anxiety and arrhythmia

[Trudi]

I suffer from severe anxiety from PVC's (which I have had for years and you would think that I would be getting used to them).  I have tried Buspar (which gave me headaches), and tried Paxil (which made my PVC's worse). I have also tried Beta Blockers and Calcium Channel blockers but they didn't seem to help much either.  Beta Blockers gave me terrible headaches as well. I think it is because I have naturally low blood pressure anyways.  Doctors here say don't worry about palpitations, but it is too late, I am terrified of them.  No amount of pacifying from EP doctors or my family physican will make me stop worrying.

I would like to know if you can recommend any anti-anxiety meds that a person could go which would not affect the heart in any way.  

Is it normal to have such severe anxiety that I actually avoid any situation that I have to be around people now (because my my fear of my heart skipping).  I also cannot sleep at night at all because I feel my heart skip sometimes every third beat or so and it sends me into panic.  I have constant butterflies in my stomach because I can't stand the feeling of the PVC's.  These darn things have taken complete control of my life.

My doctor is a a loss as to what to do with me.  Could you recommend anything.  I am hanging by a thread.

Thanks.

[Lauro]

Thanks Mike for taking the time and sending this valuable information to us.

I am going to make copies as I have suffered enough with an uneducated and uncaring gastro Doc and perhaps the cardio doc also. (no one communicates with the other one)

Happy to hear you did not go thru with an uneeded surgery. It is "patient beware" . We all need to take charge of our health and learn as much as we can and ASK questions and more Questions.

[Javier]

Hello Trudi, I am 26 and I have had PVC, tachycardia, and panic attacks. What I want to tell you in this message is how psychological or mind problems can affect your physical system.  Last year (2000) was an awful one and very stressing for me.  I change to a new job in the beginning of the year, I had many new responsibilities and worries, not to mention that my mother got another period of cancer that she was being struggling since 1987.  Every 3 or 4 years her cancer was needed to be treated by radio or chemotherapy.  Well last December she died as we expected.  This stressful situations, plus the view of a world of suffering and no or little joy, believe me, gave me all these symptoms, everytime I was worrying about the future, the suffering, the injustice, was followed by skip beats, arrythmia and panic attacks which are very debilitating, I thought I was in bad health and was doomed too!  Is not easy to see one's mother each week getting worse.  It is very sad and stressful, my faith in God for the whole year had almost vanished.  Well, let me tell you something I think no one has written you.  There is a God, and he heals, maybe you are passing a hard time now, but you will see how everything reaches its place again. You know what, I thought I was not able to speak of her at the funeral because I have imagined it since a long time before and I cried when I imagined the funeral.  I was imagined all the bad things, before they ever happenned, I was worrying about everything, I learned now to live a day each day.  Well before the funeral I pray to God to let me talk about the great mother he gave me and to my surprise at the time, I was able to talk of her very easy without nothing troubling my mind like if she was present there at my side.  Some familiars told me how well I managed to speak of her. I miss her a lot now but she is where she belongs. I thanked God to letting me do that.  My mother's death, had helped me to hang into God again and I have received the peace I needed. Before my mother's death I went to a psycologist for my panic attacks, one visit was what I needed in order to know that it would be better to buy a book about panic attacks to learn for myself.  You know what? The book only cost $14.00 and it helped me a lot.  To understand to break the anxiety cycle, it has some breathing exercises too.  It is titled "Panic Attack,..." something else after that, I do not have it with me, I gave it to a partner who is having anxiety problems. In cover it has a blue sky with a opened wooden door, its about 150 pages not too big. After that, I went to a cardiologist to check my heart condition, he performed an EKG, an echocardiogram, and a strength test.  I was diagnosed with MVP (Mitral Valve Prolapse) which I needed to do some research myself of what that mean, doctors in these days, do not worry about their patients anymore, they like everyone in these days, live in a constant rush about checking as much patients as they can in the less time possible. When I asked him, he only said, that that is a benign condition that I have to go and check again in 5 months, that MVP was causing me the symptoms I had.  After the research I found out that its true, 40% of MVP patients can experience symptoms such as that I mentioned before.  And symptoms may get worse if people do not exercise, drink coffee, alchohol etc. Symptoms may appear when stressful situations appear.  You can eliminate symptoms by having a mind clear of troubles and anxiety due to the inexpected future we all need to live.  I recommend you to go and take an echocardiogram, which is the standard for diagnosing MVP which is a common condition or syndrome in 15%-20% of the population. I also invite you to look into yourself, see what is troubling your mind (new job, marriage problems, health of a familiar, economic problems) I know you are worrying a lot about your own health which makes things worse, but what I mean is that you take some time to relax, and let go in your mind about these constant worry, if that is the case with you.  Take time to go to your own roots again, think of what made you happy in the past, take some time to play like a child. Take some time to feed your soul with joy, life give us hard times, but also great times. Enjoy the company of your family or friends.  Pray to God with faith, and beg him to feel his prescence and he will. Through something you do not know now, but he will, you as a human being as same as I, are part of God's dream.  And if you think life ends here, you are wrong, life keeps on...   hang to your creator.  Make treasures in heaven where no one can steal them.  They will be with you for ever...

