PVCs

I am 38 years old and have been having PVCs daily since Feb 2010. I have been hooked up to a holter monitor (which showed 1044 PVCs in a 24 hour period). Have had all kinds of blood work which only showed my potassium was on the low end of normal and my vitamin D was low. I had an echocardiogram which showed my heart is structurally normal.

I began to increase my potassium about a year ago and have been able to get my PVCs down to less than 200 on most days (with 100 being the average).

Lately I have been having flare ups. I slam some Orange Juice down (about 16 oz) and they begin to subside slowly (from 5-6 a minute to 1 every 5-10 mins).

No one in the medical community thinks a potassium of 3.7 is low enough to cause these symptoms.. but if that's the case, why is orange juice so helpful?

I eat/drink other sources of potassium, but have not had the same success as the juice is giving me.

What is going on??  Is this all a fluke?

[HesAPooka]

Well 3.7 isn't low potassium, but if your body is experiencing a drop in levels because you haven't been eating enough potassium lately it can certainly cause minor heart disturbances. Just like if someone has low potassium and they they treated with a potassium supplement their heart might experience certain disturbances or rhythm abnormalities if the potassium is increased to quickly. But I'm pretty sure that's not the case. You'd have to have a stomach flu or something that causes a lot of diarrhea or vomiting for this to occur. On the other hand,  maybe your blood sugar is low? Orange juice does have a lot of sugar, and some people seem to get more palpitations when their blood sugar is low.

[PrincessKimD]

My dr said the normal range is between 3.7-5.2..,,so, I am in the normal range, but barely. My blood sugar isn't low at all. I know I don't eat as. Uh potassium as I should, so I try to incorporate V8 and orange juice and bananas as much as possible.

[beehwalow]

I believe that there is no correlation at all. Because your PVCs are still quite recent, it is still relatively easier to control them. In fact,in the past I tried tomatoes plus salt, sometimes it helps too. So I tried different combinations, salt only, tomatoes only, eating magnesium, eating bananas. In the past, there were some good results. But as the years go by, these so called remedies do not work anymore.  Currently I am experimenting with ginger.

Water, drink more water. It helps to calm the heart. But one thing is for sure. Anxiety does increase the frequencies. So does infection and gastric problems. So stay healthy.

[PrincessKimD]

My PVCs are recent? How so? 2.5 years is a long time.