pvc's and fast heart rate

[Carrie41]

I am a 41 year old female with a long history of PVC's.  I have a "Ton" of holter monitors and the only thing they have picked up is a short bout of v-tach, some PVC's, some PAC's and some short runs of tachycardia.  I was admited to the hospital after they picked up the run on v-tach and had they were going to do an ablation.  During the study they could not make my heart go into v-tach so they stopped and that was the end of that.  I have since gone for another "failed ablation" because of my insistance that there is something wrong with my heart.  Could they have missed something?  

My questions are as follows:

1.  Would normal hearts have short runs of non-sustained v-tach?
Would this happen in the general population?
2.  I can tell when I have the runs of PVC's because my heart goes really hard and I feel lightheaded for a few seconds.  Is that a bad thing?
3.  I also get these really short runs of fast heart rate and I feel kind of funny for a few seconds.  I can just be sitting there on the couch and it will start going fast.  I think I convert myself because I take a couple of deep breaths and it seems to go back into its normal rhythum.  This only happens maybe once per month but really scares me.  What do you think that is?  
4. I sometimes get a skip every few seconds and then nothing for hours.  Why does my heart do that?
5.  If everyone has PVC's why do I feel them so much and other people don't?  I really can't understand that but my EP doctor swears that everyone has them.

Thank you for a great forum!

[Ianna]

Hi Kittycat,

Yes, your anxiety is ruining your life.
As it was (sometimes still is) ruining mine.
You said it yourself: "I am totaly out of my wits from fear...."
That's it.
With anxiety PVC's, PAC's and palpitations increase.
I can advice you to read back some posts about PVC's and anxiety.
There are A LOT of them on this forum.
You're not alone in this.
-
Wish you well...     ***Ianna***

[dr_kittycat]

Hi ,I too have the same problem except ot started fairly recently. I am totaly out of my wits from fear.My EKG showed nothing and I am fine with activities in my daily life.Its when I retire at night or lie down to rest , do the tach an the PVCs come to visit me.I dont feel chest pain nor any kind of pain and I can move ok, its just sometimes this cough...like a nervous cough when my heart skips a beat.I have noticed that if I go to bed early in a colder room I am much better.I am starting a new job after a long long pause being home(years) so this might be it.I also suffer from anxiety and I have been known to have panic attacks. Doc gave me Inderal.Will this help???Is something wrong with my heart or my anxiety is ruining my life???HELP??

[scaredskipper]

hi, i had a echo done about 3 years ago, they said a tiny leaky valve and left it as that with a comment not dangerous. i had the test because ekg showed pvcs, anyway since the echo i have had little palps that last about a wee or so. but for the lasr monthe they are back they never lasted this long before. i go to a free clinic for zoloft because i no longer have insurance, i have no reg doctor. do you think it could of changed to life threatening? every time i get them i think this but they go away.
and i am fine they are just lasting so long this time. any advice? thanks

[DaveG]

HI, i have a few comments and a question or two. I have PVC's and PAC's all the time and no matter how many times my doctor tells me they are normal, I still am very worried about them somtimes. I can go a day or so without hardly any, then somedays I have runs of 3-4 per minute. I am trying to figure out what triggers them for me. I have quite caffiene, nicotine, and alcohol and they are lessned a lot, but still come sometimes which makes it hard to tell why. Also, on the tachycardia, I have runs of tach sometimes, but am never sure why. I think it is most due to anxiety, which makes it hard to tell if the tach is caused by the anxiety or the anxiety is caused by the tachycardia. I woke up in the middle of the night with a pulse of about 120-130 and really got scared and went in to the ER. They game me atenlol and lorazepam, which helped and sent me home. I feel good but am wondering if I went in for no reason. I mean, is 130 too high? I realize for a resting heart rate that it is, but what about NSVT? At the ER the doctor asked me if I was anxious about something. Well, I had a big interview on monday, so I guess that was a "yes." Anyway, I just wanted to comment on your posting and say that I feel much like you and am having trouble settling down about it all. And yes, I feel my premature ("skipped") beats MUCH more than most people too.

[CCF-M.D.-RCJ]

carrie41,

Thanks for your questions. I'll try to answer them in order.

(1) Persons with structurally normal hearts and NSVT have excellent prognoses.  The available data do not point to an excess incidence of sudden death in such persons.

(2) Only if you find the symptoms painful or uncomfortable.

(3) These bouts could be anything from an SVT to VT to anxiety.  The way to definitively diagnose the problem would be with an event monitor or with a long-term recorder, such as the REVEAL device made by medtronic (www.medtronic.com).

(4) Many people experience premature contractions, which are usually the culprits for these sensations.  They are generally benign in patients with otherwise normal hearts.

(5) The answer to this question is we don't know.  But other similiar questions include why can some people eat hot food and others not?  Or why are some people intolerant of sleeping in a hot environment?  We all perceive things differently, and sometimes this fact is to our detriment.

Hope that helps.