PVC: they are absolutely driving me insane!

[Abeybaby]

I am 41, male, normal heart structure, have had several echos, stress, holters etc all normal except for PVC activity. Most ever documented was 2500 in 24 hrs. Until august 2005 I would get them every few months lasting for a few days at a time (several hundred per day then dissappear) Since aug 05, I have gotten them every day and now I am more prone to getting runs of them. Two, three, even 4 in a row sometimes minutes apart. This is now really beginning to impact my quality of life. I told the cardio and he says not to worry but how can you not when its now a daily occurence. Its impacting family, career, etc ...
Why is this happening? I am afraid to excercise for fear of Vtac...
Any insights are very appreciated. Beta blockers don't work for me they in fact make my pvc worse with more runs...

Tks-

[Emily34]

You have just described my symptoms.  The bit about knowing the gas is rising from the stomach.  Not like a normal burp, it takes a second of feeling this strange fullness, then the pvc, then the belch.

Good to know these pvc's are probably benign for that reason.  

[freemanredneck]

Well I too suffered from the same thing and I am fifty four.  Been suffering from two years and I can even feel mine comin before it arrrives through gas in my stomach rising.  I too have had heart exams and come out normal and when I told the doctor here one comes while on the monitor he was very surprised.  I found out that the vagus nerve in the stomach is called the brain of the stomach.  Reflux, gas, haitus hernia can cause a signal from the vagus nerve to the heart which causes the pvc.  I proved this by laying on my stomach and opening my mouth while raising my head upward, and the gas would escape without the pvc.  INTERESTING.  Stress, overeating and eating foods that cause excessive gas will start those pvc's on the war path.  Another test I performed to see if this was the case was when the pvc's started I immediately chewed several gaviscon tablets forming a thick salvia in my mouth and swallowing it with a sip of water and in a few seconds the pvcs subsided for a short period of time.  I quit eating meat and became a vegetarian which really helped cut down the pvcs.  I no longer have them like you do but they are still there occassionally.  The object is to recognized the problem so that anxiety will not increase causing more and more pvcs.  I had them so bad at certain points that if felt like someone hit me in the chest, but it was not a heart attack.  Hope this helps.

[Bri-Guy75]

a beta blocker may help reduce your symptoms as well........if you are not happy with your physicians opinion, seek another.

[Manhattan]

Have you tried things like Magnesium? Cutting out simple carbs? Sometimes theses things help. Many times I can control mine by just eating light meals of protein, vegetables and light fruit (only after protein). I've read that other people have had this same experience since simple carbs raise insulin levels quickly. Since the beta blockers don't help, then it's just dealing with them that you need to work on and maybe once you stop focusing on them and your anxiety lessens then they will decrease. You will die one day, but it won't be from the pvcs. You can read and read and read and you will find no evidence that you are any more prone to v-tach than anyone else. It's also important to find a doctor who will sit down with you and explain the studies that were done proving that you are at no increased risk. It's not enough just for them to say they won't hurt you.

[Abeybaby]

Tks for the feedback all what I have heard before ... Its not easy always dealing with this.

[ket]

Following is a copy of an email that may be of interest to some suffering arrhythmia.

I had not checked my pulse for months -- good advice for those suffering arrhythmia.
Started feeling considerably better about December 18. Checked my pulse yesterday and it was 0/300 (zero PVCs in 300 beats) and today was 1/297 after exercise and a big breakfast, when it had been worst before. About 50 percent of men over 60 have a PVC during a routine EKG.
I told my doctors from the start that I suspected the current arrhythmia was due in large part to anxiety. If you recall, I had been through a traumatic time for 18 months, culminating in an incident in April of last year that upset my life. About 10 years ago I had arrhythmia prior to bankruptcy over a failed publishing project. It disappeared after walking out of the initial 30-minute meeting with a lawyers, not to return until this recent bout.
I got the idea to try Paxil after reading a Terry Bradshaw's biography at his website -- yes, the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers during four Super Bowl wins. After his second wife "threw him out," to use his words, and divorced him, he suffered extreme weight loss, crying for long periods -- anxiety syndrome symptoms. Paxil pulled him out of it initially, and he now has a normal life and is an advocate for Paxil (unpaid I think).
Reflecting back over my life, most of my bouts with depression and anxiety involved "women problems" including the events prior to the incident last April.
In mid-November I requested a 30-day trial prescription to Paxil (paroxetine), an antidepressant known to be particularly effective against anxiety syndrome.
While the trial prescription was "after the fact," the anxiety inducing events were fading into the past, and while I noticed little change in the way I felt while taking Paxil, it appears that it may have been a contributor to clearing up the arrhythmia.
The evident mind body connection, the complexity of the human body, the immensity of medical knowledge, would suggest that Paxil my help others suffering with physical symptoms caused by extreme anxiety including arrhythmia.
I have been taking Synthroid hormone replacement for hypothyroidism since October 2006, so this would suggest that there was no connection between my hormone replacement therapy and the arrhythmia.
Needless to say, I am grateful to The Great Physian for this unexpected turn of events. And frankly, surprised, the symptoms were very distressing, and the medical tests alarming, and arrhythmia is not very well understood. . . .
I hope you will share this with others who have prayed for me, and with those involved in helping others who might be going through temptations involving anxiety and trauma and arrhythmia.

[CollegeGirl143]

Unless your pvc's are lowering your EF, i doubt your doctor will want to try anti-arrhythmic meds as the risks would outweight the benefits since your pvc's have been diagnosed as benign... I know you probably hear this all the time, but honestly, the only choice you really have, is to stop letting the pvc's bother you so much.. You shoudnt fear vtach, it sounds like you've had extensive testing, and in the light of no abnormalities, and no previous episodes, ide say a spontanious epsiode of vtach would be pretty unlikely.. I know you feel like you have a heart problem, but pvc's are normal, making you normal, so try and smile about that :).. i know its difficult, but a professional can help you through the rough time, especially one that has experience with health related anxiety.