RUN'S OF PVC'S

[carie]

I am a 40 year old female, very healthy other than heart palpitations.  I suffer PVC's and runs of PVC's.  I have been for two EP studies and the doctors cannot find anything wrong with my heart.  I am on Celexa 10mg because I have always been worried about my palpitations and they were really controlling my life.  I just would like some reassurance from you on the following:

1.  Usually at night when I am laying down I will get what feels like a run of hard fast beats (5 to 8 in a row).  My hands get tingley and I feel like a I am going to go into major panic.  It goes hard and fast and then does a pause and a big thump and then back to normal.  Do you think that is a bad thing?  Do a lot of other people get things like that.  My doctor said that I am just very aware of my heart beat and not to worry because I have a normal heart (very hard to do).

2.  I can sometimes go for several days without any skipping or runs in my heart and then it will happen everyday for a week.  Is that normal?

3.  Anytime I feel anxious for any reason I can feel my heart go irregular (just very temporarily) and I can take a deep breath and it will go back to normal.  Is that anything to worry about?

4.  Ten years ago I had a holter monitor on and it caught a very short run of nonsustained v-tach.  I have really let this haunt me for the last 10 years and I think that is why I am so scared about everything I feel my heart do.  I went for the EP studies because I was so horrified about these runs of beats but they could not find anything to ablate.  Anxiety related?

Thanks.

[Mister]

I am a 24 year old male, sat at my desk in London, always trying to take a deep breath and trying to make sense of what I am experiencing. I began having panic attacks over six months ago when I returned from travelling Oz  and became worried about the physical symptoms they produced. PVCs were the main concern. My breathing would be erratic and I would always want to yawn or sigh to get a deep breath. I visited the ER room over ten times, had numerous tests, visited a shrink once and was told not to worry. I couldn't. I cried in front of my doctor and he referred me to a mental health out-patient centre. Only through reading books and talking to people I began to realise that it is all in my mind and that I can, somehow, control it. My mental health appointment is next year and I don't think I need it now as time has passed and I have a grip on my thoughts now. My panic attacks have subsided but a few moments ago I had a run of PVCs. A few months ago I would have freaked out and gone to hospital. This time I didn't. I do feel that my body is so sensitised that I get an adrenaline rush if the phone rings or I imagine a scenario I am in which would cause this. Then I would get a 'missed' or 'skipped' beat. I am so sure that they are caused by the fact that my breathing is erratic and the fact that I am, in many ways, hyperventilating by yawning or sighing all of the time. It is a habit. WHAT I WANT TO KNOW is, does anybody else feel this? I have always been a mouth-breather and my mouth is designed to stay open! My doc says this is not a problem. I get depressed about this and so this can also cause PVCs. I have a great circle of friends and am one crazy fun loving animal. But I can get stressed. If I know other people experience this maybe I can get my head around it and get on, banishing this habit. I think the comfort in knowing that I am not alone will help me. When I spoke to a friend he said he had PVCs and I was like 'Oh, great!'. I could have cried with relief. I still worry. After all, it is all in the mind and not much the medical world knows much about. They just want to be sure you won't keel over. They deal witht he physical side of things. One doctor prescribed Prozac which I binned. I am pleased that I have allowed time and knowledge to help me. I have helped myself. I am still in the recovery phase and still need help with this. My main worry now is the fact that I have not exercised for months and I fear this. I want to get into the gym but need to sort this out. Any ideas? Talk to me, please and sort out my head! Thank you so much for reading this. I reckon if we all had a night out together and talked about our concerns, most of us would wake the next day feeling more like we used to.

[scoopcoop]

wilson-wilson,your note about pheochromocytoma,just p.a.c.'s and p.v.c.'s do not make a diagnosis of this rare disease,blood pressure is elevated ,usually at extreme levels-usually causing severe headaches-often the presenting complaint,elevated blood sugar-such as with diabetes is also seen.yes,they can have arrythmias,they are often tachycardic.these are due to increases in catecholemine levels-secreted by a tumour.

[arthur]

I'm not sure what the primal scream will do...however, I do know that if you irritate those little PV foci their frequency increases (ie, the rate at which they fire).  When that happens, the amplitude of the signal decreases.  So, they end up with signalling that falls short of affecting the heart directly.. sort of "out of sync".  Exercise appears to do this.  Maybe your primal scream therapy is enough to shake up those buggers for a while.

[arthur]

Yes...I have come across the complications slide from a talk about ablations.  That's about correct...the complication rate is about 4% overall which includes things like stenosis of the PVs and stroke and a few other things.  That's why cardio/EPs are reluctant (in general) to treat PCA/PVC conditions in otherwise healthy hearts, unless there is a more serious condition that PACs/PVCs herald (like AF, SVT, etc).  

I continue to be surprised that the Cleveland Clinic appears more than willing to ablate all and any foci that may be bothersome (based on comments found in this forum).  Perhaps with all the practice they have, the complication rate's a bit lower here.

Re. frequency of PAC/PVC occurrence...people appear to have these occur at varying rates throughout their lifetimes.  Anywhere from a couple a day to thousands per day...even at the rate of thousands per day, many EPs feel they are still benign (assuming a healthy cardiovascular system).  However, it's possible that one could convice an EP to consider ablation when the number is up in the thousands/day...since it's likely that at that frequency there are times when the arrhythmia is more complicated than simple skips.  Like the clinic EP here is often quoted as saying, "If they bother you, then call the number below."

[wilson-wilson]

"You know Arthur, sometimes when these things overwhelm me [actually make me angry], I'll go to my bedroom and do a "primal scream" into a pillow a couple of times [till I'm damn near dizzy]....and I am not bothered with them for a couple of days?? What do youz 2 make of this????"

wilson-wilson
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Why do ya think this action would "stop them" for a day or so?

[wilson-wilson]

http://www.mayo.edu/cme-rst/april2001/03-Packer/sld013.htm