PVCS bad need reassurance please help!!

[mrsboston3122]

Hi there, does anyone on here like my suffer from PVCS or any other heart arrhythmia, I know thats a dumb question? I have PVCS, PACS and SVT and have had this since I was 20 years old. I got my first PVC when I was pregnant with my daughter. Out of all these PVCS are the worse for me. I use to only have one every now and then but since May of last year they have become very frequent and its driving me crazy. I would get them every other beat for 12 hours straight, get a small break and then they would start again, the more I thought of them the worse they got and the more stressed I got the worse they got. I still got them even if I was feeling okay too. It took me a long time (years) to come to terms with these things and even now its a daily struggle. Mine mostly feel like a flutter that takes my breath away or a void, I can feel the pause in my chest like a catch in my heart beat, I also get strings of them (NSVT) I think the most was 24 in a row. I dont get that to often, its mostly singles or 2 or 3 in a row but I will get get the singles up to 30 something a minute when they are bad. Well I got into a good groove where I would only get them if I was upset or 2 excited or a week before my cycle and lasting until a week after my cycle. This month has been bad for me and I am losing my grip. They started up a week before my cycle and never left. I am having them everyday now and I am scared that they are never going to leave and let me tell you I can not handle them like this forever. I had an EP study where they were trying to do an ablation for the SVT in 2006 but they were not able to produce the SVT long enough to map it out so I was left with the option of medication (beta blockers) or just deal with it when it comes kind of thing. I hate this because its making my anxiety fly through the roof. You start with the what ifs?? What if something was missed, what if there really is a bad problem, what if the PVCS start and never stop and it really ***** the energy out of you. I have had all the heart test including a cardiac catherzation when I was 28 but I have had the echo and all that when I was 22 and again when I was 28, stress test, ekgs, holters, event monitors, the works and my heart was found to be structurally normal so they say the PVCS will not kill me but this hard to believe when they feel the way they do. I really am about to lose my cool and I do not want that to happen. Can anyone relate? If so how do you get through a bad bout of them? These things literally took my life away.. I would not even leave my bed, I was so depressed and I just knew I was dying. I still have a hard time with them but nothing like before and I do not want to go back there.. Help...

[itdood]

My Grandmother had ectopics all the time.  I remember her constantly going to the ER for it.  She lived until she was 96.  It wasn't her heart that got her (it was dementia).

[dmacd74]

Elli, you make me feel so hopeful and I actually laughed out loud reading your post!!!  You are absolutely right!  Thank you for writing today - you helped me so much!  I am going on week 5 of bigeminy and I guess it could be worse!!!!

Deb

[Elli126]

Oh yes, Adenosine feels scary as all get out. What adds to the fun is that they have six or so staff members hanging around the bed while they stop your heart and start it again, with the crash cart right outside the door ( where they think you won't notice it ). The only good part for me, is after they do it they pump me full of Ativan ( at my loud and colorful request and after my BP comes back up ) and then I really don't give a s*** what's happening. Tell you what though, its no way to get an Ativan fix. I would be perfectly happy if I never needed another push. I don't know if anyone else with PSVT or SVT gets this, but sometimes even up to a few days before a fun filled visit to the ER, I start to feel weird, like somethings coming. I'm kinda goin through that now but I'm hoping its the menopause YAY another perk of being a woman and an aging woman at that...don't let anybody tell you different, getting old is highly overrated, but I guess a damn site better than the alternative huh? :)

[bbxx]

This might help.
My step grandfather literally dropped dead on the steps leaving his doctors office after being told he was in excellent shape.
My dads knows these two guys. One was told he would be dead of prostate cancer withint a week. Hes been alive and basically well for two years now. The other guy was told they got all the cancer and he would be fine. He died the very next day.
We read stories on the news all the time of some healthy specimen shocking everyone by dying suddenly.
Then, look how many people you know with a million things wrong with them and they seem to live forever.
Just a thought

[Cgd1]

Heh...thanks! You are right. We don't need to let it ruin our lives. Glad we have each other for support. It helps to know that others are experiencing the same things. :-)

[Cgd1]

Your post gave me a good chuckle. I can't imagine having to endure Adonosine. I have read that it feels very scary and makes your heart pause for a really long time. You are right, living in fear is not living at all. I hope that I can adopt your attitude toward this soon.

