Aa
Does anyone else get frequent PVCs (bigeminy/trigeminy) ONLY in the evening and before falling asleep?
I've been diagnosed with PVCs. I rarely experience them during the day and never when exercising. I can't even really find a correlation between caffeine/alcohol and them (although I never consume anything caffeinated). I exercise regularly. And I never experience them when exercising.
However, when I do get the PVCs, they come every other beat or almost every other beat non-stop for hours. This bigeminy and trigeminy always occurs in the evening, sometime around 7 or 8 as I'm settling down from dinner and a trip to the gym. As I let my mind and body relax, the PVCs get more frequent and eventually as I lay down to get to sleep the PVCs occur at nearly every other beat.
Lately, I haven't been able to take this at night, so I will jump out of bed and furiously pump out about 50 push-ups without stopping. This gets my heart rate up quite a bit, maybe around 80 or 90 bpm. The PVCs are totally gone in what I understand is called "overdrive suppression". This works every time and sometimes if I'm lucky, will keep the PVCs at bay just long enough for me to fall asleep.
What is really interesting, is that the PVCs don't wake me up, and I'm not even sure they are occurring when I'm unconscious. I have woken up early in the morning before my alarm clock goes off, or even in the middle of the night now and then and have not felt one PVC. It seems that once I'm unconscious, these are also suppressed, or I'm just super relaxed and the heart pumps without anything irritating it to cause a PVC.
Two questions:
1) Has anyone experienced or is experiencing anything like this at all?
2) These facts are always true, and the PVCs are not that random. Don't these symptoms point to a clear cause?? My PVCs occur at slower heart rates so Beta Blockers don't work. And ablation seems extreme still. No other solutions?
Thanks in advance for any insights!
Can't sleep :(
Erik
However, when I do get the PVCs, they come every other beat or almost every other beat non-stop for hours. This bigeminy and trigeminy always occurs in the evening, sometime around 7 or 8 as I'm settling down from dinner and a trip to the gym. As I let my mind and body relax, the PVCs get more frequent and eventually as I lay down to get to sleep the PVCs occur at nearly every other beat.
Lately, I haven't been able to take this at night, so I will jump out of bed and furiously pump out about 50 push-ups without stopping. This gets my heart rate up quite a bit, maybe around 80 or 90 bpm. The PVCs are totally gone in what I understand is called "overdrive suppression". This works every time and sometimes if I'm lucky, will keep the PVCs at bay just long enough for me to fall asleep.
What is really interesting, is that the PVCs don't wake me up, and I'm not even sure they are occurring when I'm unconscious. I have woken up early in the morning before my alarm clock goes off, or even in the middle of the night now and then and have not felt one PVC. It seems that once I'm unconscious, these are also suppressed, or I'm just super relaxed and the heart pumps without anything irritating it to cause a PVC.
Two questions:
1) Has anyone experienced or is experiencing anything like this at all?
2) These facts are always true, and the PVCs are not that random. Don't these symptoms point to a clear cause?? My PVCs occur at slower heart rates so Beta Blockers don't work. And ablation seems extreme still. No other solutions?
Thanks in advance for any insights!
Can't sleep :(
Erik
Hi, I just found this thread in an internet search. I'm a 66 year old male who has been treated for afib for five years now. Recently I started having bouts of pvc's -- in the evening! They always start right after dinner and sometimes continue for hours. I like some others have noticed that if I do some strenuous exercise, they let up. Hate to have to admit this, but sexual activity seems to stop them as well.
Like you I was getting frightened at having them one after an other. Bigemy, Trigemy whatever it's called. I take both flecainide and metoprolol for my afib. Funny but I haven't had an attack of afib since the first one! But I have always had pvc's, even when I was in my twenties and thirties. I was always told they were benign, and to ignore them. Easy for the doctor to tell you! I do notice that if I'm distracted, I either don't notice them or they go away. These latest episodes though are just like yours. They start like clockwork about seven in the evening and continue until I go to bed, most of the time. I don't always have them. I also notice that if I get stressed out, they happen. I was doing some work on my house this past weekend. I was very frustrated, and my 94 year old mother was acting like the inspector general, telling me the time every five minutes! Suddenly I felt a tightening in my chest, and they started big time. I almost panicked, but called my doctors office an left a message. He called back and told me to take an extra dose of metoprolol. It seemed to help. I saw him yesterday, and he upped my dosage to 1/2 tab twice a day. I will see if it helps. Last night I still had the pvc's, they just seemed less strong than usual. I will see what happens. It was comforting to read this thread, and know I am not the only one with this problem. Like others have said, I have to realize these will not harm you. Otherwise I would be dead by now.
