Sigh. Another PVC topic.
Posted , 4 users are following.
hello everyone,
first of all I want to thank you for taking the time to read this. Please know that I have been browsing and reading all of the similar topics and answers and as usual, I am sure my answers will be no different. There is something therapeutic, however, about getting my story out there and having personalized responses. even if its just reinforcement. in no way am I trying to take away from other peoples topics, as I continue to read them and learn from them
so, I am a 39 yom, not overweight but also not super active either. I try to knock out 10 or 20 minutes of cardio once or twice a week and my heart rate recovers nicely right after.
PVC's and PAC's have absolutely derailed an otherwise fantastic life. for three or four years now I have obsessed with these little blips and bumps and the sad thing is, i am a former paramedic and i KNOW BETTER. i obsess over them
I have had Holter, Echo and all the usual. bloodwork. 12-leads.... always with good results. I take a very low-dose of Toprol and generally my cycle is that I will go a couple of months with just an occasional blip every few days and then I will have a pretty aggressive series of palps for a few minutes that seem to hang over with additional instances for the next few days in diminishing fashion.... never more than a few at a time, which I realize is an insult to those of you who have hundreds or even thousands of these.
now, I seem to have a new physiological response in that if I take a sharp deep breath or turn my nose up a bit, I can trigger them. that, to me signals a vagal nerve response or some other nerve stimulation. i managed to drop into a run of trigemeny for about a min or two the other night by simply laying on my left side!! it terrified me to my soul. so which is it? Do I have benign pathway issues in my heart causing PVCs or am I triggering some sort of physiological response that is filtering down to the heart? Or both? GAH!! of course, I ran to the emergency room for my twice-a-year pvc panic moment
finally, and this is the absolute worst part for me.
these. things. hurt.
not bad. But enough to get my attention. It doesn’t matter what I am doing, a single PVC can absolutely stop me midsentence and completely derail my thought process. i feel each and every one. the feelings come crashing back. if I am having a good day or feeling confident, it all gets reset
they say de-stress but the stress of the stress causes me stress and that is stressing me out !!
I find it hard to go out and enjoyed things I used to do. I don’t even wanna travel or do anything because I’m worried that I’m gonna make that twice a year run to the emergency room somewhere. it makes me feel like an idiot.
does anyone share a similar story? sometimes I wonder if I am going to be around to watch my kids grow up or if I’m just going to live forever in a state of fear and misery
thanks for reading 😦
1 like, 2 replies
shazma36239 MikeB4295
Edited
Hi Mike,
I just came across your thread about ectopic heartbeats, just wanted to provide you with support as I am going through something very similar and still looking for answers that might help to reduce my symptoms. it is reassuring you had the key tests done and the results were normal but then when having these irregular beats does stress a person out thinking how can a healthy heart behave in this way. I will try and keep my story short, I am 34 yrs old, have a 5 yrs old daughter, husband and family who live close by we are situated in london. I have never smoked, no drugs, not on any medication apart from multivitamin wellwomen, no family history of heart disease apart from my mum who is 58 yrs old and has irregular heartbeat but she doesn't feel her palpitations and has been diagnosed with stable angina after a series of tests via nhs her symptoms which was chest pain on exertion started 1.5 years ago there is no one in my family who has heart problems in their 30s or younger. I have normal bp, normal cholesterol, all blood tests have come back fine thyroid, parathyroid, vitamins, electrolytes, haemoglobin, ferritin all normal. my bmi is 19.1 lost weight recently due to my health worries.
I am very anxious as person might overthink everything about work and thinking thoughts which don't turn out that way, but in my life whenever I had stress I usually feel very nauseous might even vomit and lose weight but have never experienced chest pain, dizziness and irregular heartbeat my heart has always remained fine during these stressful times. recently in April 2022 I started getting sharp centre chest pain which would happen when I would be just walking around the house the pain was so bad u had to sit down and after 3 mins or so the pain would disappear and I would be fine, this continued to happen every 2 weeks it was only on 30th may when I had the same attack twice which at this point my arms left was aching from the shoulder to elbow and the pain woke me up at night terrfiedthat something was seriously wrong with my heart I decided to go to A&E as the ambulance never came (husband did say to go to A&E few times before) cute a long story short I have been tk A&E local hospital around 10 times since may to August this year and have had 5 blood tests to check troponin, 10 quick ecgs and 3 chest x rays which have come back normal and so no acute heart injury and doctors said follow up with gp. the doctors did say my symptoms sound like angina but you are very young and have low risk factors so it might be costochondritis but my ribs are not sore and they don't hurt when I press on them. what stated off as chest pains eventually turned into palpitations since July, gp referred me for 24hr ech monitor and I received the results after 4 weeks wait on 1st September to be told no atrial fibrillation, no tachycardia but had 3 episodes of SVE which are ectopic beat (report didn't specify if atrial or ventricular) and I felt 2 of these episodes but where I had chest pain and dizziness the trace was normal. gp said ectopic beats can happen and nothing to worry about . however, I did say to her that I was sorry worries about my heart health I did go privately and paid for an echocardiogram with Doppler scan on 23rd Aug and the scan was completely normal, heart structure is fine and so cardio physiologist said your palpitations are not caused my heart defect but doesn't exclude coronary artery blockage for which a stress exercise and ct angiogram would be ideal. if all those tests are normal then you have a heart rhythm disorder which just needs to be managed and help reduce anxiety, but how can a healthy person just develop an arrhythmia. I informed the gp for the last 2 weeks I have made a note of my palpitations and the ectopic beats have increased probably having around many manu episodes throughout the day and there are no triggers.
