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PVCs are driving me nuts
Hi,
I'm new to this forum so please bear with me. I have had pvcs for about 26 years. They never really were bothersome until 1996. I had never went to a cardiologist, but I did this time because they
were just going insane. The doctor gave me an EKG,echogram,bloodwork and a stress test. I also wore a holter monitor for 24 hrs. Everything came back normal except for the holter monitor. It recorded 6,300 pvcs in 24 hrs. He told me that they were benign and would not damage my heart or shorten my life. He put me on a beta blocker called metoprolol 50 mg tablets and Xanax for the anxiety which is really bad. I these meds for 2 months then wore another holter monitor for 24 hrs. It recorded 4,500 pvcs. So the meds helped but didn't stop them like I thought they would. My doctor said the pvcs were like a record with a deep scratch in it, eventually the needle on the record player would wear down the scratch and the record would play. He said the same thing about my heart in that eventually it would right itself and the pvcs would stop. I don't mean completely but to maybe 2 or 3 a day or maybe none. Well that's what happend. But now they are back. Just like in 1996, but this time if I lay down on my right side they go away completely, I mean none at all until I get up and start moving around. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, walking, sitting or just being active. I also have a pattern sometimes where I will get a pvc on every 3rd heartbeat 3 times in a row. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, they just start when they want to. This has been going on for 11 days now. I called my cardiologist and he doesn't seem concerned. I don't get dizzy or lightheaded, I don't have shortness of breath and I have no chest pain. I'm on the same meds I was on in 1996, but they seem to have no effect. Except for the xanax which does calm me down. Is there anything I can do to calm these things down to a more exceptable level any advice would be helpful.
from rgrab
I'm new to this forum so please bear with me. I have had pvcs for about 26 years. They never really were bothersome until 1996. I had never went to a cardiologist, but I did this time because they
were just going insane. The doctor gave me an EKG,echogram,bloodwork and a stress test. I also wore a holter monitor for 24 hrs. Everything came back normal except for the holter monitor. It recorded 6,300 pvcs in 24 hrs. He told me that they were benign and would not damage my heart or shorten my life. He put me on a beta blocker called metoprolol 50 mg tablets and Xanax for the anxiety which is really bad. I these meds for 2 months then wore another holter monitor for 24 hrs. It recorded 4,500 pvcs. So the meds helped but didn't stop them like I thought they would. My doctor said the pvcs were like a record with a deep scratch in it, eventually the needle on the record player would wear down the scratch and the record would play. He said the same thing about my heart in that eventually it would right itself and the pvcs would stop. I don't mean completely but to maybe 2 or 3 a day or maybe none. Well that's what happend. But now they are back. Just like in 1996, but this time if I lay down on my right side they go away completely, I mean none at all until I get up and start moving around. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, walking, sitting or just being active. I also have a pattern sometimes where I will get a pvc on every 3rd heartbeat 3 times in a row. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, they just start when they want to. This has been going on for 11 days now. I called my cardiologist and he doesn't seem concerned. I don't get dizzy or lightheaded, I don't have shortness of breath and I have no chest pain. I'm on the same meds I was on in 1996, but they seem to have no effect. Except for the xanax which does calm me down. Is there anything I can do to calm these things down to a more exceptable level any advice would be helpful.
from rgrab
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/328341
This is the link to the other magnesium information thread.
Take care.
This is the link to the other magnesium information thread.
Take care.
Hi there. There is information about magnesium all over the forum right now. Seems to be a hot topic :-). One link is http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/353019 and another is a thread that is titled Celeste77 from sugarpea. As is stated in MANY of these posts, Magnesium is not a silver bullet. It seems to work for some people and not for others. In some cases, it may be a placebo effect that is doing the most work, and I will fully admit that may be the case with myself. You see, when these things start to really bother you, you begin to realize that you will try just about anything to make them go away. Magnesium is cheap and it's recommended by many doctors (mine suggested I try...but didn't promise anything) as a possible course of action, so I tried it. It may well not do a thing for me, but since my PVC's are currently a sidebar in my life and not at the forefront, I figure why mess with a good thing? I take 3 tablets of Mg citrate daily (as recommended on the supplement bottle).
I will say one thing that many do not bring up on this forum however. If you are planning to use magnesium and/or potassium supplements be sure to mention this to your doctor. While Mg and K in high levels is excreted from the body in the urine, very high doses CAN be dangerous. So, feeding yourself half a bottle of supplements in order to make your PVC's go away isn't a really good idea. Also, depending on your specific circumstances, and the medicines you are currently taking different levels of the supplement to suit your situation is adviseable. If you don't want to talk to your doctor, ask your pharmacist.
