Pvc's, irregular heart beat and alcohol

[Manni1]

Hi, i am a little concerned, i have had an irregular heart beat since 6 years old and was followed up on it again when i was 14, about a year ago i went to the doctor and he had realised that my heart beat was very irregular and that the pvcs occur every 3rd or 4th beat , they skip a beat or give an extra beat, but mostly skip..at times i also have trouble breathing and this would occur through out the day , i had gone to the cardioligist and he had done all the tests and stated my pvcs are more frequent than others, but are not dangerous , although he had told me to cut down on the caffeine and alcohol now hers the question i had, i believe the pvcs had gotten worse becuase as a teen i have been drinking alot i would say about 3 4 times a week, i have cut down now but for 6 7 years i drank alot., i was wondering if i should stop alchhol completly or if i can have a couple of beers once or twice a week, i have compltely stopped hard liqour and i do not drink caffine . I am 22 years old and i am concerned becuase when i check my heart beat it is very irregular every 4th beat there is a pvc weather im exxersising or jus sitting down, the docotrs and cardioligist say im ''young'' but will this be dangerous for me when i get older? and should i stop alchohol over all or can i still drink moderatly?

[Mom2four85]

What they look at are things like: where your arrhythmia's originate, how many daily you're having, and if you have any dysfunction in your heart in general, so if it's not dangerous now it may not be later on either.

Now, it is possible for a larger problem to creep up later on, it all depends on what you do and how you treat your body in the meantime.  Even if you drink, make sure you stay healthy otherwise - exercise; sleep & eat as well as you can so when you're 40, 50 or 60 something your body will thank you for it.

It's all about moderation =)  I've never had more than 2 alcoholic drinks ever so I can't say what more would do to my system.  Because of heart enlargement and damage, I'm not supposed to drink at all, but every so often I have a drink and don't notice anything.  Luckily for me, caffeine doesn't do anything to my numbers and I can have coffee or my family couldn't stand me lol

on a side note: You need to find out exactly how many arrhythmia's and what type you're having, if you indeed are having them every 4th beat; request a copy of your test results; sometimes pvc's in a continual manner in a large daily amount (over 15% of your total daily heart beats) can over a period of time damage your heart muscle, which if treated can be reversed.

[Jerry_NJ]

Did you doctor give you any recommendation concerning alcohol?  I do not intend to argue with any medical advice, but it is my belief that a "couple" of beers on "occasion" should not cause any problems.  Now I mean two when I say a couple, and it would be better if it took a couple of hours or the drinking was accompanied with a meal, I don't mean taking several drinks every day is recommended by me.  For my part I might have three drinks if I am at a social event that includes a meal and lasts for 3 or 4 hours.

You may be different, a good test would be to go "cold turkey" for a month, no alcohol for a month.  Combine that with no caffeine any anything else your doctor recommends and see what happens.  

Again to my experience, my problem is driven by permanent atrial fibrillation for which I take medications to lower my HR.  A couple of drink do not have any noticeable affects on my HR.   I never drink alcohol unless I am eating or about to eat.