Skipped Beats - Normal Heart???

[1961crl]

I have gone through all sorts of testing for skipped beats.  From what they tell me it appears that I may be having occasional extra-systoles.  I believe my doctor said something like “occasional and random”.  These are atrial and ventricular type.  I would like a clear definition of what “OCCASIONAL”  and “RAMDOM” is?  I get probably a handful of these a day and feel each and every one of them.  

If you were to holter any random person would these individuals have daily skipped beats as well and not be aware of them?  I suppose my question is I would consider occasional to be every couple of weeks or so.  I suppose what my doctor has deemed occasional is a skip every hour or so.  What is your comment on this?  Thank you!!!!!

[abc85]

Yes if you were to put a Holter on most people, you would find that they would have premature beats of some kind, most likely ventricular ones.  Most people do not notice them though, although some do.  They are generally considered benign, although 6 or more premature beats a minute is considered pathological but not necessarily dangerous.  As a person ages, they are more likely to have PVC's (premature ventricular contractions).  There are some things that can trigger them so if you find that yours are linked to a certain trigger then you may be able to reduce them by avoiding that trigger.  Common triggers include caffeine, cigarette smoke, some cold medications, stimulants, certain foods, stress, etc.  If they get more frequent and are more bothersome, you could ask your doctor about medication to suppress them but often those medications can have side effects that are worse than the symptoms produced by the PVC's or the PAC's (premature atrial contractions).

[dmacd74]

Even when I was gavin 17K plus pvcs a day, my doctor was not concerned and kept telling me that they were benign.  I had had many echocardiograms and stress tests, among other tests, so he knew I did not have underlying heart disease.  He always suggested an ablation because he knew I felt every single skip and that it was torturing me.  After 15 years I finally had the ablation and now feel great.  No skips.  But he never rushed me to decide to have an ablation due to the fact that he knew they weren't going to harm me.  I think now there is the thinking that ablation is appropriate when people feel their pvcs and they have upwards of 20K per day.  When I clocked at 17K, they felt like every other beat, but if your heart beats 100K per day, it wasn't that frequent, but it drove me insane!

Debbie

[lizzielips]

it also drives me insane!

[Jerry_NJ]

Extra or skipped beats are very common, but like "occasional" , like "common" is not definitive.  What is meant, I think is your problem is you feel them, so perhaps you should be given some medication to help reduce the number.

I suffer from permanent atrial fibrillation which causes a irregular (or extra/skipped) heart beat every few seconds.  But, I don't feel them I have to put a stethoscope to my chest and listen carefully to know when it happens, it happens several times each minute (the length of time I usually listen, and count).  I take medication to keep the HR from accelerating, bu tthe skips and extra beats go on anyway.

Some people have a lot of trouble with AFib causeing high HR and makes it impossible to function normally.  Not so for my case.

What's my point?  I'm just saying your doctor gave you relative terms, and relative is a very personal thing.  If the symptoms trouble you, then you need to try to reduce them.  That is, discuss with your doctor how much the symptoms impact your quality of life, do not get into some abstraction aboiut "occasional" or not.

Good luck,