Run of PVCS (or maybe NSVT) ? with no pulse

[JimBy1236]

What causes no pulse for 3-4 seconds, before the heart starts up again, run of PVCS can do this? NSVT?  I don't experience any other symptoms, no dizzy or anything.

[Jerry_NJ]

How often do you experience the periods without any heart beat?  Any pause over 2 seconds (HR of 30) is bradycardia if sustained .. you said yours was not.  In any case I'd surely talk it over with my doctor.

What is the HR ignoring the pauses?

[Jerry_NJ]

Looking back at some notes I see asymptomatic bradycardia is normally not treated.  I also see any HR under 60 bpm is considered as bradycardia, I had in my mind the threshold was 30 bpm.

[JimBy1236]

Frequency sometimes once a day, the thing is I can't feel any HR, it's just like the heart stops , I think it must be doing something like flutter, pauses, then starts up again. It does feel like a couple of premature beats but in a row. Then what seems to be 4 seconds before the heart beats normal again, ie normal sinus rythmn.

[JimBy1236]

I think i read somewhere that ventricular tachy or PVCs can result in no pulse. I think get a run of them and your pulse is out for a little longer? Or perhaps very faint that I cant feel the pulse.

[JimBy1236]

I've had the Echo, ECG, Holter, and the doc. said everything was normal, structurally normal. But he never caught one of these things on Holter on ECG etc. When I explained it to him he said was probably symptomatic of the PVCs, PACs and ST that i have been getting, but didnt seem too concerned about it , but it is very scary because it feels like your heart is stuck, not pumping at all, then after 3-4 seconds of this feeling the heart beat returns starting from weaker pulses to stronger ones back to normal again.

[stutterheart]

Jim,
I have the same thing when lifting heavy things: a long pause, then a burst of quick hard beats, a pause, a run etc.
I saw my doc yesterday and he didn't seem concerned either. He's been inside my heart with an EP study and ablation and has seen all my workups so I trust him. It scares me to death though when it happens.

[JimBy1236]

thankyou stutterheart,  during the pause does yours feel like the heart is stopped in your chest or maybe slightly pulsating, sometimes i feel a vibration, pause, and then it starts again. Not a burst of quick hard beats as you described, mine is like starts weak and picks up pace and strength as it goes. When it happens i think help my heart has stopped, and the second waiting for it to pick up again is agony.

[Docshawn]

I believe that PVCs can sometimes be mistaken for a response to PACs or some other initial beat starting by non-sinus node cells.  I have a pacemaker which doesn't do a great job of tracking this but I often have what appears to be multiple missed beats, which they are, and I do have many symptoms so I'm not sure.  I have several problems, vtach, afib, sick sinus syndrome, my pacer, and several ablations that have burnt out 60+% of my heart.  I think we all know the typical response, and I'm a psychologist, is that if it doesn't really debilitate us move on lol.  I would request a 24 hour holter monitor for an extended period and simultaneously track your blood pressure which will probably be unstable.  Mine is beyond help and I've had it fully blown for 7 years so if you want to know any specifics and potential relationships with meds. and activities/etc. let me know as I was primarily a researcher and tried to correlate issues such as relationship to eating habits, physical activitity, sleep patterns, etc.  SVE

[Wisconsin2007]

What you may be having is what I sometimes have, which are short bursts of PAT - with these the heart is beating much faster than it needs to, and since there is very little volume being output with each contraction it feels like your heart has stopped when the truth is quite the opposite - it's cranking at hyperspeed.  

I've felt the same way, and checked my pulse at my carotid and couldn't feel anything and just about pooped my pants.  A few weeks later I had the King of Hearts monitor on, had the same sensations, got them recorded and diagnosed as very short bursts of PAT. In a single beat mine has jumped from 70 bpm to 140, and a few beats later it slows right back down to 70.

[JimBy1236]

hmm yes that sounds about right, thanks for that Wisconsin2007, does it feel like your heart has "locked up" or tight in your chest because its beating so fast? , to me it feels like that and feels like it is quivering

[Wisconsin2007]

The sensation sometimes varies, but until it was diagnosed as a benign condition and I didn't completely freak about it when it occurred, it just felt like something tickly or unusual is going on in the middle of my chest which immediately turned on hypersensitivity mode, felt sick to my stomach, weak extremities, sometimes flush.  I have felt occasional sharp pains in my chest, but I believe they were from my esophagus, not my heart.