What's the difference

When I am having skipped beats and I feel my pulse I detect a longer than normal pause between beats. But when I sometimes feel th pulse of my father I detect a beat before the normal beat. What's the difference between long pauses and early beats???

[is_something_wrong]

Interesting question. It actually depends on a lot of things.

The main difference is how early the premature beat is. If the beat is very early, the heart isn't filled with blood and the premature beat is almost only an electrical phenomenon (visible on EKG but not creating any mechanical action).

How long is the pause you feel? Is it exact 2 beats long, in other words, do the following beat after the pause occur exactly where it's supposed to? If it does, you have a PVC. If it don't, you have a PAC.

Early PACs can also be blocked, preventing them from starting a heart beat. You will still get the pause, though, and such beats can cause a really uncomfortable sensation, because the upper chambers contract against closed AV valves.

Other variances in if the premature beat is creating a pulse wave is: Fluids in the body, blood pressure, heart contractility, etc. In older people, the arteries aren't as smooth as in young people. The pulse, in general, will be harder. I can feel most of my premature beats, but not all of them. I wouldn't pay too much attention to this.

[gopo92]

The gap during my skipped beats is not equal to two bats long.

[is_something_wrong]

Good. Then you have ordinary, benign PACs.

[Ihatepalps2]

hi...im also experiencing a new thing for me..all this week ( off and on) in the middle of my "regular" skipped beats...my pulse will skip around then go into a slow even rhythm for about 5-10 beats..then go right back into the sometimes normal sometimes irregular PVC PACs that I have. Ive not had this before...I was able to get 15 seconds worth of just the slow beats...and my beats per minute were 44....that is VERY low for me..never had that. But..its fleeting...and comes and goes, like I said, in the middle of my skipping beats.
Its weird--but its almost like I have two hearts in there!!! One is the funky skippy PVC PAC beats I have under stress...and the other throws in these few slow but steady beats! Its so weird. I dont like it, it makes me really nervous, so of course Im taking my pulse all the time. I last had a holter along with nuclear stress test and even a 64 slice heart scan last year...the stress test etc all in June.... I have had so many tests in the past..all they tell me is everything is benign...and its stress.

[is_something_wrong]

That's bigeminy, one premature after each normal beat..

[Ihatepalps2]

and..what is bigeminy..ive heard it on here a zillion times...but..in laymans terms...do I worry about it?

[curmudgen]

definitions for bigeminy etc - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigeminy

[is_something_wrong]

It's just that the premature beats have a system, after a normal beat follows a premature beat, and so on. Usually there is no system, you can have three normals, premature, four normals, premature couplet, normals, etc.

[Mom2four85]

It's like this - “BEAT-skip …pause… BEAT-skip …pause… BEAT-skip …pause…” look at this EKG of mine where I was in Bigeminy (bottom row) or at least that's what the dr's showed me...http://www.medhelp.org/user_photos/show/135108?personal_page_id=861727

normal heartbeat, premature heartbeat; then a compensatory pause....repeat rinse start over -= bigeminy all depends on what else is wrong.  Wish I had the EKG of my stress test, it would show what couplets and triplets that turn into NSVT and where I fainted.

[Mom2four85]

Here's a great explanation page from  Medicine Net on  Premature Ventricular Contractions

http://www.medicinenet.com/premature_ventricular_contractions/page3.htm

[Ihatepalps2]

thank you Im going to check into what you sent!