so scared.....

hi...i am 13 years old,male... this year i signed up for football since i havent played since i was 9 and really wanted to play again.....football is my life,really. i play for 2 and a half hours at a time usually 2 times a week...but as i was excited to play,i found an article about a young football player who died unexpectedly from a heart problem....i have pvcs and nothing else,but i was worried about this happening to me. im only a kid and wish i wouldnt have to worry about this stuff but i am so scared that i will die on the football field....are there any tests that i could get to ensure this wouldnt happen to me? i did have a heart murmur when i was 6 but it closed up. please any stats or info would help so much....thanks

[marshaldillon]

Players dying unexpectedly is very rare and that is why you read about it. Go go to your doctor and tell him your intentions and get a good chekup just for peace of mind. He will more than likely tell you to go ahead and have fun. You will then have to get over the anxiety of thinking something is wrong and noticing every little thing your body does which is a curse many of us on this site have.

[ajwwr82]

wow thanks a lot everybody.....what i call a real "community".....

[pk16]

Hey man i know exactly how you feel. I am a college football player at the University of Pittsburgh and I have been dealing with PVCS/PACS since I was about your age too. I suffered terrible anxiety about it and I was always scared to work out. I was scared to do anything and every time i read about some athlete dying at a young age it freaked me out even more. I used to drive my mom nutts all the time becuase i would always worry lol.

But like someone else said, its EXTREMELY rare for that to happen.

My suggestion would be to go to the doctors and ask for a echocardiogram. Its a very easy test and it will show if you have this condition or not. Again, chances are you def dont but the test will confirm it for sure.

If you have any questions at all man feel free to email me. Again I played football my whole life so I know exactly how you feel.

Good Luck!

[nervouslady]

hi there,
I saw a dr who specializes in heart rhythm problems like  we have - I also have PVCs.  He said 90% of the population has the same PVCs that you get, but most people don't feel them.  He said some people are just more 'sensitive' and feel them more.  You and I fall into this category.  The fact that you feel them doesn't make them any more dangerous than for those that don't.  So, for every 10 kids in your class, 9 of them get PVCs.  Most don't notice them or even know they get PVCs.

I hope this helps you - they are very common.  I know they are scary, I get them often and they scare me too.  But they are nothing to worry about.  My doctor said he gets over 400 a day!  And he doesn't worry about them because he knows they are nothing.  He also said exercise is actually a good way of preventing PVCs, though you may feel some after you finish exercise and your heart rate is slowing down.  That is normal, too, and nothing to worry about.  

Have fun playing football!  And try not to worry too much.  I know that's easier said than done.

[RNRita]

This is the same kind of article that used to scare me to death.  When I was younger, a basketball player dropped dead on the floor.  I always thought, "How can they say this won't happen to me when it happens to an athlete."  Then I asked my cardo.  He told me that the heart defect THEY have is very different than the PVCs/PACs, etc that I got.  He also told me he knew a young, very healthy runner, that was always in bigeminy.  That should help.  It helped me.....somewhat.

[banglamom]

Often when they dig through information to find out WHY in the aftermath of a disaster like this, there is sometimes drugs involved.  So.. it is rare to start with but risks can be lower yet by avoiding either performance enhancing drugs (steroids) or "recreatioanal" drugs.  As you are only 13, now would be a good time to remind you not to go there when the pressure may be high.  It would definitely create more problems.  I have seen a few young people on the cardiac floor I work on and congenital problems and infections are the most common reasons, but some can be directly related to drug use.  Come here or talk to your md or your parents and don't use common alternative coping mechanisms.  Don't let it rule you so you forget to have FUN playing football.

[Wisconsin2007]

I read a stat (maybe it was from the American Heart Association?) that showed that when they tested a few thousand elementary school kids, 10-15% had PVCs.  Most weren't aware of it.

There was another test of shift workers, and they found 40% had them.

More than half of people over 40 have them.

Roughly 90% of people over 60 have them.  If they were really deadly, there wouldn't be many people over age 60.  

Like someone said earlier, you are one of the few (un)lucky ones who can feel them. If you're worried, and that worry is preventing you from really exerting yourself, go get yourself checked.  Get a Holter monitor check.  Ask for an echocardiogram.  If these come back clean, you can have a pretty good measure of  confidence that one of the team's cheerleaders is going to damage your heart more than those PVC's will.

[ajwwr82]

thanks a lot everyone....and pk16 i was wonderin if i could just simply talk to you bout football? haha....but its not really the pvcs that worry me its the fact that you could have an underlying heart disease that is not detected.....thats the problem...haha wisconsin2007, you brought  a smile to my face at the end of ur post :)

[Alexandriaja]

Hi-
I had felt problems such as yours from early 20's.   I was also throwing out PVC's when I exercised and sometimes at rest.  I was offered a beta blocker but I was afraid it would hurt me and refused it for years.   I finally started to take it a few months ago, low dose.  

It has made all the difference in the world! I no longer feel any PVC's or experience fear about dying suddenly. I had actually fainted a few times due to my heart rhythm disturbance and was lucky not to die.  PVC's can be dangerous if you have too many together at once.  It happened to me and it happened while I was being active.  It was caused by PVC's because they saw them on my stress test and mine was exercised induced.   This is called Ventricular -Tachycardia, (V-Tach) when too many PVC's come together.  Having one or two infrequently isn't considered dangerous but a doctor needs to make that call for you.

For me, since taking the beta blocker, I now feel free to go out and run and hike and do whatever I feel like doing.  I am taking Inderal which is an old drug that has been around for a long time and proven.   Please consider seeing a cardiologist who specializes in rhythm disorders and suggest a beta blocker which also helps with anxiety too. They can order a stress test to watch your heart under stress to see how it acts.   Don't be scared about living your life, just find out early what is up and you will be fine!   No worries, the best of luck and I hope this helps!