supra ventricular ectopic beats...

[Ihatepalps2]

my heart recently added ( much to my dismay!) Supra Ventricular Ectopic beats to my PVCs and PACs!! I wore a 48 hr holter...and had 4800 extra beats...and learned a new condition..SVE... (not to be confused with SVT..) (theres nothing tachy about my heart rate)...its just skippy and thumpy when i have runs of them during major times of stress, which i definatly have at this time. I dont know much about SVE other than the fact that my dr told me MANY times during my appt that its not life threatening..that he will increase the metoprolol dose that I already take from 100 mg a day to 200 mg a day..but (as he said) NOT because my condition is serious...but to relieve my symptoms. He made me feel like he was patronizing me...like I was a hypochondriac for wasting his time with something so trivial as SVE.
ANYBODY out there have SVE and would be able to tell me anything about it?

[dbpcb]

Good in a way to see so many doctors are so dismissive of the condition, I had to purchase a small ECG on Ebay in order to catch SVE beats before my doctor conceded I wasn't just imagining them. Then he got annoyed because I had "self diagnosed". I hadn't, I had merely caught them but I didn't know what they were.  In doing some background reading I was alarmed at one opening line that stated 'treatment does not increase life expectancy'. Several palpitations later I read on and it stated 'because the condition does not reduce life expectancy'. Maybe not, it just makes it nerve racking. All I can do to reduce it is sleep on my right and try to keep my heart rate up. Anything below 65 and it all goes a bit random.

[RobPainter]

Welcome to the club! I've been suffering from Atrial Fib for the past 20 years, getting progressively worse each and every year. I just recently got sent home from work ( Fly in/ Fly out) as I could feel something was not right... Did not feel like atrial fib, but felt more like the on set I usually get before I go into Atrial Fib. So as It turns out, it's Atrial Ectopic Beats....  Again... Doctors didn't want anything to do with it, just told me it wasn't life threatening and to live with it. My wife is a firm believer in Naturalpaths & all that voodoo, unfortunately I'm some what educated and not so gulable, but since medical doctors won't help me I went and seen her Naturalpaths.... It took about two weeks but he pretty much got it to stop, still plays up a little, but still better than just live with it! The cure for me was (Spigelia 200) two pills under my tounge once a day. Mind you I'm also on a Beta Blocker& Calcium Channel Blocker for Atrial Fibrilation and have been for the past five years, they have had No Effect in relieving the Atrial Ectopic Beats. I hope this helps!

[Tjavailable]

Atrial Ectopic Beats arising in the atria(the upper chambers of the heart)
Ventricular Ectopic Beats arising in the ventricles(the lower chambers of the heart)
These beats are seen in an ECG.
For more visit:heart-consult.com/articles/what-ectopic-beats

[Ihatepalps2]

I read both your posts...and said to myself..." ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."  I truly did not know that they were the same thing as PACs. Yes, I sure DO wish doctors would "speak the same language"!!  My gosh.

You are right, Brook, I wouldnt wish these on anyone, HOWEVER....i sure wish people that dont have them, would be more understanding!! Even the doctors. Issomethingwrong--thats how I felt..that my doctor was thinking..dont bother me ANYmore about this...go see a psych...thats how I felt.

Thank you both for clearing this up for me!!

[is_something_wrong]

Don't we just wish doctors would stick to the same terms?

For all practical purposes, like Brooke said, PACs = SVE. In Norwegian, we call them SVES (supraventricular extrasystoles, approximately translated) and they are somewhat easier to connect. There are some slight differences, as SVE is all "ectopic beats with origin above ventricles" while PACs are ectopic beats only from the atria (excluding the AV node) but it really is for academic purposes only. Almost all SVE's are PACs. A 100 beat run of SVT is categorized as one SVT run, but 100 SVE's. This is also a slight difference.

My experience is that cardiologists (who are familiar with serious heart diseases) tend to trivialize premature beats, PACs especially, but PVCs too. It's a bit like "accept them, they are benign, don't bother me, see a psychiatrist if you don't manage it, and get lost".

Be aware that beta blockers doesn't always help. They are good to treat stress-induced PACs and PVCs, but they lower the heart rate and can actually increase them if you have them with low heart rate. If your beta blockers doesn't help, you could ask your doctor for another drug, as calcium channel blockers. If nothing help (and you still worry about them), more drastic things can be done, as ablation or antiarrhythmic drugs (that is used only in extreme cases due to the side effects, I think)

[Brooke_38]

Hello...

An SVE (Supraventricular Ectopic) is a premature beat that originated in the upper chambers of the heart...It's just another term used for PAC (Premature Atrial Contraction) So, the good news is, your heart hasn't added a new problem.

Sorry to hear that your Dr made you feel like you were wasting his time. Not that we would ever wish these things on others...sometimes it would be nice if they experienced the things that we arrhythmia sufferers do, maybe they'd have a better understanding of what it is really like.