Arrhythmia

[diggles232]

Hi Doctor.  I have a couple of questions for you.

- Normal heart with maybe 10 - 20 skips per day.  Is that okay to have in normal heart?
- I usually get my first skip when I am waking up in the morning and that sets me off for all day on guard about when the next one will happen.  I really figure in my head that I have some sort of fatal arrhythmia.  When people drop from arrhythmia is due to a diseased heart or just irregular rhythm?
- Cardio checked me out thoroughly and says nothing is wrong with my heart and just live with the skips.  Does she know what she is talking about or is she just sluffing me off?  Or could she be missing something?
- Have major stress over this heart skipping thing.  Would beta blocker help or should I be seeking a physiologist instead?
- Is it true that if you put a monitor on 10 people out there that everyone would have 10 - 20 PVC's and PAC's a day?  If you were to have one on yourself how many would you have and would you worry about them?
- Sometimes get a skip every other beat.  Horrible feeling to say the least!  Does that sound normal to you?  Nobody I know has these feelings except me (lucky me huh).  
- Seems the skips got worse after I had my first child.  Is that possible that having a child could have done something to it?  I remember have a ton of skips when I was pregnant but thought they would go away after having the baby.  Unfortunately they never did.

[LukeL]

I will tell you something a doctor on the other heart board told me. Winston Churchill once said: "I recall the old man on his deathbed who said 'I had a lot of worries in my life, many of which never happened'"

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

PVCs with a normal EKG and echo is not associated with a significant increased risk of cardiavascular events.

It is true that almost everyone has PACs and PVCs a day, most people do not feel them or ignore them. Some people are much more sensitive to them.

A beta blocker may help decrease the symptoms and might be worth a shot.  The same is true for calcium channel blockers.  If medications don't improve it, I would recommend conservative treatment.  Procedures are reserved for very symptomatic patients with a good likelihood of a successful procedure.

PACs and PVCs can increase in frequency around pregnancy and post partum.  It often gets better.

If you read back in the posts, you will find that you are clearly not alone.  This is a very common problem and your concerns are common.  I agree with what your doctor told -- these are very low risk.  People with normal hearts do not drop from PVCs.  I rarely get PVCs.  I don't know how many I would have and I know not to worry about them.

If you are concerned you can ask for a second opinion, but I think the second opinion will agree as well.

I hope this helps.