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Avatar universal

pvcs at wits end!!

I am 44 and I think Im going insane...I was diagnosed with PVC's 8 years ago...I had ultrasound doc said everything looks good...I take atenonlol...everything is managable for months at a time then all of the sudden my heart is skipping, flip-flopping, beating fast, beating slow, cant sleep on my right side, cant sleep on my left side, maybe its gas, no maybe its because its the week before my period, no more wine, maybe I need more wine, lose weight, take yoga, dont stress...aaaarrrrrggghhhh!!!!! I cant stand this, I feel like I'm going to die everytime I have a PVC!!! How do I make this stop?????  Can you tell I'm in the middle of a week long episode of 500 PVCs a day....Please someone tell me how to deal with this.....
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Avatar universal
I am sitting here after an ER visit yesterday "you are fine" was what they said.  I am an RN and I thought it was allergy medication I has recently started , so I stopped it and my heart kept jumping all over the place.  PVC's like 2-3/minute and way worse at night....I haven't slept.  I am so tired and so scared....I know that they are normal for everyone, but just a minor few feel them....I am 27 and this has NEVER happened to me before.  I had a very mild heart murmur when I was young, but other than that nothing it resolved on it's own.  How do you get to sleep??????  They wake me up and I feel like I am going to die.  
Helpful - 0
995271 tn?1463924259
Hi ROger, thanks for a great post :-)

My understanding of PVCs is that the signal originates in the ventricles.  The ventricles are so important to life that nature gave them backup pacer cells in case they don't get the signal from the SA node.  

Another way to think of how important the ventricles are, people can live a long time with the atriums in a-fib.  ventricular-fib, it's lights out before you hit the floor.

Consider this, if the ventricular pacer cells don't get an SA sginal for a long enough period of time, they will fire an "escpae beat" to keep at least most of the heart working.

Pretty neat!  I'm an IT guy myself, and I like to have backups for my backups for my backups.

But when these pacer cells act up when not required, you get the premature ventricular contraction, which in the presence of a normal sinus rythym is going to give you a good thump and pause.  How they feel dpends on the timing of the firing during normal sinus rythym.  early in the  NSR phase will feel much differently than late in the NSR phase and we're talking maybe 360 millisecond window.

There's a bunch of reasons that can make ventricular pacers act up when they shouldn't.  Chemical sensitivity, a decrease in oxygen levels being supplied to the heart, sympathetic nervous system acting up, stess-anxiety, I think depression and it's physiological effects can also perk them up.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I am 75 years old, I have PVC's, sometimes bad (every other beat) but mostly every 4 or 5 beats, sometimes last for several days.

I have had 2 heart attacks, one massive (damaged 75% of the muscle on the left side of my heart.  !!PVC's DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ME HAVING THE HEART ATTACK!!!

First of all before I give you some fatherly advice let me say this:  I have no medical training, and what I say is based on my experience ONLY.

Again, the first thing you MUST do is get a "Holter Monitor" test to confirm your PVC's are benign.

The next thing you must understand is that PVC's feed off of anxiety, in otherwords the more PVC's you have,the more depressed you get, and the more depressed you get the more PVC's.. .get the point.

To better undrstand what "I" think PVC's are, I will ask you a question.

Have you ever talked on a cell phone and got an echo.
(I am qualified to tell you this, I taught communications electronics for many years).  The echo is the same signal traveling two different paths,  one path being greater in distance than the other.  This also holds true if you yell inside a large empty building, the sound is reflected back from multiple places(different distances).

Do you think this might be true?  The Sinus Node of the heart sends it's signal out to the various parts of the heart with a chemical/electrical impulse through tissue and over time, a second path is developed, maybe conductive enough to carry the signal sometimes, and at a different distance, and enough out of phase for one to cancel the other???  From an electronics standpoint it sounds reasonable.

Bottom Line.

If you have PVC's, and they have been confirmed with the Holter Monitor, just put them out of your mind, they are not going to hurt you.. .the more you dwell on them the worse they will get.  At night Tylenol helps me do this.
If they are really bad, sleep in your recliner setting upright, this also seems to help me.

Last comment.  I expect to die in the next 20 years, but I do not expect to die of PVC's.

Sleep tight; roger-***@****

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Can anyone please help me out on this... I think I'm starting to get PVC ... Like every 10 min my heart start to jump.. Is very depressing... First I get dizzy and then comes the PVC... I went to the ER but they said is nothing.. I just started to get HBP... Maybe is that..??
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Two days ago I had he surgery for SVT.  My experience was very positive.  I had the twilight med, but was asked frequently how I was and if I was having pain.  No problem while the instrument was being positioned, but I asked for additonal med at the time of the actual ablation.  You shouldn't have to experience pain.  Recovery seems to be going extremely well for me.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Just returned from the ER with my daughter who is an RN.  Decided it was time to put me on the heart monitor and see these "PVC's" herself!  Not a real bad night tonight but I was having about 3-4 a minute.  A lot less than last night.  Just wondering if they make any of you tired?  I feel like I just want to lay down and sleep all the time!
Helpful - 0

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