Ongoing Palpitations

[Dracee322]

I have a few questions about ongoing palpitations and trying to understand the etiology of them. In particular, PAC's. I delevoped these PAC's this past fall. They come and go and can get quite frequent at times. I have seen a cardiologist (an EP doc) and had an event monitor, bloodwork, and an echo stress test. The PAC's were determined basically benign. But I feel anything but "benign" when they pop up. I'll admit that there is  some anxiety involved when they do occur but otherwise I do not have any issues with anxiety.
Could the palpitations be at all related to Epstein Barr virus?
I tested positive with "recent primary infection" after looking into a possible case of Mono and ongoing fatigue last May.
How and why are PAC's hormonally related to women? The EP doc indicated that he sees a lot of menopausal women with PAC's. I am not menopausal but I am 34 and just recently completely stopped breastfeeding. The PAC's seem to be related to my monthly cycle. But I have never experienced anything like this in the 20 years of having menstrual cycles so why now?
Also, I am told over and over that people have these all the time and I probably have too and I am just more aware of them now. There is NO WAY that I just "became aware" of these PAC's. I am not doubting that I ever have had them but I guarentee that I have never had them like now.
When I get the flare ups of PAC's, it is not just the "skipped beat" feeling that concerns me. I also feel very fatigued, dizzy, and discomfort in my chest area. I get sort of an "aura" and can tell they're coming. What is this?

[sheryl1945]

I can trace my "skipped beats" back to when I began taking atenolol for rapid heartbeat.  I simply accept them; I've had them for nine years now.  They are annoying and can be scary I admit; I love reading the posts on pvc's/pac's as I know I'm not alone in this.  Hankstar, I miss you!!  You are needed here, dear friend.

[flipflop]

I remember that chaos theory mentioned by hankstar, basically a healthy heart is governed by the need for chaos once in a while to maintain a healthy function, as does most organs of the body. Ectopics beats and irregular rhythms once in a while often reflect a healthy heart that is functioning properly, whereas a perfectly regular heartbeat often raises a red flag as a warning of sudden cardiac "events". If I'm not mistaken this has been documented.


That is why HRV (heartrate variability ) is often a predictor of longevity documented by the Chinese about 1000 B.C.


flip(Lyn)

[Dracee322]

I am sure that the PAC's I get are just a part of a "whole", if you will, be it EBV or something else. I have never been tested for heavy metal toxicity but I read an interesting article about a woman who suffered for years with a host of symptoms (fatigue, flu-like, dizziness ect) and was tested for heavy metals. She had a high mercury level, changed her dental fillings over a course of time and felt better. Was is coincidence or was that the cause? Who knows. I really wonder because there are a lot of times that I just feel totally perfect and if i would have taken a pill or done something different I would have attributed it to that.

[cuaco]

Hello everyone,I have just read this following extract in 'the Heart's Code' by Paul Pearsall, thought it might interest some of you, I quote :- "The heart itself is a chaotic organ. Dozens of disorganised 'irregular rythms' of the heart are described by cardiologists who,like other bioscientists, often take comfort in naming what they really don't fully understand. They refer to ectopic beats; parasystole, high-grad block and escape rythyms; simple and complex Wenckebach rythyms, and on and on. ........New reseach derived from chaos theory suggests that cardiologists might consider the heart as a dynamical chaotic energy system rather than just an electro-mechanical pump, and that doctors are inadvertantly using limited, superficial classifications of the hearts rythyms based on brief and limited sample of it's behavior that may mask the hearts true nature. Doctors have the parts of the heart down pretty well, but they still too often fail to see the heart and health in general as a whole, interactive, remembering, dynamic energy system.....What cardiologists call arrythmias are really images of what scientist Douglas Hofstatter describes as an 'eerier type of order'....eerie order and not a mathematical average may be the ultimate code of a uniquely adaptive and healthy heart.  Looking at the heart as a dynamic energy system operating by principles being learned from the study of chaos, rather than a mechanical pump that sometimes loses its stroke, allows us to learn the true nature or the organ that helps us flow with the natural instability of life."  end quote.

I vaguely remember Hankstar mention the chaos theory regarding heart rythym sometime ago, so I thought this might interest some of you who may have read that post and wished to know more.

[estee21]

You are definitely not alone.  I am 37 years old and I, too, have suffered from these premature beats on and off for years now.  I think they started in my early 20's.  Initially, they were infrequent, I had normal tests, and I was reassured that they were benign.  Eventually, they became more frequent and I started taking a small dose of beta blocker (Inderal) as needed to control them.  I found that a small dose (just 10 mg) usually worked very well for me.  Then, the amount of stress in my life increased when I went to medical school.  I began taking a daily dose of Atenolol to control my palpitations and, generally, I would say that it worked very well.  I still had the occasional "skipping" feeling and the occasional episode of persistent premature beats, but they were pretty manageable.  Around the time I graduated, I had an increase in symptoms that responded to increasing my medication dose.  Recently, I have been going through a rough patch with them again.  I have had them every day for a couple of weeks and have had several days where they were so persistent that I could hardly force myself to function normally.  I had a Holter monitor last week (still waiting for the results to come back) and am having a repeat echo today.  Medications are not helping as much as they usually do.  I have been reading the comments here because I have always found it comforting to know that other people have these, too.  I finally decided to share my own experience to reinforce that all of you are not alone and you are not crazy for finding these sensations so disturbing.  I am a doctor (pediatrician).  I have had these for years now.  I have been told over and over that they are not dangerous.  Logically, I know that premature beats in a normal, healthy heart are actually quite common and generally do not cause problems.  In the hospital, we commonly see patients having occasional PAC's and PVC's on EKG's and monitors and we usually do not worry about them at all.  Most people don't even know they are there.  However, knowing all this doesn't make it any easier  to tolerate them when they are bad/frequent.  They feel so awful and make me anxious and completely exhausted.  I wish I had a magic cure for all of us.  Thank you all for sharing your stories.  Hang in there and work on doing your best to relax.

[Dracee322]

This all started with me after my third child as well. It has to be hormonally related or definitely some sort of chemical imbalance. It is amazing to me that they know so little about the "why" of these palpitations when they are legitimate and so many suffer. I recently had some hormone testing. Not just the female hormones but other such as cortisol, acth ect. Female hormones are definitely hard to track with one blood test as they fluctuate throughout the day everyday. A better test for these are a 28 day saliva test. Usually alternative MD's are more open to this type of thing. In fact, for things that traditional doctors just cannot find answers for and label as "stressed" or "anxious", Alternative doctors (MD or DO)have a different approach and help a lot of people. Especially with your group of symptoms Micheller. It sounds like you've been suffering for awhile. Has your doctor found anything or any explanation for all of that?