PAC'S

[worriedwife2008]

My husband has been diagnosed with pacs recently. He has never had any experience with them before. He feels it everytime it comes on which has been several times daily for a couple weeks. He has had a bit of anxiety/stress issues for as long as he can remember and also has had trouble sleeping at night for years too. When he was younger he had a few drinks almost daily and that helped with sleep but he has stopped drinking and now only does it on special occasions and that was about 3 years ago and when the sleep problems got worse. He currently takes melatonin cause we have no insurance. That helps half the time with his sleep. My question is can the anxiety/stress and sleep issues bring on pacs? and is there anything he can take such as herbs or over counter that could help him? The daily pacs are starting to be the center of his day. He has trouble concentrating on daily things because of the feeling inside him from pacs. Also the Doctor at er reassured us that his heart is healthy but as his wife, it is hard not to worry that it isnt serious. I just wanted to double check that as long as his heart came back strong and healthy on the EKG we dont need to worry about anything happening to him right? Thanks alot for your time!

[Cleveland Clinic]

Yes the above poster is absolutely correct. If the heart evaluation was complete and if he has normal function then PACs are inconsequential and only a source of nuisance for the symptoms they cause to the patients. Stress relief, improvement in diet and exercise all have been linked to improvement in the perception of these extra beats. In refractory cases anti arrhythmic drugs or beta blockers have been used, depending on the mechanism of the PACs to control frequent firings.

[ptd1642]

Premature Atrial Contractions are usually harmless and can be caused by several different things like a viral infection, often times there is no know reason.  These PAC's tend to be benign by themselves but can lead to other atrial arthymias like a flutter or a fib.  Patients with this condition should be seen by a caridologist for complete work up.  Many times changes in lifestyle (diet, excercise, etc...) can be enough to resolve this.  Either way a complete work up is indicated.  If the doctor noted above is a cardiologist and your husband has had a complete cardiac work up / eval then I would agree - but lifestyle changes can always help the patient's overall health as well.