[dolphin8808]

LOL! LOVE your posts and how true that is, this is scary for all of us, and hell yes our anxiety and panic adds to it no matter.... But we can accept it, and not let it ruin our lives. :)

[Elli126]

You have no idea how many times I sat paralyzed with fear afraid to make a move, thinking that my heart would just run away into crazy beats or just stop, sudden death syndrome. I was going through everything you are going through now, and that was when I was only having the PVCs/PACs than about 2 years ago I started with the PSVT and I've been to he ER about half a dozen times for an Adonosine push for cardioversion. The scariest crap EVER! I finally said ( after a slew of cursewords I can't publish here ) to hell with the S***! The crazy heart, the panic attacks, the FEAR! Its no way to live. I've been dealing with this since my last pregnancy ( I had my last baby at 38 ) and I'm 53 now. Am I gonna live in fear every day for the rest of my life? Well probably, to some extent...we're all going to. But I look at it this way, any thing can happen, at any time- for Chissakes I could go outside and get hit by the proverbial bus ( if we had busses in my neighborhood that is ). My point is, life has no guarantees, I have 3 great kids, a beautiful granddaughter and another due on Thanksgiving. I want to be here to watch them grow up...I WILL be here. Unless they start a bus line in my hood, I don't plan on letting this BS run me off the planet!

[Cgd1]

I'm glad you posted that Elli. It is good to know that others understand. I am feeling very defeated right now. I have tried everything I can think of as well. I can't even take a shower now without my heart going over 120bpm and skipping. I'm having episodes that I think are NSVT. I also had one episode where my heart rate went up to about 150 for around a minute. I have also fainted again since my last post. Nothing significant has shown up on my monitors...just the PVCs. So, my EP says it is all anxiety. He, in so many words, said I was lying about the 2 fainting episodes. I have already been to 3 cardiologists and the EP. I am beginning to think I am really just nuts.  The problem is that a few months ago I could exercise and my heart rate barely got to 120. Now it does so upon standing. I don't do anything anymore because of the horrible feelings it brings on. I just sit around all day and think about it. I haven't been in a store or basically outside of my home much for a month. This is totally destroying my life. My poor family is suffering right along with me. I constantly think about the what ifs. The worst is that I worry that I am experiencing some sort of v-tach and that I will just suddenly die which makes me afraid to move even more.  But, your last paragraph really made me smile. That is what I wanted to post here and of course I got off on my worries. I hope I can adopt some of that fighter attitude fast. :-) I hope we all can.

[Elli126]

I understand how you both feel. I have been going through this for over 20 years. I drove my family nuts with the ER visits. I hate the Adenosine I  have to get to put me back in rythym. I feel EVERY SINGLE missed beat. I too "stalk" this board when I'm going through hell (like now). I live alone and have panic attacks worrying that I'm going to have an episode when no one is around. I know "outsiders" don't understand. I have tried adding and subtracting eveything from my diet, caffeine, chocolate etc, to no avail. I take my Inderal and if I had health insurance and knew ablation was going to work 100% I'd get one.

I also know I won't let this crap beat me. I will come here for moral support and I will keep plugging along until someone figures out an answer to it all.

[dolphin8808]

I am so with all of you and so sorry you are going through all of this, it is awful! It runs our lives, makes us doubt what the doctors say.... I know I wish I could turn back time to when I didn't have these at all :(  But it helps knowing we are all together.... It can stop us in our tracks, put a hold on our lives and make us feel like crying all day everyday but we can't. I know I need to listen to myself on this but we have to live, I feel every PVC, every funky beat..... but when we are old and grey we will chuckle at how much this bothered us.

[bbxx]

Personally if I hadnt heard about magnesium being bad for people with heartblock, I would totally try the magnesium. I wonder if the no magnesium rule is for all heartblock or only 2nd and third. I have the first. The reason being (if I understood it properly) was magnesium slows the heart rate, and in 2nd and 3rd the heart rate is too slow already.
I guess I wonder if it would make first degree heart block worse? I know I have to avoid some meds, like BB for this reason, but the magnesim for me would seem a great thing to try if I was sure it would not cause 1st to become 2nd degree. I have read so much about magnesium and its good effect for migraines also (which I have had). I guess I will ask on the doctor site when I am allowed to do that again.

