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These PVCs...Oh My Goodness

Hi everyone,

So...like many of you, have suffered from PVCs/PACs for years. I am a 35 year old female, and started experiencing them after having my daughter almost 14 years ago. I have had every test done, ECGs x a million, ECHO, Stress test, cardiac MRI, etc. I am followed by an electrophysiologist, and he says, they are benign idiopathic, originating from the RVOT. I am a registered nurse, so I do understand the heart....but these skips have gotten out of control. I have having them CONSTANTLY. So frustrating. I am way more symptomatic with them now, where I feel them beating out of my chest - takes my breath away. No idea what is causing them, but I definitely get them positionally, on my left side, where my heart doesn't feel like it is beating properly. I question the vagus nerve connection. I just had an ECHO done two weeks ago and the beats were insane during the test. My EF has gone from 68%-64% - not sure if this is significant, but my PVCs were nuts during it, which may have accounted for the change.

Just so unsure what to do now - my doc has prescribed Bisoprolol, but I am reluctant to take it, as my HR is already so low, as well as my BP. I am worried that I have thyroid issues that are untreated, as both my sister and mom are hypo. My TSH went from pre-pregnancy (1.2) and now sits around 3.8-4.8 and doc claims not significant and doesn't bother testing FT3 or FT4...

Any advice out there??
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Avatar universal
Hi, I know you're a nurse and more knowledgeable that I, but I have hypothyroidism and find that I don't feel well unless my TSH is kept around 1.  I think there are some researchers out there that believe it should be under 1......BUT, this is not advice because I also know that the medical profession in general often say that it's ok up to about 5.  My doctor is happy for me to have mine at 1 and I'm on levothyroxine.

I know i've posted a lot up on the forum about my heart skips, but they seem unrelated to how much thyroxine I'm taking, rather I think they're linked to other factors, such as hormones and I think blood sugar too (though I've never tested positive for diabetes, which surprises me judging by some of my symptoms).

Good luck with things, I hope your pvc's will calm down, I just wonder whether the thyroid issue is relevant here.  A lot of doctors say that having thryoxine can increase the ectopics, but as I say it didn't affect mine and actually, on a few occasions when I had mine increased, the ectopics actually decreased...

But none of this is medical knowledge, just my experience.
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12492606 tn?1459874033
Sorry to hear that your PVCs are so bothersome.  I think the term benign is used too loosely.  When you are symptomatic, it is not benign as your quality of life declines as it gets more chronic and it becomes stressful to the point that it makes your heart even worse.  PVC is often caused by RVOT re-entry and there are EPs that are skilled and experienced in curing that with ablation.  Has your EP talk with you about that option and referring you to an ablation specialist?  The centers that do a lot of AF ablations will be where you will also find specialists that handle RVOT ablations, but not always.  Sometimes meds help but it is hit and miss as it is with AF.
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