor. The PA said it is nothing to worry about and that I don't need to worry about SCD...but so much of what I found on the web about it was really scary.

Just for the record...are there folks out there who have been diagnosed with non-sustained vent. tach. and just learned to live with it???

My palps seem to come and go...and while there were times when I had the monitor on that they felt like they were coming 5-10 times a minute, I never thought they were 3-5 in row...but like I said...they are not really worried, but want me to go see the EP so he can figure out a possible cause...I think I am just scared by it all...I have a wife and a young son and they mean eveything to me...maybe that increases my anxiety.

Another weird thing is mine don't seem to be anxiety induced...I have not been as panicky as I was last night in a long time...and I didn't have any that I noticed.

[wildcat27]

also...how different are PACs from PVCs? Thanks

[caleycan]

i suggest actually typing "premature atrial contraction" and "premature ventricular contraction" into the google browser if you want to learn more about them, obviously dont' trust EVERYTHING you read on the net but there is alot of good info out there. thats what i do now. learn more about your heart and how it works, then you will beable to start relating the doctors words to your own heart.

non-sustained v-tach is basically 3+ pvc's in a row, sequencial, with no normal beats in between. that sure can be scary i have never had that that i know of and i hope i don't. trust your doctor though, ok? he/she has studied for many years and if there was something bad about your holter readings they will surely tell you ok?

[trajan1226]

Hi, folks...another fellow PVC sufferer signin' in here.

It's pretty obvious most of us if not all are on the same page with the same symptoms and same concerns.

I've been battling PVCs nearly my entire adult life, I'm 46...first noticed one rounding third base in a softball game in 1979.

I've decided to pack it in and get some more serious help beyond my generalized anxiety disorder med (buspirone not effective for me, really) and perhaps consider a beta blocker while getting another thorough checkup.

My doctor told me he suspects adrenaline...today has been a hell on earth, the worst day of my life with nearly constant PVCs.

I'm going to do WHATEVER it takes to knock this bugaboo out once and for all.  Wish me luck, I'm goin' in!