pvcs and going crazy

[plum143]

I am having pvcs all the time.  They are ruining my life and I am not able to handle them.  I have been tested in the hospital and my heart is good they say.  I don't know how to cope.  I jog and this helps for about 1 hour and then they come back stronger.  I have bradycardia as well and very low blood pressure.  Please give me some advice before I check out.

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

If you have symptomatic PVCs, the first step is beta blockers or calcium channel blockers.

If the beta blockers and calcium channel blockers do not help and the PVCs are the same morphology (from the same location) and are frequent enough to map with catheters in the heart, ablation is an option.  The success rate is probably around 70%.  It can be a challenging procedure and does have risks which include rare cases of strokes and even deaths.  These are rare cases, but it is important to know because the risks of the ablation need to be less than your quality of life impairment from them.

Another option is anti arrhythmic medications like flecainide or propafenone.  You can use these medications if you have a normal EKG and no blockages on your stress test.  Again, there are risk to these medications and they should only be prescribed by experienced doctors to make sure that you are a good candidate for them.

If you haven't already seen a cardiac electrophysiologist, that would be the best place to start.

I hope this helps.  Thanks for posting.

[JeanO0701]

Hi - I'm a 51 yr old woman with PVCs.  I'm seeing a cardiologist who put me on Z-Beta (sp?) 2.5 mg/day.  They've helped significantly, but not enough to be satisfactory in my opinion.  My PVCs were huge in number - continual strings of 20-30 in a row, rarely ever calming down until I was in bed for awhile.  He read me the numbers from my holter monitor readout and said that I was definitely a case "of interest" because of the number of PVCs that were occurring.  He has given me permission to "play" with my dosage - i.e.I can take more if I'm having a particularly bad time.  I already had low BP (my whole life - and 100/60 is normal for me) so that's of concern because beta blockers lower BP.  I can live with the dizziness from time to time, but when I get what I call a break through episode, I think I'm going to lose my mind sometimes.  When this happens, my PVCs are so intense and relentless that it feels like my face is throbbing.  My teeth actually hurt!  If I'm in bed and lay on my left side, they get much worse.  I keep thinking, how can this not be dangerous?  It's SO abnormal!  So, am I really not in danger?  My tests show no blockages, no valve issues, and a strong heart muscle.  I'm healthy otherwise.  Can menopause play any role in this? I'm not in menopause yet, but must be close.  Also - my doctor has said that ablation isn't done on PVCs - only on issues in the atrium.  Yet I'm reading in this forum that people with PVCs are having them done!  Should I take my case to Mass General (I'm only 20 minutes from Boston)?  He seems fine with sending me there to one of his associates if I want him to, but has said that things like pacemakers and defibrillators would probably come up.  And of course, I want nothing to do with that!  I'd be fine with just medication if it worked well, but I just don't think it's doing a great job. I'm confused and getting frightened. What do you suggest?

[Gabby46]

You need to see an "electrophysiologist" to look at your case not a cardiologist.  I learned the hard way that a lot of GPs don't understand or know what to do about pvcs.  A cardiologist will not be as familiar with them as an electrophysiologist who specializes in arrythmias.  My GP initally told me I had bradycardia and come to find out, after numerous doctor visits including a throurough workup by a cardiologist, I had no heart problems other than the pvcs.  My heart rate was normal, I just had so many skipped beats my pulse was registering in the 40's.  I was having 25-28,000 pvcs a day.  I had two ablations because the first one didn't work but since the second one I have been totally pvc free.  I finally have my life back and able to do so many things I had "lost" because of the multiple pvcs.  If you can, I would recommend trying the Cleveland Clinic doctors as they have extensive experience with these pvcs and ablating them. Good luck

[plum143]

I have very low blood pressure 60/30 and a heart rate of 38-42.  I am taking Prozac and Xanax and I am convinced that the Prozac did this to my heart.  I have been taking it for 6 years and have been sick with these PVCs for about 2 years.  I have thousands a day and I have found thqt jogging will take them away for about 1 hour.  I can't jog at 2:00am when I can't sleep.  Nor do I like jogging.  I will take your advise and see the specialist that you recommended as this is truly a matter of sanity for me.  My marriage is rocky now because my husband is sick of the crying and dying concept I have and because he has talked to the cardiologist and he says that they are normal for me to have he thinks I am a hypocondriac.  It kills me when I can go for an EKG and they say that it is normal but you are have alot of PVCs .  This is not normal to me and it feels like I can't breathe or I have asthema or something.  Anything I do to raise my heart rate seems to relieve the symtoms but I work and can't excercise 24/7.  Thanks for the advise and it is amazing to me how many people suffer with this and nothing is being done.

