Skipped beats are ruining my life!

[Carey01]

Hello all,

I  am a long time sufferer of PAC/PVC's.  It seems that they calm down for several months and then one day when you lease expect it -WHAM!  I had an episode of WHAM the other night and havent been myself since. I t seemed like they came in a row -- maybe 7 or 8.  Its  hard to distinguish though if it really was every beat.  It could have been every other beat.  I tried feeling my pulse but it was hard to tell.  Plus, of course, I was terriby upset so my heart was beating really fast.  I did see  my DR the following day who said to take a Lopressor (whaih I just filled the RX for )  when I have a bad bout.  Does anyone else take something as needed?   Does it work?  
I feel like I cant go on vacation, go anywhere alone, or really do much outside of my house.  I worry about them pretty much non stop and am incredibly fearful that they will lead to sudden death.  Its really encompassing my life.  Its like IM just waiting for them  to hit.  Can anyone relate or shed some postive light?  My Dr says they are being due to my hear to being structurally sound.     Its Friday night and my husband wanted to take me out to dinner but I couldnt go for fear of having an episode in the restaurant.  As you can tell, Im in pretty bas shape emotionally at the moment.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Carey      

[Barbmag]

Carey, I am also a long time sufferer.....and I am 63 so I am no spring chicken!! I have tried to learn to live with these things and not let them control my life. But I will tell you that when I am having them on a regular basis, every day, many episodes thorough out the day, it is v hard not to focus on them all the time. So, in a way, I let them control my life and I just hate that. I don't worry about an occasional skip here and there, but when I get runs of them, I can get v worried and panicky. I have been told numerous times by my cardios that they are benign but they sure do not feel benign!! And of course the adrenalin increases when I have these bouts which causes even more anxiety.
The last time I saw my cardio for a routine check up, I told him that I was going through a v difficult time in my life with my sister who had at the time, stage 4 breast cancer (she has since died) and my father who had had a mild stroke, (he also died so I lost 2 beloved family members in 3 months) and the dr. gave me an RX for Xanax. He suggested that I use it on an as needed basis for when I was feeling a lot of anxiety. I hate taking any RX's at all, even aspirin so I was not going to even get the RX filled. I ended up tho getting them and I took one on the day of my sister's funeral...it was like a magic pill and I can see why people abuse these types of RX's!! I have only taken them I think 3 more times b/c of my fear of taking any kind of drug but it is sort of reassuring to know that I do have them in case my heart goes wild which it sometimes does. The cardio said that this will really help to calm me and maybe prevent a long episode of bygeminy or trygeminy, etc. I would love to know if others have any experience with these kinds of drugs.  I have tried many natural supplements to try to suppress the arrythmias or for 'nerves' but have not found anything that really helps. I am not familiar with lopressor but I will google it. I just wish I could reassure you and help you not obsess over these things. As you read, I am 63, have had these for a v,v, long time and get them every day. So far, so good!!!! I would suggest that you read as many of these post as you can and learn all you can about the palps..I feel that knowledge is power and so the more I know, the less I worry...at least that is what I try to remember. Let us know how things go with you and I hope you can relax and  learn to live your life as best you can. For me, an annual check up with my cardio is reassuring and hopefully if there are changes with my heart he can pick up on them.
Take good care~~~

[sammykat]

there are things that triger off fast heart  rate which are acaid in stomach which causes heart hurtburn then hurtburn goes on to chest pain and burning feeling i suffer from this which make i heart beat and i feel like im having heart attack but im not due to acid which is heart burn nother thing is to reducess all of the above doctor recommends change of like eat spicy foood garlic coke cola fatty fooods ect anti acid tablets aswell as im talking them so hope fully information helps you

[Carey01]

You know, oddly, right before the big attack I ate about 3 BIG handfuls of candied pecans. I kind of wondered if that played a part.  But I have gotten an attack without eating something weird or hard to digest too.  I dont know.    I have thought about that too cause it seems that sometimes an antacid seeems to help calm things down a bit.

THanks for the responses!  

[Skippi]

Hi there, oh we all understand how you feel. It's ok for months, then "it" hits you again... in my case, it's almost always related to what I've eaten beforehand, so upset stomach = upset heart (or more likel, upset vagus nerve, who consequently upsets the heart, as it's connected to both stomach and the heart (and the brain I think too). Now, knowing all this, helps a bit to take the anxiety, fear of dying away. And having survived so many "attacks" and lived through it, helps too after a while. But it's still scary and just plain upsetting, when we have these skips. I usually take a Zantac, to calm my stomach. If it's really bad, I take a beta blocker (which helps with the adrenalin, which also creates more pvc's). What helps most, is "prevention", i.e. eat healty, no acid creating food!, no vinegar, no alcohol, NO coffee! hope you feel better soon, it's really depressing at times, I know!

[ireneo]

You said you're a "long time sufferer" of PAC's and PVC's. In a normal heart they're nothing more than an annoyance. After all this time they haven't done you in yet. That should be encouraging. What happens when one or two or three hit? You feel weird for a moment and that's it. There really isn't any reason to stop living because your heart decides to go into hiccup mode. Fight back, get angry but don't sit in fear.