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.

[Jaysee]

This is the first time I have logged on this site and I feel so relieved to realise that so many people have similar symptoms to me.  I am female, 35 and start having PVC's when pregnant with my second child, almost two years ago.  They have only recent become much worse and are currently happening all night long. As a result I have forgotten what sleep is.  I have had all tests done, no problems shown and am currently taking beta blockers and sleeping tablets but am still not sleeping as problem is so bad.  Am at end of my tether, does anybody have any helpful suggestions?

[NBCT]

Hi! This is a great forum for answers and "support" from others who feel like you do. Check the archives section for specific questions and answers on palpitations, PVC's, etc. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

[wilson-wilson]

Care; "you been reading my mail?" <G>  Other than me being 51 and male I have very much the same things happening.  Mine started a couple of years ago [I NEVER experienced
PVCs/PACs/ectopic beats]. I had had an alcohol problem in my 20's and quit at 28 (1978). I hadn't had ANY alcohol for 18 years ad started again in '96 I quit last Oct. (1 year) because I was having bad ectopic/arrhythmic heart beats.  I didn't see a cardiologist til Sept. this year [01]. He preformed an echo-doppler gram and EKG and said...[his exact words]  "When I'm 51 I hope my heart looks that good!"  (He is 40ish...and of course you don't forget EXACT words, when they sound that good, to someone that thinks his heart is in bad condition!)  Well for about 1 week [after Dr visit] I didn't have a single PVC and I thought, "all right; everything is back to normal...then I woke up one morning and THEY WERE BACK!  Sorry to ramble...but NEVER in my 51 years have I been in a hospital...very few Dr. visits...hardly ever ill [and it's not 'cause I've taken care of myself really.....at one point I weighed 280 lbs -1982- now 180, 6'0", but had I know I would've lived this long I'd have taken better care of myself!] and it is now very depressing to know that when I wake up I don't know if they are going to hit or not. I don't know if this helps......but it sure was a catharsis  for me....well for a couple of hours anyway! <G>

wilson-wilson

[NancyA]

Wow, thousands?  And I thought I had a lot.  Sorry to hear that.  You must be a PVC expert by now.  What helps?  Do you just try to ignore them?

[NancyA]

I know how you feel.  I've been plagued with bouts of frequent PVC's, and yet tests show, for the most part, all is structurally normal with my heart.  I just had my 2nd Holter monitor.  While last year's test showed 13 PAC's and no PVC's, this year's logged 2 PAC's and 886 PVC's! (Maybe the monitor wasn't hooked up right the first time?).  Had an echo done...all was normal, but the Doppler said "Physiological mitral and tricuspid insufficiency".  I still don't know exactly what that means. But the cardiologist said I'm okay...it's probably just stress or premenopause (I'm 40).  These PVC's sure are annoying, aren't they?  Hard to believe when you have them, and you even feel a little shooting pain or adrenal surge go through your midsection, that you're all right.  I'm not on meds, just vitamins.  And yoga/exercise.  They come and go, and for now I just try to live with them.  I do have Acid Reflux...you can search this Site and find others who have Reflux and PVC's.  I think everyone with this condition agrees it needs alot more research.

[pazifij]

886 PVCs is really not that many - some people have many thousands.  When I first found out I had heart trouble, my doctor said every other beat was a PVC.