I am plagued with ectopic heartbeats and have lapsed int...

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I am plagued with ectopic heartbeats and have lapsed into AF upon many occasions. I am only early 40s and these irregular beats have ruined my life. I have a rare illness antiphospholipid syndrome, which as a blood clotting disorder is clearly partly responsible.

My biggest problem is that the runs of ectopics always have one thing in common when they manifest themselves - there is always severe gastrointestinal activity just prior to the attack and it precipitates the ectopics so much, I get runs of 5 ectopics for every one beat, which makes me feel faint and sick.

I take Bisoprolol in a very low dose 1.25mg, as I develop bradycardia with higher doses.It helps to keep the heart rate under control but does not really supress the ectopic beats.

I am convinced that the ectopics are brought on by sphincter incompetence and gullet spasm, and severe flatulence(if I "bring up" loads of wind, the ectopics ease greatly or vanish for the day) Nobody even my GP can definitely confirm a correlation between the severe GI disturbances and the ectopics.I would welcome a paper on this subject which I could read or to know if others share this same set of symptoms.I feel if I can prove the link, I will be taken more seriously and maybe even be halfway to finding a solution.

I lost my job three years ago and have never worked since, largely due to MS type symptoms I suffer with my illness but the added ectopics and AF attacks make everything far worse.I would quite literally try anything non invasive to alter my life to something reasonable again !! I have kept a diary and have proved that my ectopics are provoked by GI problems but I can't find anything on the web that confirms this .Reassurance would be so helpful !

[i:74d91e7be8]This message was automatically imported from the original Patient Experience[/i:74d91e7be8]

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  • Posted

    hi i have started having extra heart beats about 7 months ago after a very stressfull year stared one saturday afternoon very frightning every 3 to 7 minutes for the first month went to docter and they told me i had pvc or ectopic beats i also get palputations had pvc ever since 7 months had holter test cardio test docter said same thing pvc just the day i had the holter test i was not getting very strong ones and not that many i was going to take a 3 or 7 day holter and get a private result i am 34 years old and very worried about this so would like to get some replys from the guy who made this post to see how he is today he posted this in 2006 would like to see if he is still ok and what has become of him or her after reading this forum makes me feel a lot better thank you al very much for your storys and ideas on finding solutions on fixing this problem so if you could please get in touch with me and let me no how you are today
  • Posted

    i have suffered from heartburn for 20 years when i was a kid i used to bye rennies instead of sweats but now i take omeprazole or lanzaprol 20mg 1 a day for past 12 years if i miss one i cant eat or drink bye 5 o clock then 7 months ago i started getting extra heart beat pvc ectopic beat
  • Posted

    Hi, I am so glad i have found this site...was diagnosed with an Ectopic heart beat three years ago, when i

    was 42, after suffering palpitations. Have had 24hr monitors,echos and treadmill was told not to worry, that

    it was just something i would have to live with!

    Recently, they have become worse, my doc prescribed Propanalol beta blockers but had to stop taking them as they made me even more tired than i normally am. The last 48 hours have been awful the horrible

    pounding heartbeats are constant, dizziness, feeling totally ill, arm weakness, shoulder pain, chest

    tightness, headache at the back of my head...i thought i was having a heart attack last night it was so bad. Called my doc today and all he said (over the phone) was it will ease again!

    Still sitting here with the constant pounding and

    dizziness wishing it would ease, don't want to go to bed as i cant sleep for it.

    It has been a help reading other posts and knowing other people understand, as my family and friends

    don't really understand what its like.

    Was wondering about driving when they are really bad, does anyone else drive regularly like me? I also

    think there maybe a link with stomach problems too, i was recently diagnosed with IBS and now

    wondering if there is a connection with both.

    I was taking the Mini contraceptive pill too and stopped taking it

    after 5 years, this is my first real period and wondering if that's the cause of the ectopics being worse?

    So many questions, but thank you, it has been a great help reading other posts and listening to advice.

    • Posted

      You are not alone and we all together will find the solution to these ectopic beats that are trying to run our once happy lives. Yes, I do drive while having them as I do not get dizzy.
  • Posted

    Hi All,

    Thank you for sharing your experience here. I am 33 years of age, female, and am experiencing ectopic beats now for about 3 years. For some reason it all started after I stopped talking contraception. I was completely terrified and am still but had two ultrasounds and stresstests, several A&E visits and all say -"not a worry"

    yes sure easy said.NOT.

    Anyway over the years it got in fact worse which is not quite great - I had a helicobacter stomach bacterium too which didn't help at all. I had to take lots of antibiotic courses and for some reason they always helped getting better, i.e. I had less ectopic beats which makes me think that it could be hormones that influences these beats?

    I have recently finished another course of AB and symptoms start getting bad again - tingling hands, arms, all normal the doc said, blood test ok. I am close to get myself to A&E again.

    Oh well please share more of your experiences it helps to know we are not alone.

    Thank you.

  • Posted

    Hi there,

    I too have been suffering from ectopic beats for a few years now and you would have thought I would have got used to them but this just isn't the case. In fact, every time I have even one, which is most days, I panic and then feel unsettled all day.

    I find that some days are worse than others and I definitely think there is a link to hormones and to gastric problems. I suffer with irritable bowel and acid indigestion, and the days that this is bad, the ectopics are definitely worse. I have also noticed that certain times of the month can play a huge part as well so this might explain the problems you have been having coming off the pill perhaps?

