Do Your PVCS Wake You Up During The Night?

[joanie-s]

Hi everyone.I have had pvcs for approx. six years, with occasional inappropriate sinus tachycardia.I had an EP study in 2004.The doctor said my pvcs came from the left ventricle but he considered it a bit risky to ablate,so I am on medication.I take 50mg bisoprolol and between 150mg-200mg flecainide per day.Like everyone I have good and bad days.However, for the past three or four weeks I have been waking evry night between 1.30pm and 3pm.Sometimes I have been dreaming and I have felt the ectopics and when I woke I have actually been having them.They continue one every three to four mins approx.I have noticed that if I get out of bed and switch on the lights and force myself awake they seem to stop most of the time but I am getting very broken sleep because of this.Does anyone else get anything like this? Does anyone know if the stages of our sleep patterns and the electrical activity in our brains when we are dreaming etc trigger the electrical activity in our hearts? It seems too much of a coincidence not to have a link.By the way it is now 3.30am and I have been up for 35mins after another episode.I am now awake and they seem to have stopped for the time being.Any comments would be very much appreciated.Thanks for reading this.

[joanie-s]

I'm lucky in that I don't get svt attacks. I only had one bad attack when my problems first started 6 years ago. It lasted a few hours in casualty and this was the beginning of the tachycardia and pvcs.
Sandy , I live in London,England. I have a lovely cardiologist who does all he can to help me. He is very willing to try an ablation on me but he is very honest when he says that he cannot guarantee the outcome. He says I would more than likely still have pvcs after ablation. My personal feeling is I don't hear many people saying ablation has cured ventricular ectopy. I hear and read that it is normal to have to have a series of ablations before any improvement, if any, is seen.I think new methods and more knowledge will come eventually and at the moment I am willing to wait and see. I would love to hear from people who have had successful ablations to prove me wrong. Is anyone out there?

[Cieran_b]

Hey Joanie I don't know if you'll ever see this as so much time has passed but I was wondering if you have come up with any methods to reduce PVCs I'm 22m and I'm getting frequent pvcs that are really taking a toll on my mental health I get the double beat then a really uncomfortable thuf after a short pause. Due to the frequency of the palpitations I get very anxious and thoughts pop in about my future with this problem. I've had this for around 2years and the hospital have prescribed me some bisoprolol (not taking due to feeling tired and lack of energy)... I really don't know what to do

[Sandyyy]

How about another opinion on the ablation procedure?  Cleveland Clinic is one of the best places.  University of Michigan is good too.  Lots of good EP's around the country.  Sandy

[sb786]

Just a quick question for you: When you get about 50 or more pvcs an hour do you find that you are more likely to have an svt attack too? I tend to get more pvcs at night than during the day and i tend to have more svts at night too

[ireneo]

My premature beats may wake me up if they're hitting hard. Sometimes I have PVC's/PAC's that hit gently and they don't bother me at all. A few nights ago I had 40 minutes of pounding heart and skips that simply kept me awake. I wasn't worried but I couldn't get comfortable either. Laying on my side just made them more obvious; laying on my back helped but they were still too strong to ignore. The problem is once you've slept for a couple hours then wake up with thumpity-thumps it's hard to get back to sleep. Oh well. I was tired the next day but got through it. Ain't life grand?

[dmil241]

There are times when my palpitations will wake me up. I use to be scared of them and lay awake afterward worrying about another or what in the world was wrong with me. That only resulted in me being very tired the next day and of course having more ectopics usually. Now I may rustle and feel them but I roll over and go right back to sleep. I've had them for over 5years and they haven't killed me yet. I'll be darned if I'm going to let them rob any more of my sleep. (I really love my sleep time :) LOL.......)  Actually I think it is just part of the natural waxing and waning nature of palpitations---mine at least. Sometimes they might hit during the day and sometimes they might hit during the night.

[bama jane]

I get them during sleep a lot and have to take meds to help sleep, and have had them daily for 7 years.  I also notice they happen during dream sleep, but they happen during normal sleep and during the day as well.  Hundreds every day for years. Mine are mostly pac's with other rhythm  problems thrown in. It is interesting that others have them during sleep as well. A night without them is rare but the worse is when there are a lot of them sometimes 50 or so in an hour but not every hour thank god. I wonder if someone had that many hiccups a day every day for years what they could do about that. Some day some one will figure it all out. Hope it's in our life time.

[joanie-s]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply to me. I found all your comments very helpful.I must say I do try to get back to sleep but when I am just about to drop off they hit again just when I am  at my most relaxed.I'm sorry you are all having the same problems but I really admire you all for your courage in not letting this fully overtake your lives. You're all an inspiration and should be proud of yourselves!
Love and best wishes.. Joanie-s

[CollegeGirl143]

pvc's and types of svt's during sleep are commonly produced by anxiety, nocturnal panic attacks if you will... It sounds like you're very stressed about them, if they're inhabitting your dreams as well.. im sure alot of people on here will be able to give you insight on this particular topic...