I'm Absolutely Floored--Holter Monitor Results

[ChrisVA]

Hi all,

I posted a few weeks ago about my sudden start with skipped beats.  Started on January 8th and hasn't stopped since.

In mid-February, my Internal Medicine doctor ordered a Holter monitor for me.  He then went out of the country on vacation and today I *finally* got my results back from his nurse.

She says to me:  "The report says you have normal sinus rhythm.  You're normal, nothing is wrong with you."

I said "Well, did the report note any abnormal beats."  She says, "Nope, it says normal sinus rhythm."  I said "Are you SURE?  I mean, I am having palps all day."  She says "Well the report says that the patient noted 3 events but that these events did not correlate with anything."

I then told her that I *noted* well over 20 events.  She says "Well, I don't know.  You're normal" and then said goodbye.

I'm shocked.  I can FEEL these skips in my pulse.  Am I to believe that the Holter did not pick them up?  And what about the 3 events noted when I had tons more?  

I am now going to call the cardiology place where I got the monitor from and ask but I"m sure I will be stonewalled?

What do I make of this?

Christine

[Jerzeegal]

Hey Christine,

The same thing happened to me when I had the holter monitor. I also had an echocardiagram which showed MVP and slight triscuspid regurg. I think following up with the cardiologist and having some additional tests done is a good idea... if for nothing else then for your own peace of mind.

Jerz

[Bostonian08]

Hi Chris,
Just FYI - my Holter results were similar to yours (had about 300 events of ventricular ectopy in a 24-hour period.) My cardio ordered a stress echo and cardiac MRI just to rule out anything dangerous (ventricular ectopy is usually benign, but CAN be dangerous if there is any structural abnormality of the heart. you need to get that checked.)
Hope that helps!
Jen

[BigMike79]

Hope you won't need to take too much time, I'm in school so it's a little easier for me but I did my testing on a Saturday.

Anyways ... good luck with everything

[ChrisVA]

Thanks for the reply.  I will look it up!  

They are apparently "catching" my problem but I guess we can't figure out why it is happening.

I probably will do further testing directly with a cardiologist, but I am starting a new job on Monday and can't take any time off for awhile.  I've known about this new job for months and have been trying to get all my medical stuff done before I start.  The delay in the Holter results have really screwed me up.

[BigMike79]

I have a friend who had his problems start while he was living in Japan.  He had to have two 24 hr holter monitors, one 48, and one 2 week event monitor before they caught his problem.  When they detected it he came home to Canada immediately and had an ablasion (free healthcare).  He is fine now but has to take meds.

Keep on your doctors and do more tests.  I have insisted that I do all tests ASAP and I am just awaiting results.  Also see if you can have a sleep study done because they can find occurances of it happening when you are sleeping and not realizing it.

If you have time I would like to know if what is happening to you is similar to what is happening to me ... My long post is called "Tachycardia?!?"

[ChrisVA]

Okay, I have a bit more information.  I just called the cardiac center where I had my Holter done and I got a very nice nurse to explain the whole report to me.

It was first noted that I had isolated and rare incidents of PVCs.

Then it goes on to say that I had a total of 118,251 beats in a 24 hour period.  232 of those beats (or 2%) were ventricular ectopy.

So the nurse said that I was definitely having something.

They "summarized" my 20+ events down to three events because the activities of the events were so similar.  There was no correlations.  

The nurse said that they didn't detect any tachycardia or any sustained patterns of ectopy which is what they look for.  So while it all looks benign, I could pursue further testing if I wanted.  Not sure if this is a recommendation or an idea.  I guess I don't feel any better?  Should I?