Bigeminy and Ablation

[che-kier]

I am a 33 year old female and have been experiencing  episodes of PVC's for approx. 6 yrs.  The frequency, intensity, and duration increased dramaticly 6 mos. postpartem.  I often have episodes that wake me in the night with strong PVC's, hot and faint with diarrhea.  The episodes used to last about a month at a time with 1000's of PVC's daily, then they would go away for months.  In 11/03 I started synthroid and the instantly disappeared for over a year until 3/05.  I am extremely chemically sensitive and I ran into a situation at work where I had a strong reaction after my my workplace was painted with oil based paint.  Since that time I have 1000's of PVC's daily with bouts of bigeminy, trigeminy. I often get lightheaded, tightness in chest and upper back, I get these adrenaline type surges.  I spent 4 days in the hospital last week after "greying out" several times in a day and feeling very weak.  The doc's tried Toperal, sodilol (sp?)with no change, even seemed to exacerbate.  Amiodarone helped initially then no success.   An EP who said this sounds like Autonmic Dysautomnia.  wants to do exploratory EP study.
Do ablations work for PVC's?  Sometimes I get these rush feelings before the PVC's act up so I wonder if an ablation will even take care of the othe surge thing.  can imbalanced hormones cause this?  I have already seen the influence of thyroid and pregnancy.  Can this just be years of stress catching up?  Should I do exploratry mission or just learn to cope?  Is this an issue of a hyper nervous sytem? Adrenal exhaustion? allergic reactions? Thank you!!!!

[cms16]

Isn't less stressing to know that there are others like us out there. I also live in your area. I wonder if we visit the same cardiologist, because yours gives the same advice that mine does. I am a woman in my mid 40's who has had these since I was child. I also have had longer more frequent bouts lately. LIke the other women out there and my cardiologist, I am seriously thinking that hormones play a big part. And yes men have hormones too...so who knows how they affect each and every one of us. I have been taking an increased dose of inderal. Went from taking 10 mg. as needed to taking about 80- 100 mg. a day, since they have been lasting for a few months so far this time. Yes they are very scary and I try not to let them interfere with my daily functioning, but it can get very depressing no matter how hard you try. I no longer drink even de caff coffe nor do I dare to have a beer or a glass of wine. Not that that is the worst thing in the world, but sometimes at dinner or on vacation you'd like to have one. I wish you luck eddie and hope you find relief. It is frustrating that unfortunately the DR's don't know what causes these different arrythmia's and how we can prevent or cure them altogether. This site is wonderful just being able to talk to the others who my DR assured me there were many more of us out there.

[upbeat63]

Yes, there are many of us out there. I wonder how many. I wonder how many there are who don't know about this forum, or who are on other websites as I was before I was referred here to meet other people with high frequency PVCs.

Could someone tell me please, my high frequency went to bigeminy, to infrequent, and now I'm getting many many couplets, and I think non-sustained VT. Is that what they call it when it is a PVC for every beat, like 20 in a row, but under 30 seconds in duration? Gee, where will it, where could it go from here!?

[actoreddie]

This is a FOLLOW-UP to my prior post.

Thanks for the reassurance as it definitely helps when you know so "many" others out there are experiencing the same horrible sensations, whether it's isolated\multiform PVC's or PSVT\Tachycardia etc... I am told by my cardiologist of "13 years" here in NJ , like many others are in this forum, that they "still" are benign in the setting of structurally normal heart, however, that doesn't give much comfort when they come out of hibernation, so to speak, or "increase" in frequency since they first started in 1992. In my case, which is similar to others in this forum as I read, my episodes started with a true onset of PSVT that would come out of the blue following my "1st" distressing episode. I was advised by my relative physicians here in NJ to consult with a heart doctor, I did and I have been seeing him ever since the first episode began. Of course, like many of us, I went through a trial and error of different BB's and even for a "short time" tried CC blockers (Verapamil) which seem to make my tachycardia worse! I also learned one certain trigger,

[actoreddie]

I am a male, oh not that it matters, and yes I am a "not yet famous" actor here in the NY\NJ area in his late 40's that has worked on popular shows like "Law & Order", "Rescue Me" on the FX channel, among other shows, At any rate, I too have been suffering from recurring episodes of "multi-form" PVC's and "occasional" bouts of "IST and PSVT since 1992. Although my Cardiologist here in NJ has reassured me that although they are frightening and but definitely interfering, in my opinion, with the quality of my life as they become more frequent, despite the 50mg. of the Beta Blocker (tenormin) I've been taking to suppress the SVT, which it has for the most part, it isn't "as effective" for the re-occurring out of the blue PVC's that come and go but when they come, make me highly anxious, unable to sleep, work, function to well (when they are occurring) yet my doctor continues to reassure me that they are benign and won't kill me! I know about RF ablation "and" it's risks as well as it's likelihood to make an arrhythmia "worse" or more dangerous than it was to begin with as well as NOT even successfully stopping certain arrhythmias, e.g., PVC's, and even if they "found" a bypass tract(s) for the PSVT and ablated\cured that abnormal rhythm, I'd still be left with the PVC's that are much more frequent and could be the result of "many" foci, which I understand RF ablation is UNLIKELY to successfully cure PVC'S leaving me back to square one and "still" having to take the Meds for the PVC's!!. Therefore, since Cryo-Ablation "claims" to "reversible" and pose less risk to a patient as well as eliminating or decreasing the need for an ICD\Pacemaker in the event the Electrophysiologist "unintentionally?" damages the sinus or AV node while attempting to ablate the "offending" tissue causing this arrhythmia. I appreciate any info. regarding this procedure and how it "may" help me and when any of the "local" Hospitals in my area NJ\NY will be using the cryo-ablation technique. I am also, interested in a clinical trial, if necessary. Anything, that will offer HOPE to end this 13 years of "extreme" anxiety over these, seem to be, progressing episodes, despite "anxiety" meds as well as a supposed safe alternative to Anti -Arrhythmias (Beta-Blockers) that sometimes don't work and the side-effects are sometimes "worse" than the arrhythmia but if I discontinue them I leave myself susceptible to the PSVT\Tachycardia returning and PVC's occurring even more! What does one do after 13 years of agony and worry, of course despite what my cardiologist is telling me!

Thank you for your help!

[upbeat63]

Hello, I've been experiencing ever increasing PVCs also. My 48hr holter showed 24,000/day. My echo came back "normal". But I started bigeminy hour upon hour day upon day like you. Then BAM, back to regular rhythm (10 PVCs per minute is normal to me). But just yesterday I started getting really strange PVCs, sometimes every beat for long strings. It would be nice to think that ablation would take them all away, forever. Let me know how your appointment goes and if they do infact recommend ablation. I've heard, read, and been told it's only a last resort and only for extreme cases where symptoms are intolerable and related directly to the PVCs.

[wal44]

I gotta say, I'm certainly HOPING for an ablation possibility. My PVCs have gotten so much worse, that now, they go for hours in bigeminy, day and night. I can hardly get to sleep at night without great difficulty (heart KNOCKING on side of chest hard!)
I've been on Atenolol, Setrol (Acebutolol), and more. I've tried Magnesium, CoQ10, and more.
Finally, I've got an appointment at UVA - Charlottesville, VA for some help.
When it was just several per hour, that was not so exasperating (not to minimize it for those who have it at that level), but the intensity of the extra systole combinted with hours on end is just about more that I can take.
Surely, some people are actually "good" candidates for ablation.