I would also advise that you be careful with the "decaf." Decaffeinated coffee, in MANY cases, contains approximately 40% of the caffeine as regular coffee. And "light" coffee has as much as 75% of the caffeine as regular coffee. Also, chocolate contains a caffeine related molecule that can cause similar cardiac responses, so be careful to avoid chocolate if you are having a particularly rough bout with PVC's.
As for positional PVC's, I have to say that laying on my right side makes them much more noticeable for me. But, when they are being particularly annoying it really doesn't matter how I lay...they bother me.
I understand your frustration though. Sometimes you can live your life on the extremely careful, no caffeine, no chocolate, no fearful encounters, no nothing, and the PVC's are on you like a vengeance. Then there are other times when you can be going along drinking 2 cups of regular coffee a day along with sodas and whatever else and you don't notice them at all. I'm not really sure that Magnesium does anything "real" for me, but since it seems to work I use it. I'm not sure that drinking little to no caffeine really does much, but who wants to tempt fate by dousing my system with revving caffeine drinks?
I know one thing to be absolutely true and necessary. You MUST get a decent amount of sleep every night. If you are run down, tired, or nursing an illness, you WILL have increased PVC's. If you sleep 12 hours today, but only 3 tomorrow, you WILL have a hard time with PVC's. If you are stressed and wakeful throughout the night, your PVC's WILL bother you. I think the number ONE link to increased PVC's in my life is inadequate sleep, and EVERYONE on here has mentioned that sleep plays a MAJOR role in their symptoms. So, get your rest.
Take care.
I will say one thing that many do not bring up on this forum however. If you are planning to use magnesium and/or potassium supplements be sure to mention this to your doctor. While Mg and K in high levels is excreted from the body in the urine, very high doses CAN be dangerous. So, feeding yourself half a bottle of supplements in order to make your PVC's go away isn't a really good idea. Also, depending on your specific circumstances, and the medicines you are currently taking different levels of the supplement to suit your situation is adviseable. If you don't want to talk to your doctor, ask your pharmacist.
I would also advise that you be careful with the "decaf." Decaffeinated coffee, in MANY cases, contains approximately 40% of the caffeine as regular coffee. And "light" coffee has as much as 75% of the caffeine as regular coffee. Also, chocolate contains a caffeine related molecule that can cause similar cardiac responses, so be careful to avoid chocolate if you are having a particularly rough bout with PVC's.
As for positional PVC's, I have to say that laying on my right side makes them much more noticeable for me. But, when they are being particularly annoying it really doesn't matter how I lay...they bother me.
I understand your frustration though. Sometimes you can live your life on the extremely careful, no caffeine, no chocolate, no fearful encounters, no nothing, and the PVC's are on you like a vengeance. Then there are other times when you can be going along drinking 2 cups of regular coffee a day along with sodas and whatever else and you don't notice them at all. I'm not really sure that Magnesium does anything "real" for me, but since it seems to work I use it. I'm not sure that drinking little to no caffeine really does much, but who wants to tempt fate by dousing my system with revving caffeine drinks?
I know one thing to be absolutely true and necessary. You MUST get a decent amount of sleep every night. If you are run down, tired, or nursing an illness, you WILL have increased PVC's. If you sleep 12 hours today, but only 3 tomorrow, you WILL have a hard time with PVC's. If you are stressed and wakeful throughout the night, your PVC's WILL bother you. I think the number ONE link to increased PVC's in my life is inadequate sleep, and EVERYONE on here has mentioned that sleep plays a MAJOR role in their symptoms. So, get your rest.
Take care.
It seems to me that is doesn't matter what I eat or drink. I drink coffee with caffine only in the morning
the rest of the day I drink decaffinated coffee. But this does not seem to matter because they are just
as bad with or without the caffine. There are nights that I only have 1 or 2 skips all night compared to during the day when they are really active. During the day I have 3 or 4 hearbeats then a skip or pause or extra beat whatever you want to call them. This can go on for 3 or 4 minutes then my heart will go back to its regular beats. I also have a zillion single ones during the day. I heard the pvcs can be positional, what I mean is it could be the way you sit or certain movements. I also would like to know how many milligrams magnesium you take. I just started taking a potassium aspartate capsules, they are 99 Mgs each. I take 1 at lunch and I take a multivitamin tablet at dinner which has 100 Mgs of potassium in them. I've only been taking them for 2 days so far. There is magnesium in the multivitamins I take which is 100 Mgs is this ok or should I take more. Any help would be grateful.
