Ectopic heart beats taking over :(

Hi all I have suffered ectopics for 8 years and they have totally took over my life. I have paid private to see a cardiologist who has assured me I have a good structural heart and these ectopics are begin but it really didn't make me feel better . I've had ECG done 24/48 hr tapes scans all to be told I'm fine ... through seeing a cardiologist I have a loop recorder fitted and record my symptoms and send them through to the hospital and they have been great always ring me back and tell me they are just extra beats nothing to worry about .. but I've had a few runs of tachycardia my heart beat reached 150bpm just sitting on the couch ... my doctor has mentioned ablation but reading these I'm now a bit scared in case it makes them worse don't think I could cope with that they have taken over my life ... I've been put on bisroplol started on 2.5 and have been moved up to 3.75 but still feel the ectopics and have had awful side affects I really don't know what to do anymore ,,, I have major anxiety and don't like to leave the house unless I really have to ??

Have you tried taking magnesium powder?  I take 1 tsp twice a day and it has helped enormously.  Powder available in large pots under brand name Calm.  It doesn't harm you and the benefits are massive for most people.  Worth a try?

I get over 10,000 extra ectopic beats per day and have a pacemaker, but my cardiac surgeon is looking into this, as this is all new 2 months ago. Just having a 24 monitor at the moment and we will wait and see.

The first time I experienced ectopic heartbeats was a week ago when we were due to fly out to Bangkok. We couldn’t fly out that night because the doctors didn’t know why I was having the thumping great and very frightening heartbeats. I had a burger earlier that day that had a lot of sulphites and MSG in it and wondered whether there was a correlation. I started to look at Dr Sanjay Gupta’s videos ( cardiologist at York Hospital) on the relationship between the heart, the gut and heart palpitations; a must watch. I have radically changed my diet. I no longer drink fizzy drinks, wine, no white goods, no lactose. I eat low or no acid producing foods. I found that avocados, bananas, Kiwi and oats are good for healing the gut. I only drink lemon juice with water now as a soft drink.  I drink decaffeinated coffee. I take two metric teaspoons of magnesium in the morning (bcn health rest and replenish) before breakfast. Rx Metagenics Fibroplex plus was recommended as a magnesium supplement as well. Also I take Ibergast 10 drops before I eat a meal to aid digestion.  I practice breathing. I think for me, a poor diet, stress at work, and anxiety, all contributed to this condition. Since I’ve been on this regime I feel a lot better I’m still getting the ectopic beats but they are much milder. I pretty much stop eating at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and just have half an avocado before I go to bed and 2 glasses of water.  That’s another thing, I drink more water now to flush out any toxins.  I completely stopped all sugar, MSG and other preservatives. I will also see a naturopath in the near future.   I read somewhere that before you can heal the heart you have to heal the gut.  Jamie, I threw everything at this in the space of a week, I really hope that some of this information helps feel free to contact me. 

Hello Jamie, ectopics are very scary, but like you, the doctor's told me there's nothing to worry about. I've been in hospital so many times and had so many tests, but each time they've just sent me home. They've been so bad at time's I was afraid to go to sleep incase I didn't wake up again. But hey ho here I am. I am a 68 year old female, I've had ectopics for 14 years now, at worst I would get them every 2 beats all day long. I struggled just to go for a walk, I'd get light headed and feel very unwell and weak, and I'd have to sit down. I now take Bisoprolol 10 mg and Flecanide acetate 100 mg, once every day, and they are more or less under control. I dont have fizzy drinks and I drink de-caff coffee. I can now go for long walks and do what ever I want really, no problem. I know only to well what your going through, and I hope you get your med's sort out, and if like me, thing's can get back to as normal as possible. Good luck.

Hello, not sure if anyone still replies on these however I really need some reassurance. Im a 20 year old female whose ectopic beats and tachycardia began at the age of 18. As you can imagine, birthdays and holidays weren't as fun as they should have been as i too have cut out alcohol. It is my 21st birthday in January and im really struggling. Had several 24 hour monitors which caught the episodes on the 3rd time. Referred to cardiology who have prescribed 1.25 beta blockers which make me feel strange. Im still getting the ectopics too. Ive never felt so low and genuinely would give anything to feel normal again. The idea of an ablation scares me however im almost certain I may end up down that route. Was very fit love going to the gym, however just darent do anything now. University is hard as is everything else whilst dealing with this. What is the answer?

hi

i am 38 and started suffering from ecotopic beats due to heart surgery i am on 10mg of bisoprolol now and losartan, some days its ok but other days its bad, i to feel like its taking over and i am afraid to do anything , i have been told they harmless sometimes i get one straight after another, i do walk the dog but other than im scared , i just want my life back , i seen some dietary advice and try that to see if helps , i would like to have a penpal who experience the same

Did you have the ectopics before the surgery or has the surgery made them worse?

I don't know the nature of the heart surgery but any change in diet is likely to have an effect otherwise the doctor wouldn't suggest it.

However it may be that you have inadvertently started eating or drinking something that sets your ectopics off. These can be many and varied of which caffeine is most noted

Do you keep a diary that enables you to determine whether there is cause and effect with anything you eat and drink, and have you cut something out or introduced something since your surgery?

Hello Jamie. I'm sorry to bother you so long after you posted but I wondered if you found a way to stop the ectopic beats. I can completely relate to how you felt. Thank you so much. Nerys

hi

i feel you. i'm now 55. i've had palpitations since my early 20's, only back then, they were infrequent, mild, and didn't restrict me in any way, really. although i did notice that if i went out drinking with friends, next day i would have heart flutters.

but jump ahead 3 decades. i live like a 90 year old. for 3 years now, my palpitations and chest tightness have become so bad and constant that i am bed bound and miserable. i don't live. i just exist. back and forth to A & E when it gets really really bad, only to be sent home, to suffer more. doctors have minimised the effect it's had on me - ruined my life. i cannot do ANYTHING anymore without having palpitations. even sitting up in bed, i get them. nothing escapes them. only sleep. then within minutes of waking, i feel them again.

i was put on beta blockers in 2019, after my palpitations suddenly got really bad and much more frequent, out of the blue. i had gone from having a normal, semi active life, to being bed bound and out of work.

my ECGs have been ABNORMAL since 2019, same time my palpitations started getting worse, but doctors have dismissed this entirely. they also write off my chest tightness, which can be horrendous, as mere anxiety or costochondritis. funny, though, how the discomfort of the chest tightness ONLY responds to aspirin - nothing else. which points to pulmonary hypertension, which is what a paramedic thought i had, but that was also dismissed by doctors. male doctors who think females with heart issues are all crazy.

heart arrythmias run in my family. this has also been ignored.

i am so tired of suffering. it's like torture, having these all day every day. i am so tired of not living - just existing like i'm 90. i can't even do normal things anymore. i want my life back.

i take propranolol, 40mg 3 times a day, but it does very little to stop the palpitations - it doesn't stop them, in fact.

i'm so sick of this. you have no idea. or maybe you do.

Hi Jamie

Sorry to hear this. At the beginning of the pandemic I started to have what felt like a missed heartbeat and the feeling of all the blood draining out of my body. This resulted in panic attacks and the lot. I have had 24 48 and a week monitor fitted and nothing. Had an app installed which said I had isolated ectopics and that is it.

Have you ever had a succession of them? Where it genuinely feels like your heart is out of rhythm for 2 3 seconds? I have had this a few times.

Nice to know you are not alone. If I were you I would ask to be upped on the Bisoprolol 1.25mg is very low.

Bisopropol made my PVCs worse. I was then moved to Flecainide which has improved my condition significantly. I still get ectopics but much much less than I used to.