Could PVCs Stop After Menopause??

[Cheers]

Maybe this is wishful thinking, but here I go...

I can go a two full weeks without much of a blip at all. Maybe a skip here or there. But like clockwork...the 10 days prior to my period, the PVCs/PACs come on with a vengence. I have gotten SOME relief with magnesium...but they are still here at a frequency I do not feel comfortable with. While I am learning to accept them and go on with my life...there will be a few days within that PMS time when I feel pretty anxious and icky. And once my period starts, they die down until the next cycle.

So, for me, these are clearly hormone related. At least in part.

Question is...is there a possibility that these may go away once i go through menopause? I know that it may get worse DURING menopause...at least that is what I hear. But is it possible I may find relief after??

I guess I want something to look forward to LOL.

Thanks.

[Cheers]

Thank you all for your responses.

And I am currently reading that book by Weekes :) Also reading another one that is helpful - Stop Being Your Symptoms and Start Being Yourself.

I am making a post about some things I am thinking may be going on with all of this...

[achillea]

"So is it really anxiety?"

It is so easy to put a judgmental quality on the symptoms, but anxiety is not just a psychological state.  It is a physiological state, manifested by physiological changes in the body, one of the primary ones being the effect of adrenaline on the heart..

In other words, it is not all in your head.

Treat the physiological symptoms, and the mind will fall into line, amazingly enough.  Shakespeare had it right, so long ago, in writing about the actors who performed the mini-play within the play in "Hamlet."

Check out Claire Weekes' excellent little book, "Hope and Help
For Your Nerves," for more ways to handle the mind/body connection.  Insurance permitting, just one session with the friendly local psychiatrist can be a tremendous help with this problem.

[rilesnic]

I swear it's like I'm writing your posts. Everything you have posted, not just on this post, I have the same symptoms and the same set-offs. I, like you, know this is not anxiety. Here is my theory....whatever happens when they start to act up, PVC's, PAC's, tachy, afib, or whatever else may be happening, triggers adrenaline...when adrenaline is released in large (or larger than normal) amounts, it will mimic an anxiety or panic attack (this I remember from nursing school, although I haven't nursed in 15 years, teach now:). So is it really anxiety? In my case, I know it's not....I know it's my heart triggering these awful feelings and I know this because I know my body. Mine are much worse about a week before my cycle and taper off after I start, but lately I've been so dizzy with my cycle too which I think is from fluid loss. I'm still searching for a cure, or at least a way to cope :)

[MichelleP_3811]

I didn't mean to imply that you were the cause of the problem but rather your body reacts on its own.  It is called Conditioned Response.  Your body reacts/acts from history.  It responds to a particular event and or situation in the way it did in the past.  It cares not whether it is a good or bad response it simply reacts/acts out of habit.  That said, I was having trouble sleeping last night.  I have a bad lower back, and as such sometimes wake up in pain and roll from side to side to try and get relief.  In doing so I tend to curl up in a ball into the fetal position, it opens up the lower spine but compress the chest area.  I have noticed when I do this I kick off some ectopics.  The compression of the heart in some way creates a circumstance that causes my heart to throw some pvcs or pacs.  So last night it got me to thinking if I can physically do it maybe when we get our cyle mother nature is doing it a bit for us.  Most women tend to retain water right before the cycle startes.  My breasts can get very swollen and as such is it possible the extra water on the chest compress the heart enough to cause women to throw more ectopics right before their period???  I am not a doctor so this is all conjecture but it makes sense to me.   Anyways, I kind of wonder if you are having trouble with your period it would seem to make sense to me that you would have less trouble once your periods stops.  I guess time will tell but I think you can hold hope that it will subside once menopause starts.  Who knows, they may have even eased up for you by then without the change. Take care.  

[Elli126]

Yes I do take Inderal and it does help, I still get it, but at least I was able to convert this time without the dreaded Adenosine (yuck) I've been through that at least a half dozen times. Still scares the heck outta me every time it happens.

[Cheers]

I am sorry Elli - do you take anything for the SVT? I have been on a BB for that (or IST, not sure which) for 7 years. It works great for keep the tachy at bay...but little to nothing for the PVCs/PACs....

Oh I am quite certain that hormones play a huge role here. It took me a while to figure it out...but I know it isn't psychological. My anxiety may make it worse, granted...but it doesn't start it.

[Elli126]

Hi, I can attest to the fact (at least for me) that hormones affect my PVC's and PSVT. I am at the begining of menopause, and only get my period every few months now. I've been premenstrual for about a week, finally got my period today, and bam! went into PSVT for the first time since the last time I had my period. Thankfully I was able to convert after about 5 minutes (only the second time EVER without Adenosine YAY!) but the episodes are definitely connected. I, like you, was hoping all my rythym issues would go away after menopause...but I haven't heard of that happening for anyone on here yet... guess we just gotta keep on keepin on.

[MichelleP_3811]

Unfortunately I don't think anyone can give you a definitive answer.  Everyone is different.  I don't know that I get more right before my period but I also don't get anxious either so maybe you have fallen into assuming you will get the pvcs, automatically start to stress right before, and fullfill the prophecy not because of hormones persay but due to the anxiety.  I don't know that is the reason but I know our brains and bodies do have a tendency to behave out of habit.  If you have ever dieted you can see that initially your body might crave a certain food you always have but given a bit of time away from that food your body stops craving it.  It is not that your body needed it before and doesn't need it now it is just your body was expecting and looking for it.  Now that is it out of the system it is no longer craving the substance.  In any event, just about everything we do with the body follows the same sort of principle.  You can even notice this with hugner pains.  If you eat on schedule everyday, you can expect hunger pains right around the same time everyday not because you are necessarily hungery but because you body knows food is coming and is getting ready.  This theory also applies to exercise.  Getting into the habit of exercising may be hard initially because your body isn't use to it but once you start, so long as you are sufficiently consistant about it, you will find it hard to stop.  In any event, try to do your best to relax as much as possible right before your period and see if it helps.  It won't hurt either way.  Take care.

[achillea]

  Ha!  I've had ectopics since my late 30s, and I can tell you for sure that mine did NOT go away after menopause!  Got a little worse, in fact.  But time is a great helper:  Live long enough and you get more accustomed to them.