PVCs happening at night now, can't fall asleep

[philip341]

I've had PVCs for many years now, some days are bad and then there can be weeks where I don't get any at all. I've had all the tests, echo, ekg, loop recorder, stress test it was all normal. In the last week though I've started to get them at night, which never happened before. I will close my eyes and begin to fall asleep and then I will feel the strong thud in my chest which wakes me up. This happens pretty much all night and I don't think I've slept at all in the last week. I've started feeling sick too, headache, dizziness fatigue, probably from not sleeping. I will be going back to the doctor today, I called this morning and he will see me in the afternoon. Magnesium used to work for me, but for some reason it doesn't anymore. Any idea what could be causing this or what can be done about it? I'm 21 years old if it matters.

[itdood]

damn I went through this too.  It's a PAIN IF THE BUTT!!!!

I tried so much stuff.

No medications helped at all, not even sleeping pills.  Besides I think taking pills to sleep is a really bad road to head down.

I tried all sorts of crap

I would try positions, certain positions did make it worse, on my left side was bad.
I would try to lay belly down, this made it worse.  Then one time I was so frustrated I just stayed in that position and eventually they went away.  This worked on several nights.
Maalox extra strength!  I read this from some other posters once.  I think it actually helped.
Eventually it went away on it's own

Hated that crap.  I kept thinking that if Karma is real, I must have murdered someone in a past life.  :-)

I hate the diagnosis of "stress".  I had that too, but I've had episodes of much worse stress and didn't get this.

On the propranolol, give it a shot, but don't be too disappointed if it doesn't work.  For me, it made things worse.

I had a bit of a theory of what was going on.  It's really complex issue.  I'm thinking it may have been viral or autoimmune.  Meaning the heart cells were slightly irritated.  Then when going to bed at night, you central nervous system goes into sleep mode and the signalling changes, which brought on the issue.  A combination of factors.

I went through everything.  All I can say is, modern medicine has NO IDEA how to treat it.   The use of bet I got the stress diagnosis and I couldn't accept it.  At one point I looked at my docs in the eye and told them, hey this is a really serious situation for me, and I'm having some real coping issues here.  They got pretty serious with finding out what is wrong.

[philip341]

So the doctor told me kind of what I was expecting him to, that they are benign and nothing to worry about. He did give me 20mg of propranolol to try and see if it would reduce it. The different positions do make a difference. I did find lying on my right side to be the most comfortable, while lying on my left side triggers palpitations almost instantly and I avoid that now. I know PVCs can be from stress and this week and last week I have had my midterm exams at university so that could be a factor. My last one is tomorrow so maybe this weekend I might be able to get some sleep if that was really it.

[Jerry_NJ]

Have you tried different sleeping positions?  I believe the "fetal" position on one's side is generally the best.  If you don't use that, I do, say you sleep on your back, try the sleep on the side.  I think the left side gives the heart the best resting position.

If your doctor comes up with something that works for you, let us all know.

Good luck,