Aa
Unusual
I have been diagnosed with PVCs. I was having these every day for the last 4-5 months and was on atenolol 25mg bd.This did not suit me at all so I took medicine only when palpitation became very bothersome (usually 2-3 times a month). There is a particular period in the month when it becomes so bad that I have none stop ectopics for the whole day.
Saw my cardiologist during one such episode he did a holter, stress and echo.Echo and stress results were good. No structutal abnormalities , on exercise ectopics disappear but reappear during recovery.
Holter was very disturbing for me - highest frequency of ventricular extrasystole was 39 ecttopics /min, 1493/hour.Some bigemny and trigemny as well. Short PR interval and narrow QRS complex. My cardiologist has put me on 40 mg sotalol bd but says there is nothing to worry about. He has however written that the short PR interval predisposes me to junctional tachycardia or Levine Ganong Lown syndrome. I have experienced tachycardia once only (before ectopics started ) highest was 120/min. I felt very lightheaded and went to A&Ethey put on ECG so the fast heart rate was detected I was unaware of this.At the time I was anaemic 7.5 mg Hb.Since then I have been transfused.
Last week I had a very bad shoulder ache and after that I felt very lightheaded and a feeling of being numb and lost. My movements were uncoordinated and I had to really compose myself.
Are these things related. My cardiologist is the best in London and thinks there is nothing to worry about.
Saw my cardiologist during one such episode he did a holter, stress and echo.Echo and stress results were good. No structutal abnormalities , on exercise ectopics disappear but reappear during recovery.
Holter was very disturbing for me - highest frequency of ventricular extrasystole was 39 ecttopics /min, 1493/hour.Some bigemny and trigemny as well. Short PR interval and narrow QRS complex. My cardiologist has put me on 40 mg sotalol bd but says there is nothing to worry about. He has however written that the short PR interval predisposes me to junctional tachycardia or Levine Ganong Lown syndrome. I have experienced tachycardia once only (before ectopics started ) highest was 120/min. I felt very lightheaded and went to A&Ethey put on ECG so the fast heart rate was detected I was unaware of this.At the time I was anaemic 7.5 mg Hb.Since then I have been transfused.
Last week I had a very bad shoulder ache and after that I felt very lightheaded and a feeling of being numb and lost. My movements were uncoordinated and I had to really compose myself.
Are these things related. My cardiologist is the best in London and thinks there is nothing to worry about.
I was especially interested in your comments regarding shoulder pain.
My 85 year old father was prescribed 80 mg sotolol am and pm about five years ago when he had a pacemaker put in. Last November I was visiting him and I realized he had a full bottle from 1 1/2 years ago, so he wasn't taking it. I started giving it to him and the results were pretty alarming. Dizziness, confusion and a distinct personality change came first. Other symptoms seemed almost virus like, grey pallor, sore throat, cold hands, feet and forehead, nausea, vomiting, alternate diarrhea and constipation. Thirdly, he started exhibiting large purple to black bruises on his hands and forearms which didn't hurt.
At one point, in his confusion, he slipped getting up off the couch and fell on his arm. It was x-rayed and no damage showed up. Six months later, he still can't lift his arms to put a sweater on, so I took him to a physiotherapist. She couldn't pinpoint the problem, and though her manipulations helped, the pain came back immediately afterwards.
Finally, one night he went out in his car and got lost. The police found him lost and confused and took him to the hospital where it was determined his heart was in fibrillation. His upper arm below the shoulder to the elbow was entirely black. This was dismissed at the hospital as a separate injury.
Now I know the man didn't fall or hit his arm because I was with him. The bruising was some kind of spontaneous bleeding, and though I can't explain how, I know these symptoms are all related to the sotolol.
He has been off this drug entirely for a week. His colour is back, his personality normal and the bruising seems to be going away.
I'm sorry to be so long-winded but it seems to me you ought be careful with these dizzy spells while on sotolol. My father pretty much descended into dementia, and the medical people he was exposed to tried to write this off as "age" or "alzheimers".
Even his family pretty much wrote him off.
