Been diagnosed with frequent symptomatic pvc

[julie144]

I have just been released from the hospital today, I was in to try Tikosyn. A few months ago I started feeling the pvc's, everything I have read says they are relatively innocent. My cardiologist originally had me on Atenolol, when that did not work Verapamil was added. I could see a difference but they were still happening. When I went for a med check I was having a bad day and the doctor could hear it in my chest, that day my pulse was down to 42, I have noticed that happen regular at home also. He said that it would be a good idea at that point to try Tikosyn. I like my doctor but he is not good at explaining and I honestly dont know what I should be asking. When in the hospital the Tikosyn didnt work, then he was going to put me on  Amiodarone, he said he really didnt want to becuase of my age I am 35, but he said as a last resort we might have to. Instead I am on Veramamil and Sotalol. I am worried about it not working, I really dont want to go on amiodarone. I am still having pvc's not as bad, I know that they need my qt to be better than it was. My last ekg this morning I was having pvc's but he said he didnt see any of the irregular heartbeats. I was under the impression that PVC and Irregualr heartbeats are the same, are they?They seemed really concerned over my QT I think the distance between, how important is what they were watching with my qt?( not sure what that means) I have them as often as everyother to every 5th they are horrible and make me feel terrible, they can go on for a short time or all day. Can PVC's cause any damage to my heart? Wouldnt it be better to control as much as possible with what I am on and have PVC's less frequent then it would be go on Amiodarone? In my opinion I worry because my original combination of meds work, just not the greatest. shouldnt he have just change up the doses instead of possibly going on to the Amiodarone? I go see him again on tuesday, but so far I think I had the better reaction from the old meds, and if he says when they dont work to try amiodarone I figure I will tell him I want my other doses back instead, not only a waist of 4 days in ICU to go on the ones that dont work but I am still back to square one, as long as it wont damage anything I am ok with that. I am debating if I should find another doctor. I just dont know.

[trrn]

I too suffer from frequent PVC's. I stopped my beta blocker - b/c it slowed my HR down to 45-50 and I felt tried. I was told my heart was structurely normal - so at this point I decided to do nothing. The PVC's lasted everyday for 18 months, and yes they were constant.

For some reason they drastically decreased. Since I'm 47, I really think that it is my hormones. Although I can't find any concrete proof - too little research was completed on the subject.

I know the cardiac meds can cause a long QT.  Why take anything?

[julie144]

He explained it as basically instead of beating from top to bottom, that my bottom part of heart wants to beat diffenently so basically just not working together. Thank you for your response

[CFS56]

There are many kinds of irregular heartbeats, PVCs being one of the more common ones.  I really think you need to sit down with your cardiologist and have him explain what is going on with you so you can understand it.  A good thing to do would be write a list of questions you want to ask and take it with you to your appointment on Tuesday.  My doctor is not the best at communications either and if I didn't ask him questions he wouldn't tell me much of anything.  Ask him specifically what your heart is doing and what kind of irregularity he is concerned enough about to suggest you take amiodarone.  If you are not happy with this doctor and you don't get answers to all your questions, by all means, go to another cardiologist.