[Red_Star]

"Magnesium deficiency can manifest itself in a wide variety of ways, from muscle cramps (usually calves, toes, and fingers), erratic blood sugars, higher blood pressure, to heart rhythm problems. The abnormal heart rhythms that can arise due to magnesium deficiency include premature atrial contractions, premature ventricular contractions, multifocal atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, and even ventricular tachycardia, fibrillation, and Torsade de Pointes (all potentially fatal). Magnesium is important!

Dr. Davis,

A few months ago, I contacted you inquiring if you had written any articles on arrhythmia. You were generous enough to answer and guide me to an LEF article you'd written in which you stressed fish oil and magnesium. I had been suffering with bad PVCs [premature ventricular contractions] for over 20 years, and they had gotten so bad recently that I was told my next options were ablation or pacemaker!

I was already on fish oil and had not seen any difference, and so I researched the magnesium you suggested more thoroughly and found a huge body of studies supportng its effect on arrhythmia. I also read many posts on heart forums with people having success with it. After getting advice from various bloggers, I tried magnesium taurate in the morning and Natural Calm (an ionized form of mag citrate) in the afternoon and evening. Within three days the PVCs were quite diminished and by 2 weeks totally gone! As long as I keep taking it, they never return---not even one irregular blip---even when I drink strong coffee! The magnesium also cleared up my restless leg syndrome, my eye twitching, and insomnia. (Apparently, I was the poster-girl for magnesium deficiency.)

I am so angry that after all these years of suffering, trying various medications, and seeing at least 4 different cardiologists that NOT ONE ever even mentioned trying magnesium. The generosity of the few minutes you took to answer my email and steer me in a helpful direction brought me total relief.

Thank you SO MUCH!

Warmly,
Catherine C."

http://www.medpedia.com/news_analysis/68-The-Heart-Scan-Blog/entries/18081-Magnesium-and-arrhythmia

[Cgd1]

Sorry for the delay in response. I have been out of sorts for a week or so. My pvc's have once again changed and I am not having episodes where my heart just starts racing and I have multiple pvc's while it is racing. I passed out yesterday and now I am frightened beyond words. I am scheduled to see an EP next week. For the past 3 months, honestly, my life has been much the same as yours. I don't have children, but I am driving my husband and parents crazy. All I do is cry most of the time now. My daily routine has changed. I used to clean, work, and get some me time in. Now, I stay with my parents everyday for fear something bad will happen. My husband, like yours, has been by my side 100%. But, he too, is getting tired of it. His father just passed away in January and then I started having significant issues around the end of March. He has to work 60 plus hours a week and he needs me more than ever. I feel like a complete and total failure because I am unable to be there for him. I have contemplated suicide as well. No one can truly understand how these things feel unless they have experienced them. Also, some people who have them are way more anxious than others which adds to the misery. I have suffered from anxiety since I was a teen. I thought all of my life I already had something life threatening. Now to have something that feels life threatening is making me shut down. I pray daily for strength, but can't seem to muster any up most of the time. I am sorry that you have to go through this. I am sorry that anyone has to. I wish you the best of luck and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Please feel free to message me anytime if you need someone to talk to. >hugs< :-)

[mrsboston3122]

I know your frustration, while leaving the pool store today I had three in a row.. I tried to stay calm but it stayed on my mind all day! It scares me because I notice that the older I get and the more time that goes by these things get worse and worse. I am just so afraid that they are going to come and never leave. I can not handle these things but I try and be brave and stay calm, I think to myself that things will get better but they aren't! I know that there are people out there that would probably take my PVCS over there cancer and I try to think that way, like well it could be worse but to me when they happen nothing is worse! I was on an anxiety bored yesterday telling everyone how I felt about them and this one girl just kept going on and on about how everyone has them and that you can make your self have one just by breathing in and that people that have them make them out to be more then what they are. She was saying how PVCS are 3 beats, just a bunch of nonsense information so I asked her if she ever had one that she felt? She said no and that none of us do either that its just our imagination. I went on on to tell her that I have been on the monitor in the hospital and actually told the nurse when I had one. She went and pulled the strips and sure enough they were on there. I told her that sense she has never felt one that she really should not comment about it and that she was insensitive and logged off. The whole thing made me very upset because people that do not have to go through what we do have no idea what its like. These PVCS bout ruined my life. I was afraid to leave my house, I didn't do anything with my kids, love my husband the way I should have and at one point thought of killing myself because all I ever thought about were PVCS. No one that I know feels these and if they do they are nothing like mine, so I had no one to talk to, No one to understand what it was like, even my husband started getting tired of hearing me talk about them.I pretty much lived in the ER and he stayed by my side, night after night in the ER. I felt so sorry for him. He stood by my side and I love him for that. So anyway it just ***** that people who dont understand make silly comments.

