PAC and PVC- what do they each feel like?

[mabebesc]

What is the difference between what a PAC and a PVC feel like? When I feel thumps and skips, I am wondering what I'm feeling.  I always assumed it was a PAC that triggered my SVT . From what I understand,  a thump  like you're being kicked inside your chest is a PVC and a skip is what a PAC feels like. Thanks!  

[pvctom]

it seems like the same things that have happened to me, i have been getting these things for so long, since I was 29, and have just recently had a holter for 48 hrs and a nuclear stress test, which were ok. i was relieved, but still get the whole crazy array of skips, thumps, runs, flips, and sometimes they hurt, no pain, just hurt, i guess some of the pvcs seem more intense.

[JamesJ16]

How many do you feel per day?

[JamesJ16]

I can certainly tell the difference! For me I have the following types:

The Flutter
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This one is cute. I don't hardly feel it. Feels like a butterfly in my chest. Feels like the kind of twitches you get on your eyelid. Lasts less than a second and then stops.

The Flip Flop
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Feels like this: hard beat, pause, hard beat. The rhythm is off when this happens. Again doesn't last longer than a second or two. These ones are hard to ignore.

The Thud
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I hate these with a passion! They bang in your chest like a donkey is kicking you from the inside.

All 3 can be felt. Depending on the situation they can be deliberating for a second or two. I've had the flip flops and thuds all day today. Horrible little buggers!

That's what they feel like for me anyway. I don't know which is a PAC and which is a PVC though. I was told I get both, and I think I have MVP (dx'ed 12 year ago, was 17, didn't really take any interest in what the doctor said apart from "they're harmless"). That's all I know.

[achillea]

The most important thing about benign--as in *benign*--ectopic beats is not how they feel.  It is about *how* you are able to function when they occur.  Can you do your ordinary stuff?  Can you walk up stairs?  Can you chase your kids?  Can you carry a bag of groceries?  Do you barf or faint or break out in a drenching *cold* sweat when you try?

If not, your ectopics are benign.  The *precise* sensations do NOT matter.

[JamesJ16]

I agree. But that still doesn't make them any easier to deal with when they occur.

[achillea]

Would they be easier to deal with if the patient knew that one was a PAC and that another was a PVC?

[JamesJ16]

Ha, I see your point. Clever. You're right.

[willylilly]

I have never been on any of these sites, but I have had strange things in my heart for sooo long, I hate them, they totally affect my mood and life when I get them.  In the past I have wore a heart monitor and they have showed pac and pvc, but never a fib…I just got done with 30 days on a monitor and am waiting for the results.  I am scared I might have a fib also…if I feel my pulse while I am having an episode sometimes it feels like my heart stops then I get 2/3 beats close together then everything is back to normal, except that after one of these types of episodes I can feel like something happened in my chest area…..its not pain and I have never felt dizzy or anything but god it is scary…...

[Bromley]

Actually, I am certain I did not get that right.  You probably better go read the book.  Its pretty interesting, if you can check it out from the library long enough to read it!!!

[Barbmag]

I get both but I can not tell the difference. I just feel a skip, sometimes a long pause which is v scary. Sometimes there is minor discomfort but usually just the plain ole skips...I have never felt dizzy or anything like that. But they are so annoying and I have them every day......

[EatFruit]

Omg I am with you on the skip and pause!! I hate it and it scares the crap out of me...

[Bromley]

I read that there are three basic ways a PAC can manifest itself.  I dont remember the details, but basically how it manifests depends on the way the PAC traverses to the sinus node and then either affects the next beat coming from the sinus node or doesn't, and in what way it affects it, if it does affect it. I should think that if the PAC was able to propagate through the AV node and bundle of HIS, that the resulting ventricular contraction would feel much like a regular heart beat, just premature.  If it did not propagate through the AV node but affected the sinus node only, it could cause a pause, a completely skipped beat, or something else.

I did not have Dr. Prystowski's book "Cardiac Arrhythmias" long enough to read about PVC's and in any case my retention level is weak and I wouldn't have remembered anyway.  However, I imagine there is probably some type of analogy between PAC's/sinus node and PVC's/bundle of HIS.  Also, depending on where the PVC originated, the resulting contraction of the venticles could be weird and would probably not always feel very normal. It might even cause the atria and ventricles to pump against each other.

Given everything, I doubt whether there is a common way that individuals experience their PAC's and PVC's.  It probably just depends on where these things orignate and how they affect the major electrical nodes in the heart. If you want to know how your's feel, you could always get a loop recorder and keep a diary of your symptoms so that you can compare what you feel to the events on the strip  (PAC,PVC, etc).

kind regards, Bromley.

[Momto3]

Hi Betty,

Most doctors will tell you that patients cannot tell the difference between PACs and PVCs.  However, some of our members have said they can tell the difference.  I don't know that I would know since I have only had a rare PAC.  

My PVCs feel like a flip-flop and sometimes have a thump after the pause.  Sometimes, I feel a softer flutter and I wonder if that could be a PAC, but I would only be guessing.

How's it going 2 weeks post ablation?