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Benign PVCs or something else
by spinmaster, Jul 05, 2009 06:43PM
Hi,
I am 19 years old about 5 10 and 155 pounds. I was diagnosed and successfully treated for SVT as a baby. Last year I finished a competitive tennis match and upon leaving the court had the sensation that my heart skipped a beat once or twice and then followed with several seconds of palpiltations, maybe 20 seconds. In the days following I began experiencing more of the skipped feelings but never the resulting episodes of palpiltations afterwords. I went to my family doctor and she told me I had experienced simply an adrenaline rush seeing as I had no other symptoms. I was not comforted by this diagnosis since I was having several skipped beats every day. My doc then reffered me to a cardiologist where i had an EKG done which was normal, but no episodes where caught during the test. I told him what I told my doc and He kind of chuckled and gave me a 30 day event monitor and told me to go ahead with every thing I was doing (exercising, etc.). I wore the monitor and turned and several recordings, all which checked out fine. During this time period I did not experience an episode where my heart seem to beat funny for several seconds(the so-called adrenaline rush).
I graduated from high school and moved off to college still a little worried, but upon arriving on campus I forgot about my worries and did all the normal college things. Durning the last week of school I started to have a ton of skipped heart beats. I went to the health center and had an EKG done. The doctor there told me I had PVC's which I had read about online but never been told I had. He told me other than that my EKG was perfectly normal and I had nothing to worry about. To make sure he said he would send my EKG to a specialist who would take a look at it for him, and if any thing came up he would call me. No call, so no worries. The University doc said it was probably just stress from finals, and surely enough when i moved home for the year the pvcs returned to just a couple a day (usually when i take a deep breath, or suddenly move around a bunch after sitting for a while). Although a few weeks after getting home I had the uncomfortable feeling where it felt like my heart had two or three pvcs and then beat funny for several seconds. I had no other symptoms but I was recovering from a virus that had ailed me earlier in the week. I also had this feeling once at school after sprinting to a car to get shotgun and once i sat down the feeling kicked in.
Also, as a freshman in high school I was referred to a cardiologist by the same family doctor because I said I had experienced chest pain during exercise. I usually have pains in my chest or back during some point in the day but its usually a 1 or a 2 on a scale of 10 and only lasts a few moments. Again my visit to the cardiologist was all good, the ekg was normal and they said I could continue all my activites worry free, as i did until the event I mentioned earlier. My chest pain was explained as muscular and also digestive seeing as I have been treated for GERD twice in my lifetime.
My questions are: do my pvcs and other experiences seem normal, and benign?
Is the sensation I have where my heart seems to beat strangely for a few seconds after a few PVCs seem to be a simple adrenaline rush, or could it be an underlying heart condition that has not developed into a severe and recognizable problem yet? I only have this feeling after a moment of intense stimulation, like an intense tennis match or getting really fired up after remaining stagnant for a while. I have heard of athletes dying unexpectedly due to underlying conditions of cardiomyopathy, and ARVD so I worry (probably more than I should). I also have ocassional labored breathing but this always seems to be attributed to the fact that I am worrying, I never have the sensation where I am not getting enough air, but simply I am eerly conscious of the way I am breathing so I kind of work myself up I think
I have only had EKGs done recently, 3 in the past 5 years and they have all checked out, along with any routine physcial in between, and the 30 day event monitor, yet I still have symptoms like minor chest discomfort and the PVCs, not to menton that very sproadic and very frightening heart beat that i described (i wish i could describe this feeling more, but never do I have time to check my heart rate, nor do I ever experience any other sympmtoms). So, should I be comforted by the fact that I have passed all my exams up to this point, or do my symptoms and experiences merit further testing for underlying conditons?
Sorry for such a long post, but there has been a lot of worrying on my mind recently as i am home for the summer without the stimulation that college life has to offer.
