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PACs, PVCs, Tachycardia - possibly how to cure them
Most of you know me, I've been suffering from ectopic beats and sinus tachycardia for a couple of years now.
In my struggles to reduce the PACs and sinus tachycardia (PVCs have never been much of an issue in my case, even though some of my PACs feels like PVCs), it seems I have ignored how much of importance both stress, proper nutrition and exercise are.
First thing first, the stress. It's a bit strange, really. I've discovered that you don't necessarily have to feel stressed to be stressed. I had one week vacation now. And I didn't feel a single PAC. Not even before sleep, when they usually appear in large numbers. It seems, if you remove the underlying stress factor, they seem to go away, at least after some time.
Second, I know the last monts, my diet haven't been the best, with too many meals at McDonalds and unfortunately some chocolate now and then. It has caused some tachycardia events, and they tend to appear 30 minutes to one hour after eating. Some time ago, I stopped eating sugar and easy digestable carbs (like white bread) and the tachycardia events were gone. My heart rate got more stable, with less fluctuations. It seems the explaination is, when you eat sugar and white bread, your blood sugar levels increase, and the body responds by producing great amounts of insuline, which, again, makes the blood sugar levels drop. This is considered "dangerous" by the body, which responds by releasing adrenaline to increase blood sugar. And you get tachycardia.
Dark bread, carrots, white meat and fish is excellent. Trust me.
And make sure you get enough exercise. No need to go to the gym 5 times a week, it's obviously enough to go for a walk 30 minutes to 1 hour 3-5 times a week. Try to climb some hills, and/or jog a 2-300 meters now and then. It's a great stress remover.
I suggest that everyone who suffer from PACs/PVCs and other "light" arrhythmias give this some thought. It may actually work!
In my struggles to reduce the PACs and sinus tachycardia (PVCs have never been much of an issue in my case, even though some of my PACs feels like PVCs), it seems I have ignored how much of importance both stress, proper nutrition and exercise are.
First thing first, the stress. It's a bit strange, really. I've discovered that you don't necessarily have to feel stressed to be stressed. I had one week vacation now. And I didn't feel a single PAC. Not even before sleep, when they usually appear in large numbers. It seems, if you remove the underlying stress factor, they seem to go away, at least after some time.
Second, I know the last monts, my diet haven't been the best, with too many meals at McDonalds and unfortunately some chocolate now and then. It has caused some tachycardia events, and they tend to appear 30 minutes to one hour after eating. Some time ago, I stopped eating sugar and easy digestable carbs (like white bread) and the tachycardia events were gone. My heart rate got more stable, with less fluctuations. It seems the explaination is, when you eat sugar and white bread, your blood sugar levels increase, and the body responds by producing great amounts of insuline, which, again, makes the blood sugar levels drop. This is considered "dangerous" by the body, which responds by releasing adrenaline to increase blood sugar. And you get tachycardia.
Dark bread, carrots, white meat and fish is excellent. Trust me.
And make sure you get enough exercise. No need to go to the gym 5 times a week, it's obviously enough to go for a walk 30 minutes to 1 hour 3-5 times a week. Try to climb some hills, and/or jog a 2-300 meters now and then. It's a great stress remover.
I suggest that everyone who suffer from PACs/PVCs and other "light" arrhythmias give this some thought. It may actually work!
If you're not feeling MUCH calmer on Paxil, well, there's a medical maxim: If it's not working, it's either the wrong dose or the wrong drug. People who are anxious need calming meds. To get the best one for me, my shrink had to try at least four. Let me see: There was Celexa, which was very, very calming, so much so that I had trouble getting any work done. I gained significant weight on it, probably because I was half asleep most of the time. Then there was Lexapro, basically a new generation of Celexa, but it was different: it made me more twitchy--and it made chocolate taste like chalk to me. Definitely not the right one. Then there was Paxil, which made me really anxious, and the one that worked best was/is a smallish dose of Zoloft.
Clonazepam is a nice adjunct, I find. That and Lorazepam are particularly useful in getting you over the hump of the several weeks it will take for the SSRI to reach max effectiveness. And, by the way, it's always best to taper slowly--slowly--off any one of these to avoid the 'brain zaps' and other evil effects.
In your situation, I'd go back to my prescribing doc (in my case he's a psychiatrist with a special interest in pharmacology) and ask him for something more sedating, since you still feel pretty worked up. You shouldn't. There's effective stuff out there that will dial things down quite well without turning you into a zombie.
Clonazepam is a nice adjunct, I find. That and Lorazepam are particularly useful in getting you over the hump of the several weeks it will take for the SSRI to reach max effectiveness. And, by the way, it's always best to taper slowly--slowly--off any one of these to avoid the 'brain zaps' and other evil effects.
In your situation, I'd go back to my prescribing doc (in my case he's a psychiatrist with a special interest in pharmacology) and ask him for something more sedating, since you still feel pretty worked up. You shouldn't. There's effective stuff out there that will dial things down quite well without turning you into a zombie.
