skipped beats and fast beats

[Heart3]

Hi DR.
I have had PVC's for at least 9yrs.  Saw Electrophoiologist in Boston and got the same answer as everyone on this site.  DON'T WORRY and live your life.  No restrictions.  Had echo, ekg, holter, and been to the ER a couple of time.  But every DR. says the same thing.  Your heart is healthy don't worry.  

So with that said.

Should people like us take an Asperin every day?

I used to get just PVC's with an occasional odd flutter that would really scare me.  Now I seem to be getting a short speady beat that last only a couple of seconds, but it is different than the pvc.  I felt my pulse and it was beating .......... fast.  And then when back to normal.  Is this of concern?
With the PVC's it beats . . . .    . . . . . .    . . . . .?

And WHEN is the fast beating of concern?  What are the clues that we should get to a hosptal.  And is there any thing we can do to slow it back down on our own while we seek medical help.

I carry atentol (but don't take it) but thought it would be good to have if needed.  Is that something that would slow the heart rate in enough time to get medical help?

This recent different beat, that I am not used to has made me scared again.  I don't want that fear of going somewhere.  I use to avoid things due to the PVC's, and I finally got over that.  Now it had changed, and the fear is coming back.

I could probably go on all day.   These people are a special group, as no one else understands me when I talk about my heart.

Thanks for your time.

[Heart3]

Hi all --  

Speaking about the feeling of the heart stopping, or skipping a beat.  

It is actually  an early beat and then the pause and then the next natural beat.  And the reason for the thud in the chest is because the when the early beat fired, there was just a little blood to pump.  So the pause let the ventrical fill up a little extra and the heart pump harder to get the blood to get out.

[skippyheart]

Great post woodruff - comments like yours help put a lot of minds at ease, especially for pvc "newbies".

Thanks to heart3 also.  The first time I noticed my pvcs, I also thought my heart had stoppped! But once you realize that your "pacemaker" (the SA node) is ticking along fine, you just don't feel the pulse because of the lack of volume, it's less unsettling (mentally - physically of course, it still feels like crud!)

[mom3kids98]

Hello. I too have heart palps and mitral valve prolapse and the pvcs and so on. Had the palps and mvp for 20 years (I am 42). You said the feeling in your throat. Could you be a little more specific on the feeling? I have a symptom like that and I hate that part. It feels like it takes your breath or sensation, it is just weird. Sometimes it isn't just when my heart is palping it just comes and goes in a second but I think my heart triggers it and does something to cause it. Anyone else here have this problem? I take lopressor and the ep doc just put me on rhythmol. Doesn't seem to help the throat thing though. Any thoughts anyone? Joy

[lance1881]

I know where you are coming from as I sometimes feel the same way.  I have a weird beat and I start thinking about it.  Then, those thoughts and stress cause others..it is a vicious cycle.  Or I will have PVCs for days on end then they will stop.  For a day I will be normal.  Then, when they start up again, because I am frustrated that they even started again, it makes it difficult to manage as they alway seem like "different" beats than before.    

To make things easier for me to manage my PVCs I come back to this site and feel comforted to read others posts especially when people chime in and say they have had PVCs for 25 years.  I realize I am not alone and that my life expectancy will not be diminished because of the PVCs unless I let it.

In speaking to my cardiologist, he did say that he never realized how devastating this condition is until a good friend of his started having PVCs and PACs.  He said his friend would call him all hours of the night and day in panic mode.  Because of this he is more sympathetic to me and others that see him with these symptoms.  

Finally, every time I have gone in to have the irregular beats monitored, the doctors just look at me and say, "Yeah, your having PVCs/PACs.  Have a nice day."  

Hang in there.  Have a positive attitude (as hard as that seems) and things will get better.  

Good luck.

[heartygirl]

Blan, I think everyone that has posted on this forum has those thoughts - that's why they are here.  That is why almost every other question on this forum is about PVC's because everyone thinks "mine are different, mine are worse, mine feel like my heart actually stops", so we go on to post the millionth question about PVC's because "mine are different".  
I hope this is reassuring.  I had severe anxiety for about a year because of those exact same thoughts, but I finally got to the point where I hardly think about them anymore, and amazingly once my adrenline rush from the extreme anxiety subsided so did my PVC's!  WoW!  So please take comfort from knowing that we all have felt these same thoughts!  Take care.

[Heart3]

I had thought  about what you mentioned.  Possibly I was having PVC's and it led to the increased heart rate.  --  That could have been the feeling in my chest that led me to feel my pulse at the neck.  And when my heart rate was so fast I got freaked out a little which didn't help the situation.  But it only lasted a few seconds.  

I am so used to feeling the pvc's that I don't even notice them all the time unless it is one of those bigger thumps in the chest.  


F.Y.I    Sometimes we get a bigger thump vs. a little thump because of our heart rate.  I think if your heart is beating slower 60 beats per minute you feel a bigger thump.  and if it is going a little faster 70 to 80 beats per minute, then you don't seem to notice the pvc's as much.  That is just my analogy.