Is there a difference in feeling between PVC and PAC?

[kyomagi]

When i last wore my holter (2008) i had 6600 pvc's and about 60 pacs.  I could not tell the difference.  the only difference i know of is the pause between pac's are longer than a pvc.

[hefner33]

There is such thing as a blocked pac or pvc. This usually shows with a normal beat and then a p wave but no qrs. Then there's a compensatory pause

[kyomagi]

thanks for the comments.  is there such a thing as benign sinus pause?  

sometimes i feel pvc's and sometimes not.  The other day i had a couple pvc's and caught one with a little longer pause after ward.  My cardio said not to worry that, even though the pvc caused the long pause, its probably nothing to worry bout.  I had my hand on my pulse and it was beat beat --pause-- normal beat pattern.  but no thumps before or after, but again, when i first started having them, i could never feel them

[hefner33]

I actually can tell difference between my pacs and pvcs. My pacs I actuallu get two hard beats and my pvcs are just 1 bang. I dont know why cause they both have the compensatory pause but when i monitor, my pac is thump, thump, bang.....bang and my pvc is thump thump, thump....bang

[is_something_wrong]

I don't think the origin of the premature beat matters regarding what the beat feels like. A PVC looks ugly on EKG, but this is a purely electrical matter (the cause is that electrical current first moves in one direction and later in another instead of a normal beat where right ventricular forces and left ventricular forces cancels each other out). For example, in the setting of LBBB each sinus beat looks like a PVC but the feeling of the beats are just like normal beats (you cannot feel LBBB - it's purely an electrical phenomenon).

The timing matters, however. An early PAC can feel horrible as it fires towards closed AV valves. A late PAC usually goes unnoticed. An early PVC often goes unnoticed, but a late PVC can feel awful as the next sinus beat fires against closed AV valves as they are still closed from the PVC. Also, the next normal beat often feels stronger with a PVC than a PAC, as the compensatory pause usually is a bit longer (though it isn't always longer).

[kyomagi]

ya i was just trying figure out the whole pause thing.  you explained it good to me, just trying to find the cause.  I put in a call to my doc to see what he thinks, but im sure he will tell me its nothing as i have been noticing this for 5 years.  Not to mention the infrequent times it happens.  

But to piggy back on your explaination from before.  I timed the length of a possible pvc.  I started the timer at the end of a beat, past one full beat, then stopped the timer at the 3rd beat.  did i get that right?  seems like the right timing from what i felt.  Over thinking it, all the way

Only reason i am over thinking it is because i had one yesterday that i flat out caught. i was having pvc's (3-4) and the one i caught felt long.  But my HR was 64 after i calmed down and relaxed.  

Then i had a panic attack lol.  

[itdood]

Every one of the very many events I've felt, when they were caught on something, were PVCs.  I don't know if I've ever had PACs.  PACs were never brought up for me, and frankly I don't care or want to know.  lol

From what I've read, PVCs will produce more feelings and symptoms because they are a lot more muscular than the atria.  

To give you an idea of how much more muscle the ventricles have, look at an EKG.  The atrial beat is called a P wave.  It's a tiny little thing compared to the QRS wave the ventricles produce.  Then look at a PVC caught on an EKG and compare that to a PAC.  The PAC will look like a normal beat but it will not be consistently timed like the other..  The PVC will be this huge bizarre wave, and it's really wide because of the way it propagates across the ventricle chaotically.

But, it's a topic of much debate for heart palpers....the difference in feeling of a PAC versus a PVC.  I've never seen it settled one way or the other and I can't speak from experience other than knowing and documenting what a PVC feels like.

From what I've observed from EKGs, I'm surprised people can even feel PACs.  PACs end up usually having a normal looking QRS wave, and that tells me you won't have any of the crazy thump (hydraulic shock) you get with a PVCs.   pure guess.