    I have read many posts on these forums and what seems to always come up is the anxiety we all get when our hearts are not doing the 'normal' thing. Unfortunately, the anxiety only causes to fuel the problem and then other symptoms come into play. Our minds will convince us that we are actually going to have a heart attack or similar and it's very frightening. Stress/anxiety can cause many physical symptoms which are extremely hard to cope with but I'm sure this makes the heart problems worse so you get into a vicious cycle.

    I occasionally get something called svt as well. All I really know about this is that my heart rate goes from normal to about 180 beats per minute and it's terrifying. It has so far stopped on it's own but I may have to go to hospital if it doesn't and that's a worry. I definitely connect both of my ectopics and svt to adrenalin and for this reason, I have stopped all exercise which I am so sad about but I can't risk it.

    This condition has effected my life and made me very sad and I've put on weight and having been a very fit person, I now feel just yuck!! I do take beta blockers as well which I feel take the edge off the condition but I don't like being on them as they make more tired and sluggish.

    It does help to know you are not alone and perhaps someone will have some miracle answers to this problem which seems to be a lot more common than we think.

    good luck everyone

    • Posted

      I would suggest an ablation to cure the SVT as it cured mine but a second ablation did not cure my ectopics which are daily and nightly. Don't give up hope and please post any solutions.
  • Posted

    Hello everyone,

    Firstly I am so relieved to have found this page and might be able to give everyone out there suffering ectopics some reassurance that their condition as frightening and scary and also more importantly how very real it is for us to cope with especially when doctors even friends and family cannot really comprehend what we are going through.

    I started getting svt when I was 14 years of age but it was never diagnosed until i was 16 after my mum really pushed a cardiologist that something was wrong, my doctor said everything was in my head and i was put on sedatives for 2 years. Anyhow to shorten my story amnow nerly 47 and have been on many medications to keep the svt under control, when i was younger the episodes could last all day which were times when I honestly thought i may have a heart attack from the stress on my heart, but as i say they are under control with atenolol and very rarely make an appearance ,when they do i can get rid of them within seconds by drinking ice cold water, holding my nose and popping my ears so to speak as the pressure helps the heart reset slightly and even coughing.

    I now am plagued with ectopic heartbeats which i am waiting for blood tests to come back but am thinking it is obviously something missing like previous posts have said ie magnesium etc, but will wait for doctor to confirm.

    The good news for people with ectopics is that I have suffered them pretty badly ending up at doctors for blood tests and the last time it was calcium and vitamin D which were needed in dose prescribed by doctor not over counter and worked fantastic.

    So although am now suffering again with them know it is hopefully just something lacking again which will sort me out, so do keep pushing your doctors for blood tests and keep a check on sites so you can at least give ideas yourself as to what could help and remember all of us at least can give a little comfort to each other with fantastic sites like this.

    Good Luck to everyone will post with my results to see if helps you all wink X

  • Posted

    Hi

    I have been suffering from Eptopic heartbeats for the last 5 years, the heart specialist said everything was OK with my heart, just that some people suffer eptopic beats. I fould alcohol made them worse normally 2 days after having a drink, so I gave up drinking and caffine 4 years ago and it helped somewhat. I get mine, or i feel mine in bed in the early morining and they wake me up. i find myself quite hot so I throw the shhets off and lie there in the cold, even shivering. After a few minutes they stop and I fall back to sleep. I know it sounds

    Strange but it seems to work for me.

    I have just been told I have reflux so after reading this thread I wonder if it it something gastric. I ame seeing a specialist soon I will ask.

  • Posted

    Hi peter

    i am surprise how your story are similer to my story, (95% similer), you describe our feeling in avery goog method, i am now on librax 5mg, citalopram 30 mg,olan 2.5 mg daily to control my octobic beats

    i hope we can see aday that doctors can reach method to cope this premature ventriculer contractin(pvcs). Hadi

  • Posted

    Hi, I am a 34 yr old Firefighter and these ectopics are horrible. I am convinced that they are related to food but my Doctor doesn't believe me! I worked out that I get about 20000 ectopic beats per day. The first time I had them for 10 months I tried a potassium supplement (after many other trials) and they stopped that day - not this time though, nothing seems to work. Any ideas to stop this appreciated.
    • Posted

      I had the very same....Cardiologist put me on RANEXA 750mg twice per day...working up from 350mg twice per day...then 550mg..and 3rd Month 750mg twice per day. Also MAGNESIUM VERLA..(Powder in Packet NOT Tablet)...3 times a day....Ectopics gone .....gradually over a few weeks..Now for past 6/9 months..NOTHING..Hope this helps.
    • Posted

      Thank you for your reply. I will try talking to my Doctor about what you've said. Hope yours stay away for good...it is strange that we take comfort in knowing that others are going through what we are, I just find it hard to believe that they are completely benign, but hey ho I'll try (BTW have just eaten and back they come!) Cheers David
    • Posted

      Thanks for the tip.  I have been taking magnesium for several years now to try to regulate irregular heartbeats, which have worsened in the last year.  I have now ordered Magnesium Verla, and hope it is more effective.  I do not see any doctors, in spite of having had all the symptoms of metabolic syndrome, as I am extremely sensitive to all side effects of medication,which they insist on, and prefer to die of my diseases rather than of the medications for these diseases.  I took that decision 14 years ago, and I am still here (71 years old).But I have radically changed my diet to low carb high fat, which has brought down my weight, and I am assuming has addressed some of the other metabolic syndrome issues as well.  You posted more than a year ago, and I hope you are still free of serious ectopics.

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