Pvc's after eating

[Rixstix]

Hello,
        for the last 2 months I have been getting a number of pvc's after I eat -more after dinner-they last maybe 40 to 60 minutes. I am 52 and have had Mitral valve prolapse since 1992. When that started I had the usual panic attacks and did the holter monitor and the stress tests-the whole 9 yards and all is ok. I see my cardiologist every year and do either a stress echo or 2 d echo. Right now i am just finishing up with an event monitor . My blood work is great, My blood pressure is normal and even a little lower than normal.I have never smoked and rarely drink anymore. I do need to lose 20 lbs.

       Also when I went to see my cardiologist in Sept. he said my echo showed a slight dilation at the base of my aorta. He was not very concerned. He said it could be artifact and also since I am a big guy 6'2" 235lbs. it may be normal and we would check it again in a year. He said my reading for the dilation was 42 and 37 was normal,so not to be too concerned. Are these readings in centimeters or millimeters??? Should I be more concerned about the slight diltion or not??? He said that the pvc's were not related to the aorta dilation. I also wanted to ask that since I get the pvc's after I eat, could it be related to vagus nerve stimulation.

       One final thing, I herniated a lumbar disc in mid July and have been dealing with that also and it is on the mend and the Ortho Docs assured me I will not need surgery and I should fully heal in another 4 or 5 months. It has just added to the overall stress.

    I know this is alot to digest. Thanks for your help and any light you can shed on the situation I really appreciate it. R.

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

1. millimeters
2. Concerned, no, but it should be followed to make sure it doesn't become too large.
3. pvc's after eating are common and may be related to vagal tone.  there is no test to show what the cause is and unfortunately there is no real fix for it either.

[saimonsays]

Hi , I have the same for the last 5 years , a visited so many doctors , PVCs after food , high heart rate after food , all things been done all came normal , hundreds of ECG and ECG under stress , echoes , nuclear ECG under stress CT angio , you name it I did it  allllll normal .
THE GOOD NEWS i think they know  WHY am getting that after food ,
Always my blood sugar was in the normal range always   , finally some one listened to me and did what they call a sugar tolerance and incline tolerance  , the shocking news came out
My sugar was normal  , but my insulin was
0 hour- 24  ,
1 hour -160
1hour and 30 -240
two hours- 340 ??!!!!
the normal should be not above 5 only
my new doctor  who is professor and teacher in the medical school think 99% that what’s giving me all that with some gases in my stomach  and colon
so good luck
i will keep you posted

[Smashinz2002]

Hi, well, this is actually very common. I have this myself, and have for many years, along with PACs or PVCs for seemingly no reason. I've been checked out, and assured they are normal. After much research on the subject, I believe the following:
1. Being aware of skipped/extra/hard beats is related directly to the mental awareness of these events.
2. I have detected/heard, an even higher frequency of extra beats/flip flops than I have, in people I know, but they were completely unaware of them. Why? I believe it is due to us mentally fixating on them (possibly a result of anxiety and worrisome thoughts)
3. Noticing, or, the increased incidence of extra beats after a large meal, I believe, are related to some sort of gastric irritation, that may be, but I can't say for sure, related to 'bleed-over' of neural impulses that are normally contained within the digestive tract. Also, vagal nerve irritation may be involved as well. And remember, the brain can easily influence the vagal nerve, especially under certain conditions of awareness of it's functioning (either over-stimulation or under-stimulation suddenly become part of your conscious awareness)
4. Given the known facts that most people who notice skipped/extra beats/sharp chest pain/etc, also tend to display symptoms of anxiety, such as concerns of family members with heart problem, fear of death, etc, I think it's logical to say that you possess a unique ability to exercise at least some control over your own heart function.
5. Don't forget, your brain is very powerful, and can easily be responsible for not only weird heart symptoms, but also psychosomatic pains/ sensations elsewhere in the body. I know this from personal experience with anxiety disorder.
6. Notice this; you are checking your pulse all the time, checking for missed beats. With practice, you can easily train yourself to produce a skipped/extra beat every four beats, or, every ten beats, whatever you decide. Since I can do this, it means that many others can also, and it also means that it is entirely mental (when proper medical tests have already ruled out any true physical problems).

[rmworrywart]

My wife was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome in 1988. Aortic dilatation is the major worry. Her's went from 4.2 cm to 4.5 cm over the last 20 yrs so the meds to keep her blood pressure low have done their job. If it did that over 6 months, it's time to monitor more than once a year. Before meds and monitoring many people with Marfan Syndrome passed away in their early 40's for enlargement of the aorta.

The monitoring they do on my wife is just an echo every year. Whenever it seems to have increased they do a CT with contrast to verify.

rmworrywart