Heart palpitations

[Lecah]

I would first like to Thank the Doctors and staff for this forum. It is extremely helpful to many! Quick background,I have a defibrillator since the age of 20, I went into Torsades and at the time the Dr.s could not figure out why but I believe it was due to drug interaction of Seldane and Erythromiacin.I have had no problems with my heart since until this year at the age of 34. I suffer from palpitations (benign)and bigeminy seems to be my normal rhythm and PTSD. The anxiety varies from day to day. I notice when I have nightmares,I wake with my heart racing and I will sometimes notice 5-6 beats in a row until I calm down my heart will either go back to bigeminy or a normal heart rhythm. I have been having bad dreams for the past few months every other night it seems and twice a night(and am in therapy by the way), but I want to know will the constant rush of adrenaline from anxiety and the bad dreams cause a problem with the heart rhythm? I had an episode of AV Node rentry in April of this year and got 5 shocks from the defib (ventleads not atrial) and had an ablation a month after to fix the foci where the AV node rentry occured plus other foci to cure palpitations. I read that AV node re entry can occur in normal people at any time and are found in anxious people. My Dr. said the latter is false but for an anxious person it still worries me and I wonder will the 5-6 beats or racing heart in general I get when I am anxious turn into tachycardia or that it is bad on my heart because it is occuring so often. Thank you for your answer and all you do.

[Abeybaby]

Tickertock, thanks for the note today,no relief today still pvc's driving me crazy ongoing ... not sure atenenol does anything but aggravate them at a lower pulse rate. tks

[Abeybaby]

No one really knows what is best- its more what works for you. I have done every concievable test: 8 holters, 4 echos, 4 stress, test, countless runs to the ER with results etc over the last 7 yrs- I am sick of this. PVC's and lots of them up to 2,000 per day but they say they are benign even when the occur in strings which scare the heck outta me. Stress and anxiety relief is what is most required these days not anything else. I am just so tired of this i cant tell you. Its gotten worse this time usually after two days they abate not this time its been 40 days straight and no end in sight ... they are less frequent but more frequent in runs of them. THe cardios- both of them say just ignore and move on. Hard to do but i have no choice really...

God Bless everyone and stay well

[madgeOwens]

Thanks for your input I really appreciate it very much.
The doctor put me on 80 mg time release.....I have very low b/p so I am thinking thats why time release, however I still think 80 is quite a bit. He said my holter monitor test was not completed as yet but the strips that he pulled were, everytime I pushed the button for symptoms I was having a pvc....I was averaging 10 a  minute I think.....he says it wont kill me which I I believe that, but I feel just terrible all day eveyday for over a month now it has been getting steadily worse. I certainly can understand everyone in here what they are feeling. Thanks again for your input. I have only had one pill so far haha so we have aways to go before I know if they will help.
My father took inderal, and also had low bp so Im hoping I will do ok on it.
Did it make you gain weight?

[tickertock]

Good luck with the inderal, sometimes it takes a few days or week or 2 to notice a significant change, hopefully it will help. No I never put on weight when on inderal, you usually only gain weight if you feel sluggish and don't get up and move around, of course having pvcs can make you housebound, for some even bedbound thats when the weight trouble starts.

inderal is a short acting beta blocker, as far i know the usual dose for palps would be probably 20mg 3-4 times daily, thats why the doc gave you the 80mg LA (long acting or sustained release form) so you only have to take it once daily.

If its any comfort when I have my attacks of PVCs that is what I usually average a minute 8-12 nearly all day from weeks to months, luckily I'm going on 4 years now without any significant attacks , just the odd thump now and then, of course I have days when i get about 10-20 or so which is nothing to even mention.Good luck and hope you get some relief real soon, chances are they'll disappear as quick as they came.

[Abeybaby]

I read your post and I have a similar situation. Once anxious come the PVC's and the runs of them, sometimes 3 or 4 beat runs which make you wonder whats next. I dont think anyone knows the impact of anxiety. I can safely say its probably best to be less anxious with a pre-existing heart condition than not i suppose- just my oppinion. I know what it does to me so I can imagine for you. Its hard I know but therapy is good and probably worth its weight in gold. The docs told me live with it no treatment other than reduce your anxiety and do your best to avoid thinking about it when it happens. Not easy but no choice.

Good luck,

[Momto3]

Hello,

Sorry you are experiencing all those pvcs. Like tickertock (Hi tickertock...lol), I have been through the mill with the pesky buggers.  I started to get them a little over 25 years ago and I took Inderal on/off for about 10-12 years (mostly on).  Early on, I took 20mg 2x/day, but eventually worked up to 3-4x/day.  I was also concerned about taking 80mg (seemed like a lot to me).  The doctor assured me that it was a relatively low dose and that many patients were taking 360mg/day...Fortunately, I never got to that point.  When the LA80mg (long acting) version became available (for a reasonable price), I started on that.  It was so much more convenient and it didn't seem to cause me any trouble.  

I also had low BP (usually 90-110/60's). Initially, I was VERY tired (sluggish), but OK.  Absolutely no weight gain and I was on it for a long time.  

I'd always been told that the pvcs were benign and that the RX was for my symptomatic relief.  So, eventually I opted to stop taking it and try it on an as-needed basis (with Dr's OK) and it worked great like that.  Still does : )

Hope you are feeling better.  Here's to a PVC-less weekend for everyone.