I can tell if someone is having PVCs or PACs with a radial pulse. HOWEVER, I cannot tell the different, nor whether they are unifocal/multifocal, etc. You can hear a lot with a stethoscope, but not electrical problems. I always, said...."look, I'm not a telemetry box." I remember nurses writing notes stating that the patient was in a-fib. I used to giggle a bit....
Hi Octgal,
I'm in the same situation, I have bigeminy and/or trigeminy PVcs on a regular bases, I recently had a and echo showing the heart was enlarged, and weak, a reg.Cath "confirmed this", then I had Catheder Ablation, then a stress test they put me on Metoprlolol, then added Flecainide (since the ablation didn't work)
They have a difibulater (life vest) on me until they get it figured out.
Don't worry yourself to much, they tell me all sorts of stuff, each test seems to conflict the other. I used to get so very stressed and worried over this stuff, because they usually give me inconclusive "bad news" but it seems that they really don't have the answers.
I can only suggest, let them run you thru the gammot, unitl you get true collective results.
Last time I went thru this was 5 years ago, got frustrated with all the conflicting information and gave up.
Now I'm back at it and determined to get the results know matter how many dr's they send me to.
According to my last appointment, if the flecainide works, they may be able to get correct results as the PVCs are interferring with getting acurate information on how strong or weak my heart is. Until then, I disreguard most of what they've said as it's a moving target.
Hang in there, it can be a long road, but one that should be taken.
Mike
No... listening to your heart is no way to diagnose anything. What if you went to the doctor and were not having a pvc during the 10 min. you were there, but you had a run of them as soon as you left the office? Also, he cant tell you if its a pac or pac or anything. EKG is needed.
thanks for the info, no I havent had a recent 24hr holter. I got into see my family doctor today (thank god) and he looked at my out patient ekg tests and didnt have any worries about the bi or trigeminy rates. He listened to my heart with stethescope and said the beats sound perfect to him, no palps. He is however going to send me back to the cardiologist i saw 3 yrs ago who did my echo originally , he said it was just simple protocol to send any patient to see one that has shown any signs of palps or other irregularities on their ekg. So his lack of worry helped abit, he said only to worry abit if i was getting dizzy alot or passing out. Another question that arises, can a doctor simple listen to my heart with a stethescope to tell if i'm having weird beats, etc.. or is that something only an ekg can pick up. thanks again
Hey there. Have you had a 24 hour holter recenty? You may want to just to see how many you are dealing with. My heart goes in and out of bi and trigeminy at times and then a mixture of various ones. I think if your heart is healthy, they are only concerned about someone developing heart failure, but a woman on here said her cardio said your heart would have to be in bigeminy for a year at least. Different doctors say different things. If you get a chance, look at the results one lady had from 2 top notch docs.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Rhythm/Flecinade-Information/show/1589040?personal_page_id=562996#post_7220460