[Mom2four85]

I know it's not easy to deal with them, especially when you have a family history of heart problems.  I wish I had answers but I'm struggling myself daily to cope with what's going on.  The thing I try to remember is, no matter what I'm going through there's always someone else going through something worse and talking to others does help.

You know had I not kept asking what if and badgering my doctors for answers I may not have known that HOCM is a great possibility and that's what my original EP diagnosed me with.  If you don't ask questions how do you ever know the answer? so keep asking your dr's to find what's wrong; that's what you pay for isn't it?

Anxiety and stress will only make our lives more difficult, so if you can find a way to deal with this through help with meds, talking to someone, meditation, exercise, or whatever works for you that will help calm your nerves.

Have you had your hormones checked? sounds like maybe something GYN related and your dr may be able to help with checking them.  My dr wants to put me in medical menopause because my hormones are rampant and keep causing me problems, I'm just hesitant to do it but others do say it helps.  

Plus, next week I'll be seeing a psych dr to see if they can help me cope with what's going on - I went over the limit I said I could handle and I just fell apart, everything did including my marriage.  Luckily, my husband is a strong guy mentally because I put on a brave face and ignored my mental health for way too long.  My family didn't see I was bothered becaus to them my 'brave' face meant I was ok.

I hope you get some answers; take care of yourself

[Cgd1]

That was supposed to be "I am NOW obsessing over the report." Heh...obviously...I accidentally put "not obsessiong"...I wish I wasn't ;-)

[Cgd1]

I understand how you feel. I have been having a hard time lately as well. I first started noticing my PVCs when I was in my late 20's. I went to the doctor and was prescribed Tenoretic (atenolol and diuretic combo) to help ease the PVCs and control my high bp. It worked fine until about 6 months ago. I am almost 35 now. I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and was put on birth control to help with a thickened uterine lining. It seems as if that one move made my palps change drastically or either just made what was already there more noticeable. I am now having pauses in my heartbeat which actually wake me up at night. I am convinced as well that it is the worst and the doctors haven't caught it. I got back an event monitor report today that said I have sinus arrythmia, sinus bradycardia, PVCs, and sinus tachycardia. I am not obsessing over all of that. But, you know, everyone, including my doctor, tell me it will be ok. My mom gave me some really good advice. She said "Let's just say that the worst is true. That somehow in all of those tests they somehow missed something. Would you want to know you lived your last second, minute, hour, day, month, years lying around crying or would you want to know that you lived it to the fullest." She also said...You are going to live to be 80 and look back and see that you wasted your life away on What ifs. Now, let me say, I have a hard time following her advice to let go. My life has changed too. I'm afraid to be alone so I make excuses to visit my parents. I'm afraid to clean when I'm alone so I make excuses until my husband is home. I cry night and day and ask why over and over. And I definitely feel the symptoms, second to second. But, the truth is that my mom is right, even though I can't follow her advice. Plus the anxiety can't be good for our conditions either. So, I have been trying to get away from thinking about it for a minute, 2 minutes, whatever amount of time I can. Each day I'm trying to extend that. Today I haven't done so good. I have stalked this board like crazy hoping some magical sentence or post will solve all of my problems. It isn't. But, sometimes that's just how I am. I accept that today I am obsessive. But, tomorrow I will try again and I will keep trying.  Keep trying. Don't give up. Hug your daughter and while doing so make your mind up to enjoy the hug. :-) You will survive. You just have to train yourself to believe it too. ;-)