ablation for benign pvcs

[hankstar]

Dear Doctor,
      I posted here before and I thank you very much for providing this most informing service.
      For the past five days I've been experiencing very frequent
pvcs , i have been to cardiologist and, had an ecg which showed the pvcs, had a stress test and did very excellent.
   The pvcs seem to appear right after i eat and go on for hours
sometimes one every other beat at times. I take atenolol 50mg bd, which i've been taken for sometime, but this doesn't seem to help.
   He told my heart is in good shape, but since the pvcs are benign he would not prescribe life threatening drugs for this condition, which i would not take anyway, but the pvcs are very intolerable and alarming when they occur with such frequency.
  Do you the the pvcs will deterioate in to a more serious arrythmia?
   I asked him about ablation, but says he doen't recommend it for benign pvcs.
    I have had this condition for years off and on and has lasted for months at a time, but always clear up and return,each time symptoms are more severe and intolerable, they do seem to
subside at night when my stomach is completly empty.
   Do you think i should try ablation, and do you think the atenolol could actually cause a worsning of the problem, because
i notice a increase in them after i take my medication.
  Thanks for your time and providing agreat service.
    Hank.

[Abbiegaile]

I have been searching all over the web for a forum that I can ask questions to and get some answers..  Finally I found one :)  

Well, I'm a 24 year old female who has had PSVT since 13 years old and was just recently diagnoised with it.  It took them like 10 years just to catch my episodes on a holter monitor.  After I got diagnoised with it I had to wait to start the Beta Blockers due to being pregnant at the time but after the birth of my 2nd child I started on Tenormin then they switched me due to it making me way to tired and weak to Verapamil then to Lopresor and they all made me so tired and weak I could hardly function and when you have a 3 year old and new baby it was very hard to function during the day with the medications.  My doctor then decided to put me on Lanoxin and they took blood alot to check my levels and they remained low so the ended up putting me on it on a rotation bases.. Mon,Wed,Fri 3 pills a day and other days 2 pills a day.  I finally got refered to a Electrophysiologist that suggested since the Lanoxin wasn't really doing much to get off of it and he scheduled me for Catheter Ablation Procedure.. I just had the procedure done on the 5th of Dec of this year (2001) and I went home the next day with 3 catheter sights that they went in with.  I felt everything throughout the whole procedure even when they were inserting and taking out the catheters.  When the procedure was done they removed the 2 catheters in my Groin area and I felt that and then they removed the one up under my collar bone.. Now when they removed that one I immediately had a sharp stabbing pain in the center of my chest and a little to the left and up some.. It was constant and I started crying and grabed the nurses hand and sqeezed it and started begging him for something for the pain.  They proceeded to take me to a room in the Cardiac Care Unit and I still had the pain so bad that my husband's hand was hurting also from me sqeezing it. Lol But my doctor did a chest Xray of me they didn't find anything and since then I am at home and I'm still having the pain.  It's not as constant as it was when I first got out of the surgery but it's very intense and it's still there.  On a scale of one to ten it's about a 9 when it starts hurting which is at least a few times an hour...  Please someone tell me if this is normal for recovery from this procedure..  I want to go up to the hospital but they did an Xray already and it turned out fine and I dont want to go up there just to be released and go back home again..  Any input on this would be great.. I have a follow up with my doctor on the 13th of Dec.. Next Thursday and I am wondering if I should call him sooner.. Anything is appreciated!!  Thanks for your time and I'm sorry if I bored anyone.
Sincerly,
Abbie

[wilson-wilson]

Hankstar said:

"I know a friend of mine walking around with 15-20 PVCs a minute and is not aware of even one, this is what really has me puzzled.
Why do some people feel every one and others don't, this is what baffles me."

-----------

Since I've learned the difference in "the feeling" 'tween PACs and PVCs (PACs having a "lighter {blip} feel" and PVCs having a "heavier, rolling feel"). I cannot understand how one can have their heart "feel" like it is ROLLING [or pitching and yawing like a ship in The Perfect Storm] in one's chest and NOT "feel" it either?!!


wilson-wilson

[LORIANDTOM]

Hi.  I have them all the time.  My last holter monitor registered 15,000 in a 24 hour period.  I am not sure but I believe ablation isn't an option because the pvc's aren't coming from one direct location.  I am not exactly sure, but I believe that is the case.

I have some days when they are not totally constant but I would say most of the time they are.  I am trying to deal with them and not totally flip out and function....I am getting better at it, but it really is affecting my life at this point.

Eating seems to get them going and I have lost weight that I did not need to from it and if one more person tells me that i can't possibly feel bad because I look like the picture of health I will strangle them.  I guess the hardest thing about it is having no definitive answers on what is causing them.  I have been to two GP's and two Cardiologists and they all have something different to say or ways to medicate so it leaves me with little faith, yet I need the faith to believe that the pvc's are benign and that I will be ok.

One cardio wanted to put me on anti-arrthymatic drugs which I think (after reading a bit) would of been a really bad decision so what other options are there?  The other cardio has said he has had great luck with the calcium blockers when the beta blockers aren't tolerated.  I'm so darned confused I don't know what to do, I just know that feeling this way isn't good!

Thanks for letting me vent!

Lori

[LORIANDTOM]

Hi.  I tried beta blockers for my pvc's unsuccessfully- they all made me very tired, breathless, and slowed the heart rate way down and really didn't stop the pvc's.  My cardiologist is now suggesting a calcium channel blocker.  Will this have the same affect on my system as the beta blockers?  Cardizem is the one my Doc would like to try.  Any info would be most helpful as I am beginning to dread any new meds for this condition, but I have thousands of PVC's daily and would like some relief.

Thanks

Lori

[Carly]

Blu, I'm wondering what side effects of Betapace you were worried about.  I have been taking it for three years and I have done very well.

[NancyA]

I just saw part of a CBS Healthwatch clip on TV today.  It mentioned that there is ongoing research, linking arrhythmias and air pollution!  Couldn't find anything directly quoting this on their web site, but there were a couple of articles about heart attacks and smog.  Does anyone know about PVC's and air pollution?  I live in a smoggy area of California, so this is particularly interesting to me.