I think eating more fat has helped to calm down my pvc's,
as i'm one of those people who can eat as much sugar/carbs and not get fat.
I think my body doesn't change enough of the sugar into fat,
so when I don't supply my diet with fat I risk getting too low levels of fat inside my body and probably in and around the heart as well.
In my case, I feel like my body reacts much better to animal fats than the so called healthy vegetable oils.
I use duckfat (goosefat is good too).
It's better to learn to let go of the fear without having to be dependent on psychiatric drugs,
but for some people the psychiatric drugs are probably godsends.
------
Other Triggers for me are:
- too much protein
- too much carbs
- stomach gas
- sleeping on the belly (causes chronic tension in ribcage, which in turn causes increase in pvc's)
- inactivity (causes indigestion, which in turn: increase in pvc's)
as i'm one of those people who can eat as much sugar/carbs and not get fat.
I think my body doesn't change enough of the sugar into fat,
so when I don't supply my diet with fat I risk getting too low levels of fat inside my body and probably in and around the heart as well.
In my case, I feel like my body reacts much better to animal fats than the so called healthy vegetable oils.
I use duckfat (goosefat is good too).
It's better to learn to let go of the fear without having to be dependent on psychiatric drugs,
but for some people the psychiatric drugs are probably godsends.
------
Other Triggers for me are:
- too much protein
- too much carbs
- stomach gas
- sleeping on the belly (causes chronic tension in ribcage, which in turn causes increase in pvc's)
- inactivity (causes indigestion, which in turn: increase in pvc's)
When I have become more fit,
I plan to heavily cut down on carbs and eat more protein/fat to see if this would help
with the pvc's even more.
at heartscanblog by Dr. Davis (he's a cardiologist),
I've read that this is a good technique to prevent Chronic Artery Disease.
I plan to heavily cut down on carbs and eat more protein/fat to see if this would help
with the pvc's even more.
at heartscanblog by Dr. Davis (he's a cardiologist),
I've read that this is a good technique to prevent Chronic Artery Disease.
I hate the pvcs. I have over 4,000 daily (recorded on a good day) and the only thing I can do when i am freaking out is play my guitar. Somehow holding the guitar close and strumming a good (rythm) I cant feel my heart messing up because of the vibration of the guitar. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe you can learn guitar. Too bad I cant play it 24/7! Believe me, on bad days my fingers are KILLING ME! :)
Hello.
You can't differ a PAC from a PVC based on the sensation, if you're not extremely overfocused on your heart rhythm. Some people say PACs feel less bothersome, but I don't think mine does, as some of them tend to fall pretty close to the preceding beat, and (getting technical here) the atrial contraction appears when the valves between atrias and ventricles are shut, causing a nasty backfire of blood that is really uncomfortable.
Anyway: Beta blockers work for some people, but they tend to slow the heart rate, making PVCs more likely. If you are really bothered by them, and they affect your life quality greatly (as seems to be the case for you), you could ask your cardiologist to try more aggressive medications (antiarrhythmics) but you should know those drugs can have somewhat strong side effects. It's something you need to discuss with a cardiologist, not a general practitioner.
It's great they origin from the RV, and it's great they lessen with exercise. It's almost a hallmark sign that they are benign, if your heart is structurally OK.
Your cure for the PVCs is most likely cognitive therapy. You can learn methods of "self-hypnosis" to draw the attention away from your heart. I'm sure hiccups are more bothersome than a PVC based on bodily sensations. But PVCs origin from the heart, the most important of our organs, and they will, of course, be connected to anxiety, no one want our heart to fail. The key is accepting their benign nature, and try not to give them so much attention. Then they are more likely to decrease too.
Don't give up! There is help available.
You can't differ a PAC from a PVC based on the sensation, if you're not extremely overfocused on your heart rhythm. Some people say PACs feel less bothersome, but I don't think mine does, as some of them tend to fall pretty close to the preceding beat, and (getting technical here) the atrial contraction appears when the valves between atrias and ventricles are shut, causing a nasty backfire of blood that is really uncomfortable.
Anyway: Beta blockers work for some people, but they tend to slow the heart rate, making PVCs more likely. If you are really bothered by them, and they affect your life quality greatly (as seems to be the case for you), you could ask your cardiologist to try more aggressive medications (antiarrhythmics) but you should know those drugs can have somewhat strong side effects. It's something you need to discuss with a cardiologist, not a general practitioner.
It's great they origin from the RV, and it's great they lessen with exercise. It's almost a hallmark sign that they are benign, if your heart is structurally OK.
Your cure for the PVCs is most likely cognitive therapy. You can learn methods of "self-hypnosis" to draw the attention away from your heart. I'm sure hiccups are more bothersome than a PVC based on bodily sensations. But PVCs origin from the heart, the most important of our organs, and they will, of course, be connected to anxiety, no one want our heart to fail. The key is accepting their benign nature, and try not to give them so much attention. Then they are more likely to decrease too.
Don't give up! There is help available.
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