they happen when I am resting, about to go to sleep, when I wake up, relaxing and watching TV, doing house chores, walking etc. caffeine makes no difference, they are happening all the time and I can't reduce them. I have been keeping myself busy, going for walks and doing mindfulness only thing that has reduced is my nausea which I know is my anxiety symptoms but the chest pain, dizziness and ectopic beats are still there. been to A&E recently as they said if you dizziness and chest pain with ectopic beats to come back but they just do a quick ecg and blood test and send me home. I have been referred to cardiology nhs via gp and my first appointment is at the end of this month and hopefully the tests will follow. gp refused to do another 24hr ecg and said you are just having more ectopic beats because you are now aware of what they are and said cardiology will most likely do another ecg tape. she said as a gp I can't do anything more relating to heart problems with you, so if any severe pain and constant ectopics like every 15 mins or 5 mins go to A&E until you get seen by cardiology. I was given a beta blockers propanolol 40mg to take 1 tablet daily in July but had to stop straight away as I nearly collapsed. my heart rate is not fast I don't have tachycardia or SVT, the best way to describe my irregular heartbeat is like when you sit on a ride which has a significant drop you feel like your heart has sinked into your stomach like adrenaline rush, that's what happens me to me I get the sinking feeling like my heart has stopped and followed by either 1 or 2 very odd beats (thud) and then back to normal rthym and when this happens the sensation goes into my lower throat. so my throat for the past 2 weeks feels very tender and flutters. the irregular beat can happen twice within 1 minute and then nothing for a few hours and then back again all afternoon and happened this morning after I woke up to use the toilet around 5.30am had a massive thump in my chest whilst I was lying down. ti be honest with you I genuinely think my heart is struggling as I have no energy to do basic things any more after doing basic house chores like cleaning, playing with my daughter or pushing the buggy I feel very tired, dizziness like being on a boat which is swaying side to side and chest pain which makes mu upper back so stiff and sharp pains at the front. This is impacting my life at home, I am unable to spend quality time with my daughter and my poor husband 😢 he tries his best to understand what I am going through but there is only so much he can understand and cope with them. to be quite honest with you and physical exertion makes the ectopic beats worst so intimacy terrifies me as the ectopic beats happen continuously at those times. to be told you are suffering health anxiety, I am anxious because of my ongoing symptoms and when speaking to doctors about chest pain they mention me it could be angina, blood clot or just anxiety related pains, but need full tests to exclude things. I have avoided reading daily mail and msn news because the number of horror stories about young people having exactly similar symptoms and being fobbed off and then turning into something serious cardiac arrest and heart attack scares me.
my biggest concern as a parent is that I won't see my lovely daughter grow up, as this is out of my control how do I cope with that fact that these ectopic beats won't turn into a dangerous arrthymia or cardiac arrest. I have avoided being on my own with my daughter just in case something happens to me as she has autism. throughout the summer holidays I have been staying at my mums place whilst my husband is working full time and have recently come back home as my daughter is due to start year 1 today. sorry I couldn't suggest you anything, but just to let you know that you are not alone and do keep in touch. look after yourself
jan3591 shazma36239
Edited
this must be desperate for you. Of course nonone can say you are perfectly healthy because no one really knows what is going to happen next but you are most likely to be like the rest of us who have these ectopics and have to learn to live with them and be alive in many years to come. They are horrible. They make you feel sad scared and unmotivated.ANXIETY is what they love and that is the major problem you have to overcome. I too was scared to drive my grandchildren in case i just died just like that. Im a bit wary of travelling third world but forcing myself to do it, like i used to before i was neurotic over these ectopics.
You can put these things out the way by enjoying your child and family life and fighting the overwhelming feelings of gloom and bad things happening. You most likely have a long life ahead. Make the most of it and chill deep breathes controlled breathing calm thoughts. Good luck