[reets80302]

Yes Jean I too can relate.

Ughhh!!!! Yes, I too get random PACs....It scares the heck out of me. I get a flutter,  it radiates to my gut and I end up mildy panting for 10 - 15 seconds until it fades.  I was once an under 3 hr marathoner that is now afraid to even jog around the block because I fear the funkiness of a PAC. It's so alarming it feels like I might die. These PACs are a living HELL. I am constantly on gaurd for my next episode. I agree that for somthing that has such a huge negative impact on "quality of life" why is the patient left suffering with this torment. When a doc tells me  "it's normal and harmless" this does not fix what I feel. PLEASE !!! give me (us) something to ease my (our) suffering.

[reets80302]

Just curious (I too once took Prozac)Why do you think that Prozac is the casue of some your flutter issues?

[plum143]

When I go off the prozaz my heart rate jumps to 85-100 which is not normal for me and the PVCs come more rampand.  I read the material on the Prozac medication slip and it says that it causes Bradycardia which I have now and that it cause palipitations also.  I had non of these symptoms before I started taking Prozac and it has only been since the last 3 years that I have had them.  I have been on Prozac for nearly 6 years.  I have tried to start a law suit but the attorneys all tell me that they have covered themselves by putting these warnings on their literature.  Sucks to be me... There are no long term studies that have been done on  Prozac.  

[reets80302]

Thanks for your response..........

I am tempted to go back on Prozac at a higher level just to try to stop my constant worry about my flutters. These feeling of flutter really do suck! I just want stop the cycle  to stop.  flutter = takes my breath away= panic / anxiety = hyper worry of the next event (stress) = flutter(cycle),

[plum143]

I was at the ER on Sunday sure I was having a heart attack only to hear that I need to learn how to live with these PVC's (again)  I was having 14 per miniute and the doctor told me to take an asprin a day and he hightened my zanax dose. This is helping but again I just don't understand the constant response of " you just need to relax and get used to them.  They are so bothersome and are totally destroying my life.   I am seeing a physco therapist starting on Friday just to make sure I am not cookoo.  I bought a hand held meter to read these and I returned in on Monday as I was consumed with testing myself every 5 minutes.  SUCKS......

[hltyhrt]

I know it is really hard to just accept these PVC's; they are very frightening and annoying. I think gosh why me. I constantly check my pulse and when i feel the flutter i get soooo scared. I am trying to learn how to live them but it is very hard for me.

[plum143]

I watched the pvcs on the monitor Sunday at the ER and I realized that I can understand them alittle better.  My valve does not shut so I get this pressure and then the pvcs shows up and then it stops.  This happens continuously.  When I stay busy I don't notice it as much but like I said even though zanax is very addictive it is my lifesaver.  They told me that Beta Blockers work well but I am not suited as I have bradycardia also.  On Sunday when I freaked out my heart rate was 41 and my blood pressure was 72/38.  Clinically dead.  But again I am told don't worry just do Yoga, or meditate, or jog.  Bull

[0tt0]

I have suffered from AVC`s, PVC`s, palpitations, tachycardia, flutters, etc. for well over 40 years.  It all started in my early 20`s.   Sudden bursts of very rapid heartbeats which would last for several minutes to several hours.  I used to get these on an almost daily basis. When the pulse was normal, I regularly got "skipped" beats, sometimes every few minutes, sometimes a whole string of them, each one occuring every couple of seconds. The "skipped" beats aren`t really skips at all. During the skip when the heart seems to stop, there is a beat, but it`s very weak and can`t be felt. This is compensated for by the next beat being a very heavy one.  I still get very frequent "skips" (PAC`s, PVC`s, ectopic beats), occasional 10 second rapid flutters, and very occasional atrial fib.
Everyone that get`s anything like this should, of course, get their heart checked by a reputable cardiologist. Provided there is no underlying heart