Any responses or advice I get is greatly appreciated
I am 19 years old about 5 10 and 155 pounds. I was diagnosed and successfully treated for SVT as a baby. Last year I finished a competitive tennis match and upon leaving the court had the sensation that my heart skipped a beat once or twice and then followed with several seconds of palpiltations, maybe 20 seconds. In the days following I began experiencing more of the skipped feelings but never the resulting episodes of palpiltations afterwords. I went to my family doctor and she told me I had experienced simply an adrenaline rush seeing as I had no other symptoms. I was not comforted by this diagnosis since I was having several skipped beats every day. My doc then reffered me to a cardiologist where i had an EKG done which was normal, but no episodes where caught during the test. I told him what I told my doc and He kind of chuckled and gave me a 30 day event monitor and told me to go ahead with every thing I was doing (exercising, etc.). I wore the monitor and turned and several recordings, all which checked out fine. During this time period I did not experience an episode where my heart seem to beat funny for several seconds(the so-called adrenaline rush).
I graduated from high school and moved off to college still a little worried, but upon arriving on campus I forgot about my worries and did all the normal college things. Durning the last week of school I started to have a ton of skipped heart beats. I went to the health center and had an EKG done. The doctor there told me I had PVC's which I had read about online but never been told I had. He told me other than that my EKG was perfectly normal and I had nothing to worry about. To make sure he said he would send my EKG to a specialist who would take a look at it for him, and if any thing came up he would call me. No call, so no worries. The University doc said it was probably just stress from finals, and surely enough when i moved home for the year the pvcs returned to just a couple a day (usually when i take a deep breath, or suddenly move around a bunch after sitting for a while). Although a few weeks after getting home I had the uncomfortable feeling where it felt like my heart had two or three pvcs and then beat funny for several seconds. I had no other symptoms but I was recovering from a virus that had ailed me earlier in the week. I also had this feeling once at school after sprinting to a car to get shotgun and once i sat down the feeling kicked in.
Also, as a freshman in high school I was referred to a cardiologist by the same family doctor because I said I had experienced chest pain during exercise. I usually have pains in my chest or back during some point in the day but its usually a 1 or a 2 on a scale of 10 and only lasts a few moments. Again my visit to the cardiologist was all good, the ekg was normal and they said I could continue all my activites worry free, as i did until the event I mentioned earlier. My chest pain was explained as muscular and also digestive seeing as I have been treated for GERD twice in my lifetime.
My questions are: do my pvcs and other experiences seem normal, and benign?
Is the sensation I have where my heart seems to beat strangely for a few seconds after a few PVCs seem to be a simple adrenaline rush, or could it be an underlying heart condition that has not developed into a severe and recognizable problem yet? I only have this feeling after a moment of intense stimulation, like an intense tennis match or getting really fired up after remaining stagnant for a while. I have heard of athletes dying unexpectedly due to underlying conditions of cardiomyopathy, and ARVD so I worry (probably more than I should). I also have ocassional labored breathing but this always seems to be attributed to the fact that I am worrying, I never have the sensation where I am not getting enough air, but simply I am eerly conscious of the way I am breathing so I kind of work myself up I think
I have only had EKGs done recently, 3 in the past 5 years and they have all checked out, along with any routine physcial in between, and the 30 day event monitor, yet I still have symptoms like minor chest discomfort and the PVCs, not to menton that very sproadic and very frightening heart beat that i described (i wish i could describe this feeling more, but never do I have time to check my heart rate, nor do I ever experience any other sympmtoms). So, should I be comforted by the fact that I have passed all my exams up to this point, or do my symptoms and experiences merit further testing for underlying conditons?
Sorry for such a long post, but there has been a lot of worrying on my mind recently as i am home for the summer without the stimulation that college life has to offer.
Any responses or advice I get is greatly appreciated
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From your post I get the idea you are a "high strung" person, get excited easily, not a criticism, and that being the case I'd expect you to have periods of higher than normal heart rate and even some skipped beats.
Nonetheless, I think it a good idea for you to get an EKG check at least once a year and see your doctor if you develop any new or more intense symptoms...this is the hard part, don't think about it, that can cause new symptoms...this is true for all of us.