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Avatar universal

bad days of palpitations

I have PVCS...PACs...had for 17 yrs. 49 yr old female..have posted here alot. Every so often I have a day or days where I might just be palp free. Those days--are amazing!!  The productivity I have at work, is amazing. Im happy at home. I FEEL like doing things!!! The days that I have them, almost always always follow a major stressful event (I have a LOT of those lately)..usually about 24-48 hrs AFTER the stressful event. Anyone else have that? Example: Friday night...huge disagreement with my husband....Very stressful...Its now Sunday....yesterday, Saturday, I was fine. This morning, very very early....woke up around 5am...and there they were. Palpitations all day...off and on. Ive had every single test imaginable..told they are to be ignored. Last Holter was in August...I had 2,443 mostly PACs in a 24 hr period. My Cardio dismissed that as absolutly nothing of concern...said he would increase my Metoprolol dose although he made SURE to say at least 5 times that he was doing it to ..as he said "manage symptoms...NOT cause I have any life threatening condition"....I already took 100 mg Metoprolol..NOT the extended release. He changed me to the Extended release....and they had me increase till im taking 200 mg a day!!!! WOW!! I was VERY uneasy taking that, however I seem to tolerate it pretty well...except im tireder...my heartrate still sits around 70 at rest...even on that much metoprolol. I know that JERRY....a frequent poster on this board has taken that much in the past...has anyone else??? AND STILL HAD THE PALPITATIONS?!?!?

It frustrates me. These things, even tho IVe had them for years and years, STILL ruin my day. They have such power over me.

On dr's orders, I also take potassium...and usually that will help, however not on days when they seem to have taken over my life...like today...

5 Responses
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967168 tn?1477584489
Yes stress and anger both are a MAJOR contributor to my pvc's...the reason is adrenaline but I'm still trying to understand the whole thing.  

Imagine 50,000 pvcs (yes fifty thousand) on a "normal" day and then add stress into that day - not sure how my heart didn't just explode! but I digress...

Every doctor is different, some will do ablations or give meds and make a deal of 4-5,000 pvc's while others like mine, won't even medicate anything below 6,000 - 8,000 pvc's/24hr - typically anything above 15% -20% of your 24 hour total they look at correcting with surgery.

no matter the number we have we all suffer the same thing from these dreaded things; we each have to find the best way to cope with what our triggers are and how to deal with them each day and what works best for our bodies
Helpful - 0
1438125 tn?1283984028
Wow, 4300 is so much!  I get several runs....will go a couple hrs w/out anything, then wham! tons and tons and tons.  Ugh.  Makes me want to get drunk and fall over! lol!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
hi... i was on Atenolol for about 15 years....I actually like it much better than the Metoprolol....it held my heartrate down much better...but...my dr felt that since I had been on it so very very long, and the palpitations were "breaking thru" that it was time for a change....Im not very impressed with Metoprolol, but my Dr IS.... He wouldnt even THINK about an ablation...I actually have two cardiologists..not intentionally...but I also have some beginnings of Coronary Artery disease as well, and that was diagnosed by a 2nd cardio...just by chance...I just have some "narrowings" and "areas of plaque" in some of my arteries..there is 1 area that he is watching....but didnt feel that it was anything to send me to the cardiac cath lab...and he said the palpitations have no bearing on the other thing...but BOTH cardios dismiss my palps as nothing. My palp cardiologist thought that 4300 in 24 hours was nothing. Definatly not ablation worthy. So......I guess I just suffer. Now I wrote my original post yesterday. Today...same thing. ALL DAY LONG. Not continual. No "runs" ...but oh my gosh...Every couple minutes...all day....yes its disheartening!!!!!

Helpful - 0
1137980 tn?1281285446
In actuality the most common time that we throw PVC's, PAC's, etc is at rest so i personally am not surprised that it happens a little after the stressful event.  I tended  to stick w. antenolol for my PVC's until i had the ablation which got rid of all of them....sorry you are going thru this i know it is so disheartening.  Whether or not they life threatening really doesn;t matter because in your case they are life altering which to me can be just as bad.....have they spoken to you about the possibility of an ablation to correct this...there is no reason for you to be living like this w. medical science the way it is today.....
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Yes, mine get worse when sick, pms or stressed. You are fortunate to have mostly pacs and such a low number. Im sorry I dont know about the meds. I am not for medications, since having a bad experience with them, but I do know they are needed at times. When I saw my EP recently, first he told me he was going to put me on a BB, but I said "um, I am am opposed to medications unless I would die without it" and he said "well, thats ok, they dont usually work, and in fact can cause more problems" . Now the rest of the visit left me not impressed with him. I am not in any way judging you, but if it were me, and I was offered drugs for mostly PACs, I would decline, or at least google information from reputable sites and see if the drug can cause any other issues or if any dangers to them and weigh your options. Sorry, I dont have the answers you were looking for, but wanted you to at least be encouraged to research before increasing meds. Either way, its my opinion,  and I respect yours.  ps, hope you made up with your hubby. :)
Helpful - 0
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