PVC's and Murmur

[SteveO226]

Hello.

I am a 28 year old male. Last year, for the 1st time, I was diagnosed with PVC's during my physical. The MD told me I skipped 3 beats my EKG. I was sent to a cardiologist who found the same thing and gave me a stress test, which was normal. Both said that it was not a big deal at all. Just yesterday, I had another physical and the EKG showed 7 skipped beats. The doc also heard a heart murmur as well. He told me my blood proessure was fine and everything else checked out. He kept asking me if I drink a lot of coffee and I told him that I hadn't had any in more than 5 years, or alcohol, or tobacco. In fact, other than Ginger Ale, all I drink is water and milk. I have a VERY healthy diet in fact. I have never felt any symptoms of the skipped beats though, or at least I don't think I have. I do have a history of stress related illness like GERD and IBS, even though my diet and taking Prevacid 30mp once a day and made that very tolerable. I know I get stressed very easily and have gone to the psychiatrist and we tried everything but nothing worked and the side effects weren't worth it. My question is, is this something I need to worrk about (the 3, now 7 skipped beats and the murmur)? My doc wants me in from an ECHO and then the heart monitor. But to not feel symptoms and then be told about this is pretty stressful. How should I feel about this and should I be worried? I really do not want to go on another medicine which I have to take for life. The prevacid itself is enough for me in that manner.. Thank you.

[Micjem]

Thank you so much. The Doc tried to put me on anxiety meds, but I was afraid of what that would do to me. I already freak out wnough about my heart...I didn't want to introduce something elso that would make my body go crazy. I'm glad to know I am not alone.

[John Morales]

Hello, Well It looks like I found a place where maybe I can get some sympthy, advice, and help . I am a Veteran now of 6 EP ablation Studies in about 8 years and 4 i the past 2 1/2 including a trans-ceptal in february I think I spelled that right. My last ablation was about a two weeks ago and it appears that the ablations was a nightmare as he was close to the SN and the doctor fells that maybe some of the burns have caused some damage he said they did 60 burns all in the upper Q around the SN and I probably frll in the 20% Of those who have a problem. As I now appear to have Sick Sinus Syndrome or SSD.

Here is a whats happened after the ablation my base HR was 108 this was on Tuesday morning it stayed that way until I was awoke on Thursday morning by the nurse becase my HR had suddenly dropped to 40 well I paniced (yes for me the world was comming to an end) my base rate stayed at 50 or so for another 5 days, After I went home I had 3 days of low HR in the 40 - 60 total. I got up on thursday and all of a sudded in was at 93 it has now been in the hi 80's to about 110 at rest,mostly sitting about 90 on top of that they had stopped my med which consisted of lopressor and flecinide, and Im getting alot of PAC skipps or pauses I should sayu that at the hospital the Dr. origonall wanted to put a pacemaker in I opted to wait as I was not happy with the outcome of the procedure.

So my Q is has anyone had these types of probelms and how do you cope and what do you do, I wish I didnt feel every Beat and chaeck my rate every two seconds I dont sleep well as I fell all the pac and like many am afraid that my hear will just stop.

I am presently on 25mg of Lopressor and am gonna go back on Ami 200 in a few days.

Well maybe Il like a few here frantic and lost.If anyone wiould like to contact me my email is ***@****

Thanks

John

[Markg]

I have been reading the comments by Steveo226 and spachic1, I also suffer from premature heartbeats and can confirm the bad feeling with such uccurances as spachic1 mentioned. I have been having them since 1987 and have now become accustumed. However, these last 4 days I have had a recurrance that is leaving me very worried, just imagine 4 whole days of continuous premature beats. I have had an ecg yesterday that clearly showed the premature beats. The doc says there is nothing to worry about...but I feel distracted and can hardly concentrate on anything for long enough because I get those extra beats that instantly remind me of the situation. It is worrying and I am glad that today I landed on this site...I hope I'll get some response from people who are also having such symptoms. Certainly spachic1 is one of them...Maybe we can communicate on this further....Thank you all :)

[arthur]

I just want to share with you an observation re. benign PACS and PVCs. There's a lot of data showing a clear relationship between their production and an interplay between the state of your nervous system and the activity of the foci which send off abberent signals to the pacemaker system.  This sounds a bit complicated, however, the bottom line is that tiny portions of cardiac tissue (foci) send out inappropriate signals which get picked up by the normal pacemaker circuitry resulting in a premature beat.  The extent to which this happens is governed by a number of factors, one of which is the state of your nervous system (particularly the part surrounding the heart).  So, when one is excited, makes sudden moves, has had too much sugar or caffeine, has GERD, or has a case of anxiety, the foci signals move more easily and more premature beats result.  We all have these foci, the only difference between us is where they are located and how easy it is for their signals to interfere with our normal pacemaker system.

Having said all this, the state of one's awareness of premature beats contributes to their occurence.  It's a Catch 22...the more you are aware, the more your nervous system gets tuned up, the more they occur.  Sounds awful, however, the reverse is true, and this is where you can help yourself.  If you purposefully avoid checking your pulse, mentally block out the awareness of your heart beating (particularly at night), seek out methods of relaxation or distraction, you should be able to tune down that nervous system and get the buggers down to a mininum.  It took me two years to fully tune them out (I used to feel every skip..at times, 2-6 per minute all day long).  I now can claim to have "cured" myself, for I cannot tell when any occur (I have cheated upon occassion and checked my pulse and found little or no skips).  It's extremely difficult to do this, however, let me assure you it can be done.  Your mental attitude is very important...you simply have to convince yourself that they are not life-threatening, that they occur in everyone, and that you have mistakenly taken them too seriously, and now you have to proactively deny them the right to your life.  

It worked for me.

-Arthur

[karie]

I am 34 and have MVP, heart murmurs : 2 since birth, Suffer with pvc's,pac's. I follow all the guidelines too for heart health and still these loud thumps on the minute that we feel are more then aggravating.
Do you have cardiogencic syncope ?
How does your b/p look?
heart disease in your family ?
I have had a increase with them , keeping me up at night and an option for meds.
Keep us posted

[arthur]

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, and is widely accepted as "causing" PACs and PVCs.  Actually, caffeine simply excites the nervous system, and thereby allows the signals from those foci to travel through your cardiac tissue more easily...ergo, skips show up more often when caffeine is present. I believe caffeine has a number of other effects, one of which may be a direct affect on the excretion of acid in the stomach which in turn may affect folks with GERD.  The amount of caffeine in a 12-pack of coke is not what it used to be, however, it's probably enough to raise the "skip" incidence...I am sure this varies from individual to individual.  I am sure we both know folks that actually need a cup of coffee to relax in the evening before going to sleep, and others, that the same cup would keep awake for hours.