the rest of the day I drink decaffinated coffee. But this does not seem to matter because they are just
as bad with or without the caffine. There are nights that I only have 1 or 2 skips all night compared to during the day when they are really active. During the day I have 3 or 4 hearbeats then a skip or pause or extra beat whatever you want to call them. This can go on for 3 or 4 minutes then my heart will go back to its regular beats. I also have a zillion single ones during the day. I heard the pvcs can be positional, what I mean is it could be the way you sit or certain movements. I also would like to know how many milligrams magnesium you take. I just started taking a potassium aspartate capsules, they are 99 Mgs each. I take 1 at lunch and I take a multivitamin tablet at dinner which has 100 Mgs of potassium in them. I've only been taking them for 2 days so far. There is magnesium in the multivitamins I take which is 100 Mgs is this ok or should I take more. Any help would be grateful.
Yep, that's that crazy world of pvcs. They make us nuts for days, weeks, months; they're' all but gone for awhile; then they're back with a vengeance, no rhyme or reason many of the times. That's the craziest part. Those of us who have battled these dogged gone things are often baffled by the appearance and disappearance. Then, there's the anxiety that sometimes evolves because of the pvcs, or vice-versa.
For me, triggers seemed to be lack of sleep, MSG, caffeine, large or heavy meals and occasionally, anxiety. Magnesium and postassium were not problems in my case, but like dolfnlvr said, they can be catalysts for others.
Beta blockers are meant to suppress or "deaden" the pvcs. Xanax will make it so you really don't care too much about them. Xanax sometimes helps, but you have to be careful b/c it can be addictive. At one point in time, my internist prescribed Xanax daily to see if it would help with the anxiety. Very quickly, I noticed I had to increase the dose for the same effect. I stopped taking it, and now I use it 6-12 times/year for plane trips and other higher stress events. If the doctor could have stopped the pvcs, I probably wouldn't have needed the Xanax -- but that's the million dollar question -- HOW? Learning to live WITH them is probably the best thing to try and do...For whatever reason, your seem to have come on like a "storm." They will probably disappear at some point, only to come back....Like dolfnlvr said, stick around...we'll be here to help you through the "storm."
For me, triggers seemed to be lack of sleep, MSG, caffeine, large or heavy meals and occasionally, anxiety. Magnesium and postassium were not problems in my case, but like dolfnlvr said, they can be catalysts for others.
Beta blockers are meant to suppress or "deaden" the pvcs. Xanax will make it so you really don't care too much about them. Xanax sometimes helps, but you have to be careful b/c it can be addictive. At one point in time, my internist prescribed Xanax daily to see if it would help with the anxiety. Very quickly, I noticed I had to increase the dose for the same effect. I stopped taking it, and now I use it 6-12 times/year for plane trips and other higher stress events. If the doctor could have stopped the pvcs, I probably wouldn't have needed the Xanax -- but that's the million dollar question -- HOW? Learning to live WITH them is probably the best thing to try and do...For whatever reason, your seem to have come on like a "storm." They will probably disappear at some point, only to come back....Like dolfnlvr said, stick around...we'll be here to help you through the "storm."
There are a myriad of philosophies and techniques for dealing with these things, yet they can persist no matter. Then, out of nowhere, with no apparent change in behavior or habit they can disappear for long stretches of time. Some have suggested keeping a diary to note the foods/activities that seem to go along with the onset of a particularly troublesome bout. Others suggest taking Omega-3 oil supplements or magnesium supplements. Most of us know that we MUST get at least 8 hours of sleep to keep them at a minimal level, and we all agree that, though anxiety may not have been the original trigger, it doesn't help them go away either. Caffiene is a no-no for the most part, and chocolate, smoking and alcohol aren't really helpful either.
For me, the magnesium and beta blockers do the most to keep them in the background instead of the forefront of my life. However, I've been through the bad bouts as well, and usually it's nothing I've done or do. They come, they torment me, make me think they'll never go away this time, then finally subside....so far. I still worry at times that they won't "subside" but thankfully, that hasn't happened yet.
As you go through this particular bout, feel free to come on the board and vent, ask questions, or just read. It helps.
Take care,
For me, the magnesium and beta blockers do the most to keep them in the background instead of the forefront of my life. However, I've been through the bad bouts as well, and usually it's nothing I've done or do. They come, they torment me, make me think they'll never go away this time, then finally subside....so far. I still worry at times that they won't "subside" but thankfully, that hasn't happened yet.
As you go through this particular bout, feel free to come on the board and vent, ask questions, or just read. It helps.
Take care,
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