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.

[Swoop]

I'm somewhat relieved that I'm not the only one experiencing these weird "thumps" in my chest and neck.  I've always had it.  Since as far back as I can remember.  But, this whole month, I've had a constant stream of these PVC's.  I feel them all the time.  I have a hard time gettting to sleep.  I started telling myself, "well, you did it...you don't take care of yourself, you're overweight and now you're blood pressure is so high your heart is about to explode!"  Reading through your comments has calmed my fears but I do still need to have a complete heart exam and cholesterol check.  I'm going to stay away from caffiene and alchohol.  Thanks for the tips!  At least I now know my heart isn't about to burst through my chest.  Does anyone else have them CONSTANTLY?

[wilson-wilson]

Thanks Hank. It's kinda comforting to know others notice these things too.
[i.e. being in the same boat....just hope it's not the Titanic!]

Or as I heard someone once say:

"No matter how one arranges the deck chairs, we are ALL still on the Titanic!" [how depressing is that?]

----------------

Arthur;  thank you, but I'd rather feel "special" in other ways! <G>

Sidenote:

You know Arthur and Hank, 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

[arthur]

I believe that any irritation presented to the throat or cetnral chest area (in the form of sinus infections, bronchial infections, colds and flu) can cause an increase activity in the autonomic nervous system and lead to increased PV foci activity.  The result is an increase in PAC/PVC production.  It's a dismal scenario wherein anything at all that can upset the nervous system running up/down behind the heart can precipitate skips in people who have these foci.  It's the sort of thing that sets us apart from most other people and should make us feel sort of special.

[wilson-wilson]

In some ways the things you've descibed that bring on your PVCs/PACs [and sometimes mine as well], is consistant with a disease called, Pheochromocytoma:

"tumor of the adrenal gland that causes excess release of the two hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine, which regulate heart rate and blood pressure"

This, [according to all the medical literature I've read] seems to be a *RARE* disease.

http://www.medhelp.org/search?query=pheochromocytoma

-or-

http://www.pheochromocytoma.org/

*Side note:

I have been on Doxycycline for a couple of days now [for a sinus infection] and it seems to be "surpressing" my PVC/PACs?  My Cardio told me when I had an echogram/doppler in Sept. that an infection could precipitate PVC/PACs. [hell Arthur, I've had this sinus infection for 2 years (about when PVCs started) and have been "a-symptomatic"..the only reason I found out about it, I had this terrible odor coming from the left nostril, and when I had an MRI on it the ENT Dr. said my left maxillary was infected! He wanted me to have "endoscopy" but I was afraid to because of the PVCs/PACs, so he is trying the Doxycycline to see if it will kill the little germ-ies.  He wanted to put me on Levaquin but I'd heard to many horror stories so I balked at the Levaquin.

So I guess my question would be:

*COULD* an infection (systemic or otherwise) cause PVCs/PACs or the PV foci to "foc up?" {sorry, couldn't resist..my Adult ADD}

wilson-wilson

[wilson-wilson]

What you stated does makes sense.  What I got out of it is:

If one has 2 EMF's (Electro Motive Force..."Electro-motive-force is the energy being supplied to a charge") close enough together, one of those EMF's could be affected by the other; i.e., if one puts an AM radio to close to a computer monitor the AM radio will suffer distortion, phasing, static etc. [or in essence "go crazy."

So, when I first started getting these PVC/PAC) things...I "conscientiously" tried to regulate my "breathing" to thwart them, [when I should'a just tried to relax and let my auto system do it] and all I might have been doing was, setting off the "pulmonary system's" electrical charge because it was reading an abnormal input and thus trying to get the lungs and breathing back to -normal- regulation with additional impulses that could, in fact, send an electrical message [or interfer with my heart's normal electrical charges] to my heart to add or skip a beat to compensate for what was going on with what the pulmonary system may have been seeing as a "def con level 5" [urgent, urgent; breathing not right; must try to stablize breathing *smile].

[does this make sense?]

[wilson-wilson]

I have read just about all the Heart Forum's topics on arrhythmia's, Ectopic beats, PVC's, PAC's etc......ad nauseum.  But the one thing I haven't seen [my wife asked me to ask this, Grin] is, *why*; why do these things start in the first place?  I know the drill about electrical pathways etc....  BUT if ones heart is otherwise in good shape {according to ones personal Cardiologist} why do PVC's, PAC's etc. start?

I kinda know -why- in my case [I think], alcohol; but I've been off the stuff for 13 months....tea total'r, diet 7up, lost 50 lbs [now about 180], ALL blood work is within normal limits [hell my cholestorol is 137] and they still happen.  And WHY can one go for 4, or 5 days or a week or two even, and NOT have one, and then all of the sudden...their back?  Yesterday when I posted my first post here I had them all day and the day before that!  But the previous 4-5 days were GLORIUS, No PVC's, no palp's, just enjoying the day(s) of life.

Why, may not be the question.  What, may be the best question for me to ask.  *WHAT* makes'em start?  I don't know??

*Sidenote:  Does anyone else have PVC's PAC's, skipped beats, extra beats etc., when just "moving a little to quick", i.e., bending over, or while starting to sit down [from a standing position], or while starting to stand up [from a sitting position], reaching across your body to get something [like the remote *grin].  This does not happen ALL the time, but many times, especially when the "beats from hell" are on a run!