[MikeB]

Dear Trudi and ALL

This may be of help or interest.

From: Mike Brewer  70403.***@****

19 January 2001

Dear All

PVC

[lori]

Mike RE: Anxiety and Antidepressants

Have been on and off Zoloft for 5 years now.  I am one of the most medication sensitive individuals one would ever like to meet.  A little trick to antidepressant therapy when you're feeling the side effects starting treatment is to start very very slowly.  I fired 50 Psychiatrists until I found one that understood that I knew my body better than anyone else could.  She started me on 12.5 mg of Zoloft for a week straight (baby dose).  Then we bumped me up to 25 mg and held there for a month.  Eventually I climbed to the maximum dose of 200 mg per day and held there for months.  She also gave me a script for .05 Xanax in very panicky times.  Which I eventually didn't need at all.  Generally antidepressants take about 3-4 weeks to see results; (with me within a week). You're anxiety will subside watch.  Another trick to minimize side effects is to take the meds right before bedtime she said and you sleep through some of the adjustments. Once your body has acclimated to the meds, the anxiety will be under control.  Caution, when you go off of them the same reaction can happen. TAPER the meds if you have to stop taking them. Antidepressants change the chemistry (SSRI) in your body so it's foreign at first, this is probably why you're having this very common (scary) feeling.  Need support you can always E-mail me (***@****)

[debbie]

HI EVERYONE, I ALSO SUFFER FROM PVC'S I HAVE BEEN TO MY INTERNEST WHO SAYS, OH YOU ARE FINE. MY DAD HAS HEART DISEASE AND HAS HAD ALL KINDS OF WORK DONE, BY PASS, CARATOID ARTERIES HE IS ON 8 MEDS A DAY, SO NATURALLY I WORRY ALOT, WHICH I AM SURE MAKES ME HAVE MORE PVC'S, I AM NOW STARTING MENOPAUSE WHICH I HAVE HEARD INCREASES THE CHANCES OF HAVING THEM ALSO, I DO SOMETIMES TAKE A NATURAL REMDEY CALLED RESCUE REMEDY BY BACH, IT USES NATURAL HERBS AND IT REALLY DOES WORK, ONE TIME A HAD SUCH A BAD PANIC ATTACK, I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO PASS OUT, I TOOK IT AND WITHIN 5 MINUTES I WAS OK, SO ANYONE OUT THERE WHO ISN'T INTO PAXIL, OR VALIUM THIS ONE DOESN'T HAVE ANY SIDE EFFECTS, I HAVE A HARD TIME TAKING MEDICATIONS FOR STRESS OR ANXIETY, I WAS GLAD TO HEAR THAT DRINKING ALOT OF WATER HELPS, I KNOW I DON'T DRINK ENOUGH I WILL TRY IT, GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE OUT THERE!!!

[MikeB]

I've just joined this group having seen the many people suffering from PVC's.

I was plagued by them and thought for a long time that they were the result of my two AVR surgeries in 1982 and 1993.

In 93-95 I had months when I would get 20,000 A DAY (bigeminy, trigeminy etc - sorry if that's the wrong spelling). Life was HELL. The best heart consultants, surgeons, could offer no explanation "They won't kill you" was the frequent reply.

To cut a long, long story short, I was finally properly diagnosed. I had noticed like many PVC letters to this forum, that "indigestion" and digestive discomforts seemed to be a factor. The cause was esophagitis, inflamation caused by acid reflux upsets the vagus nerve and makes the heart jumpy. I started on LOSEC but even that did not finally clear the acid damage enough. I researched may, many articles and began to see a pattern. There ARE a FEW doctors out there (gastro-enterologists AND cardiac consulants) who recognize the connection. Finally, I tried taking antacid mixtures (eg Maalox) VERY regularly. Within two weeks my symptoms practically disappeared. I still take LOSEC. I have LONG periods (months) with no problem. If I neglect my digestion problem (hiatus hernia) the PVC's can flare up. If I resort to Maalox and take care with my eating, I can generally eliminate them within 2-14 days depending upon how long I let them go untreated.
There is much misery from PVC's and I urge sufferers to try the Maalox and possibly LOSEC regime under a doctor's care. Generally take all the precautions recommended to patients with hiatus hernia, for example, raise the head of your bed to avoid reflux acid getting up into your esophagus. If you've been bad for a while, it could take 2-4 weeks for enough healing to take place to test this cause with you.

I wish you GOOD LUCK. If you want more of my story and copies of articles found on the net showing the role of the esophagus as it affects heart rhythm, feel free to e-mail me 70403.***@****.

Mike