PVC - I sware I am not stressed

[tesseract322]

After feeling chest pain and palpitation like symptoms I was put through the gauntlet of heart tests, ECG, EKG, Holter Monitor, bloodwork, etc.

The stress test just revealed a high level of PVCs when I am exercising. This ONLY happens when I am exercising or moving around the house and has become quite uncomfortable.

Everything I am reading about PVC suggests it is stress related or due to some abuse of caffeine/cigarettes/drugs, however, I am breastfeeding and would not consider such things (nor do I use any of them in my daily life).

I am only 29 years old and this just popped up out of the blue about 4 weeks ago when I was swimming. I know I just had a baby but again, I don't feel stressed and I'm getting enough sleep.

The doctor suggested beta blockers but since I'm breastfeeding I really don't want to try those, they're all dismissing this due to stress but I feel there must be something more going on. I also somehow started getting high blood pressure (when I had always been consistently on the low side) so they've had me try diozide.

My main question is whether something else could be causing these problems?  I was an otherwise totally healthy person and now I can barely walk up the stairs without my heart pounding.

Any advice would help, thank you~

[artskip]

If you start a BB try one that is  not  long acting and take it as needed.  I agree totally with dolfnlvr, start with a very low dosage. I take 1/4 of a 10mg inderal, if I need more I can go up from there. I was having a really hard time with my heart rate going crazy if I just climbed a flight of stairs. The inderal helped alot with that. I dont take a SSRI, but I take xanax on an as needed basis( it really helps me if I can't get to sleep). The BB and the xanax keeps them from escalating. With me once the PVC's get going thats when I take the BB and it usally works fairly quickly, especially to lower my heart rate. Like dolfnlvr said it won't get rid of them but it puts them in the background. I do not have any stress,externally, but it's the internal stress (being tired or having a cold or going thru menopause) that gets me. It's true what finetilthree said nothing  is going to make a difference, meds will just help you manage them, they wont get rid of them. Unfortunately alot of us PVC sufferers have to learn to manage the PVC's. My moms had them her whole life, she's 87 and going strong.

[tesseract322]

Did you get the swelling and high blood pressure with the PVCs as well?

Thank you so much for your reply!!

[dolfnlvr]

Awhile back we had a thread on here about "when did it start for you" or something like that.  It was pretty interesting to see how many females had no problems until they had children.  PVC's can be very touchy when there are hormones raging...often they are worse around "that time of month" for instance.  

Stopping breastfeeding didn't really help at all.  And it was so scary because here I had just had this baby and now my heart was all messed up!!!  One thing that you have going for you is the existence of this site.  I didn't, and I had no idea how many people suffered from this, or what the doctors in the world were saying about it.  I figured my doctor was just uncaring and that I was going to die of a heart attack any minute.  A skipping heart is JUST NOT NORMAL.  

Well, as you can see from this site, it's more normal than you thought.  There are TONS of people who have palpable PVC's.  Interestingly enough, there is research that shows that nearly EVERYONE experiences PVC's, it's just that some people don't notice them at all.  Knowing that will at least help you cope a little better than I did. :-)

If you go on beta blockers don't go on some high dose (it's overkill).  I literally take 1/4 tablet daily.  That's like 12.5 mg.  So many people are started at 50+mg/day and that will WIPE YOU OUT!!!  There is one more thing too.  Many of us take a low dose of an SSRI like prozac or paxil. I'm not saying you should, but I'm letting you know that if your doctor brings it up, it is not because he/she thinks you are crazy or that it's "all in your head."  SSRI's truly do lower the adrenaline response and they buffer that "fight or flight" response so they tend to help with PVC's for a lot of people.  It really is a biological issue, not a mental one.

PVC's are real, but a lot of doctors seem to pooh pooh them, mainly because there is no "real" treatment or "cure" and since it is not life threatening...........well, you can figure out the rest.

Take care........and enjoy that baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[finetilthree]

I was in the exact same situation as you, started April 2006.  I stopped breastfeeding, no change at all.  Beta blockers, no change at all.  That was my third and final baby and I really regret that I stopped nursing him at 4 months and it made no difference at all.  Enjoy it while you can.  Nothing you do is going to make any difference right now:)

[tesseract322]

Hi Dolfnlvr,
Thank you for the reply! Did you find that stopping breastfeeding helped at all? The baby has been sleeping through the night for some time now so I actually don't get up with him to feed for at least 8 hours. Since I really don't think I can deal with the constant lethargy I will try the BB's and stop breastfeeding. Not something I want to do but I'm hoping will help. Glad to see there is someone else how there who might be going through the same questions of "did you have an anxiety attack"? Or "is there any drug use in the house"...

:-)

[dolfnlvr]

This is EXACTLY how my PVC's began.  I had NEVER had any issues prior to having my son, and 6 months into breastfeeding him they hit.  Here's the good news.  If you can live with the PVC's, you don't need to take the beta blockers.  The BB's are meant to help the PVC's be less noticeable, but they don't do anything to really stop them.  See, PVC's are not harmful (assuming a structurally normal heart) but they are quite annoying and worrisome, so many people who have them take beta blockers to help them ignore them.  

Beta blockers block the adrenaline receptors that can cause PVC's.  Whether you feel anxious or not, your system is releasing increased levels of adrenaline (very likely in response to the hormone imbalances brought on by pregnancy and breastfeeding) which can trigger the PVC's.  When you experience a PVC, whether it truly worries you or not, your nervous system reacts with a fight or flight response which releases more adrenaline, which causes more PVC's which releases more adrenaline and on it goes.  Then, you begin to worry about it, because, well, "that's just not normal" and that increases your levels of adrenaline as well, which increases the PVC's.  

Again, there is good news here. You do not have to take drugs and your heart will be fine.  The down side to this is that you will have no "help" in regulating the adrenaline impact on your heart rhythm.  This may mean that you will have ongoing PVC's for awhile (until your body evens out on its own) and then, when they finally do regulate you may have no further problems, or you may have PVC's intermittently from now on.  

Some of us take BB's for awhile, even out our rhythms and then come off until needed again.  This is usually a VERY LOW DOSE of BB's, but it does the trick.  Perhaps, if your PVC's become too distracting and worrisome, you could consider this.  Otherwise, you can try to "tough it out."

I will say this though, while you may think you are "well rested" it is likely that you are not sleeping as well as you need to.  I think this has a VERY LARGE PART to play in the PVC cycle.  When there is a baby in the house, Mommy sleeps very lightly, and when she is nursing, there's a lot more awake time then pre-baby.  So, if it is at all possible for you to pump some milk for baby before bed time and get a full 8 hours of undisturbed sleep at least once a week, you may find that your symptoms lessen.

My post pregnancy PVC's were much better once we got to the one year old mark (my son started sleeping through the night!!!).

Take care.