My 85 year old father was prescribed 80 mg sotolol am and pm about five years ago when he had a pacemaker put in. Last November I was visiting him and I realized he had a full bottle from 1 1/2 years ago, so he wasn't taking it. I started giving it to him and the results were pretty alarming. Dizziness, confusion and a distinct personality change came first. Other symptoms seemed almost virus like, grey pallor, sore throat, cold hands, feet and forehead, nausea, vomiting, alternate diarrhea and constipation. Thirdly, he started exhibiting large purple to black bruises on his hands and forearms which didn't hurt.
At one point, in his confusion, he slipped getting up off the couch and fell on his arm. It was x-rayed and no damage showed up. Six months later, he still can't lift his arms to put a sweater on, so I took him to a physiotherapist. She couldn't pinpoint the problem, and though her manipulations helped, the pain came back immediately afterwards.
Finally, one night he went out in his car and got lost. The police found him lost and confused and took him to the hospital where it was determined his heart was in fibrillation. His upper arm below the shoulder to the elbow was entirely black. This was dismissed at the hospital as a separate injury.
Now I know the man didn't fall or hit his arm because I was with him. The bruising was some kind of spontaneous bleeding, and though I can't explain how, I know these symptoms are all related to the sotolol.
He has been off this drug entirely for a week. His colour is back, his personality normal and the bruising seems to be going away.
I'm sorry to be so long-winded but it seems to me you ought be careful with these dizzy spells while on sotolol. My father pretty much descended into dementia, and the medical people he was exposed to tried to write this off as "age" or "alzheimers".
Even his family pretty much wrote him off.
I see you are on a low dose of Sotolol.
I was put on 180mg twice a day 8 years ago, to relieve SVT, VT, PAC'S & PVC'S
Then a year or so they increased the dosage to 360mg twice a day, and thy started to get worse.
I am now back to the original dosage, but please be aware that this drug can make your palpatations worse, and should be taken with ongoing supervision from your doctor.
There are better drugs out there than this one, as I am sure a few of the other regulars will be able to tell you. Sotolol can have some pretty awful side affects as well. Hope things get better for you
I was put on 180mg twice a day 8 years ago, to relieve SVT, VT, PAC'S & PVC'S
Then a year or so they increased the dosage to 360mg twice a day, and thy started to get worse.
I am now back to the original dosage, but please be aware that this drug can make your palpatations worse, and should be taken with ongoing supervision from your doctor.
There are better drugs out there than this one, as I am sure a few of the other regulars will be able to tell you. Sotolol can have some pretty awful side affects as well. Hope things get better for you
Special thanks to pluto and other helper.I dont know if pluto is a doctor but I have certainly seen his/her responses a number of times. Whatever it helps to read an answer.
ata
ata
Hi ata,
As you can tell from reading the forum, PVCs are quite troubling as well as common. Fortunately, PVCs with a structurally normal pose no risk to your health. This may not be comforting--the symptoms significantly affect quality of life. The beta blocker or sotalol may decrease the frequency or atleast the strength of these premature beats and thus make them more tolerable.
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you if the PVCs, shoulder pain, and lightheadedness are related. If you really feel badly, consider going to the A&E (I assume this is equivalent to our emeregency rooms?) for evaluation. If you check out OK, then atleast you know next time you feel this way, everything is ok.
If the symptoms from the PVCs are too overwhelming, some centers will do PVC ablations for unifocal (monomorphic) PVCs.
I hope this helps and thanks for posting.
As you can tell from reading the forum, PVCs are quite troubling as well as common. Fortunately, PVCs with a structurally normal pose no risk to your health. This may not be comforting--the symptoms significantly affect quality of life. The beta blocker or sotalol may decrease the frequency or atleast the strength of these premature beats and thus make them more tolerable.
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you if the PVCs, shoulder pain, and lightheadedness are related. If you really feel badly, consider going to the A&E (I assume this is equivalent to our emeregency rooms?) for evaluation. If you check out OK, then atleast you know next time you feel this way, everything is ok.
If the symptoms from the PVCs are too overwhelming, some centers will do PVC ablations for unifocal (monomorphic) PVCs.
I hope this helps and thanks for posting.
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