Like you I was getting frightened at having them one after an other. Bigemy, Trigemy whatever it's called. I take both flecainide and metoprolol for my afib. Funny but I haven't had an attack of afib since the first one! But I have always had pvc's, even when I was in my twenties and thirties. I was always told they were benign, and to ignore them. Easy for the doctor to tell you! I do notice that if I'm distracted, I either don't notice them or they go away. These latest episodes though are just like yours. They start like clockwork about seven in the evening and continue until I go to bed, most of the time. I don't always have them. I also notice that if I get stressed out, they happen. I was doing some work on my house this past weekend. I was very frustrated, and my 94 year old mother was acting like the inspector general, telling me the time every five minutes! Suddenly I felt a tightening in my chest, and they started big time. I almost panicked, but called my doctors office an left a message. He called back and told me to take an extra dose of metoprolol. It seemed to help. I saw him yesterday, and he upped my dosage to 1/2 tab twice a day. I will see if it helps. Last night I still had the pvc's, they just seemed less strong than usual. I will see what happens. It was comforting to read this thread, and know I am not the only one with this problem. Like others have said, I have to realize these will not harm you. Otherwise I would be dead by now.
Hi i see how ur dealing with this i been dealing with this for many years now but this past 5 months its been worst an i feel the same way as you if my wife will get tired and just give up on me. THIS is NOT a SOLUTION but sence i been dealing with this lately when i just need a good day or a couple of days i take a 1mg ativa/ lorazepam this is a muscle relaxent and i dnt kno how it wrks but it does for me i can have my day compleatly back and have a good day so if u want to have a peacefull day this might help at least ti we can find some that helps us compleatly
Hi i see how ur dealing with this i been dealing with this for many years now but this past 5 months its been worst an i feel the same way as you if my wife will get tired and just give up on me. THIS is NOT a SOLUTION but sence i been dealing with this lately when i just need a good day or a couple of days i take a 1mg ativa/ lorazepam this is a muscle relaxent and i dnt kno how it wrks but it does for me i can have my day compleatly back and have a good day so if u want to have a peacefull day this might help at least ti we can find some that helps us compleatly
I'm a 40 year old female medical provider and have pretty much continuous Bigeminy (every other beat is a PVC) for years. I want to reasure you that it is perfectly OK and nothing to worry about. They are harmless and I wouldn't bother taking meds for it. I have just learned to ignore them and continue to live a normal life. My greatgrandfather had them and he lived to 103 years old...he didn't worry about them either
You sound somewhat like i did years ago. I believe mine was partly menopause. Now that i've finally over that hump things are better. I did drink coffee at around 5pm and that helped so much. I think what it did was change the speed at which my heart would beat thus keeping it from skipping around. It worked about 75% of the time. I'd still have episodes,but it did seem to limit them.
Then, i started having them again but not quite as forceful as when i was getting them with menopause. I also started having a slight pinch in my ribs. I found when that pinch was bothersome, my heart would also skip around.
Finally when i had something go out in my shoulder, i went to a chiropractor. He fixed my shoulder and also got that pinch out of my rib. When the pinch was out of my rib, so was the skipped beats. Found out there is a nerve in that part of your spine that controls your heart rhythm. I was also getting heartburn when i was getting this rib pinch. Fixed it all. Other than when i'm under a lot of stress or i can tell my hormones are shuffling around, my heart is quiet.
The day he got that pinch out of my back, the next day it came back. It had been there for years so it only figures it would pop right back into where it wasnt suppose to be. I thought, i cant run back to the chiropractor every time that pinch come back. So i thought back at how he got it out. Figured out a way and now i pop it by myself. I have a 1 foot section of a swimming noodle, i sit on the floor with it behind me, i lay back where the noodle crossed my spine where i felt the pop at the chiropractors office. I gently lay back on the noodle until i hear a pop. I do not do this unless i feel the pinch in my rib. And as long as i do this, i am almost free of skipped beats. My heart is so quiet, its wonderful.....I am a high strung person, and i know when i will get any heart flutter,its usually when i'm stirred up or hormonal..No more of the hours at bedtime of endless hours of flips and flops..
Then, i started having them again but not quite as forceful as when i was getting them with menopause. I also started having a slight pinch in my ribs. I found when that pinch was bothersome, my heart would also skip around.
Finally when i had something go out in my shoulder, i went to a chiropractor. He fixed my shoulder and also got that pinch out of my rib. When the pinch was out of my rib, so was the skipped beats. Found out there is a nerve in that part of your spine that controls your heart rhythm. I was also getting heartburn when i was getting this rib pinch. Fixed it all. Other than when i'm under a lot of stress or i can tell my hormones are shuffling around, my heart is quiet.
The day he got that pinch out of my back, the next day it came back. It had been there for years so it only figures it would pop right back into where it wasnt suppose to be. I thought, i cant run back to the chiropractor every time that pinch come back. So i thought back at how he got it out. Figured out a way and now i pop it by myself. I have a 1 foot section of a swimming noodle, i sit on the floor with it behind me, i lay back where the noodle crossed my spine where i felt the pop at the chiropractors office. I gently lay back on the noodle until i hear a pop. I do not do this unless i feel the pinch in my rib. And as long as i do this, i am almost free of skipped beats. My heart is so quiet, its wonderful.....I am a high strung person, and i know when i will get any heart flutter,its usually when i'm stirred up or hormonal..No more of the hours at bedtime of endless hours of flips and flops..
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