How do I know when skipped heart beats are dangerous?

[iAmEllen]

Over a week ago for absolutely no identifiable reason my heart started skipping way more beats than usual.  I can go hours with none and then have several hours where I'll have 2 or 3 a minute.  It's setting me over the edge.  I don't know if it's dangerous or not.  I went to the ER the other day and they basically didn't care at all and just had me take Ativan and sent me home.  Today I panicked and called the paramedics who came and did a 12 lead and they said normal sinus with one ectopic and so I didn't go back to the ER.  I had a normal echo 3 years ago.  I already don't eat caffeine or sugar.

Please reassure or sympathize with me.  I'm going insane and have no idea what's causing this out of the blue.  Why would they suddenly increase for no reason whatsoever?

[seanafib42]

Okay - 42 year old male with PVC's and 3 episodes of atril fibrillation that required cardiac conversion in the past 15 years.  No major a-fib episodes for over 8 years, but still had annoying and alarming skipped beats from time to time.  It seems that when they did come, they would stay for weeks.  It would be the worst when lying down to sleep.  No one, except people who experience these, knows how lame they really are.  It is a massive quality of life issue.  Anyway, thanks to you and others on this site, I began taking ubiquinol and magnesium.  The relief was nearly immediate.  No PVCs whatsoever in the past 3 weeks.  Unreal.  I can't believe my cariologist never suggested this.  This has made the biggest improvement in the quality of my life ever.  I hope that others out there suffering from PVCs will give ubiquinol and magnesium a try.

[whsrocknroll]

Ask your cardiologist about an Ablation.  They work!

[willbenz]

Hi Gagairl
I totaly understand what you are going through as I have been suffering from very similar heart beats, which are described as "ectopic beats". These are very common and can be made worse by thinking or worrying about them. My job and all my jobs over the last 25 years have been very stressfull and I put it down to this fact. My doctor has told me there is nothing to worry about and I believe him but at the moment they have gotten worse, betta-blockers don't seem to help, but I have an appointment with the cardiology, who I am pretty confident will tell me every thing is OK. You must believe these people as they deal with hundreds of cases which are the same. One thing I would say though is make sure you have your heart checked every so often, perhaps check your blood pressure yourself, to reasure yourself. The worry of ectopic beats can, in some cases cause issues the same as stress level increase. You need to try and think positive, I know it's hard, very hard at times, but you may make your condition worse. Relax with you son, he will be grown up soon, believe me, sooner than you think, so make the most of these years.

[DeaconJim2009]

I began experiencing A-Fib about 7 years ago. Along with the A-Fib, I was also experiencing frequent and prolonged PVC's.  I went to a local cardiologist and went through ALL of the tests.  Of course, my heart was in great shape and was told that my problems could be controlled with medication.  I do not remember what he gave me at the time, but its effectivness  was short lived and I began experiencing both again. Not feeling confident with the Dr.'s treatment, I went to the Cleveland Clinic for an evaluation.  I was seen by the cardiology department and showed them the results of my recent tests.  They agreed that my heart was healthy, but that the rhythm issues needed to be addressed.  They referred me to their Electrophysiology department.  After a week wearing a holter monitor, they felt the A-Fib to be the most serious problem and scheduled an ablation.  The ablation worked and the A-Fib ended.  However, the frequent PVC's remained.  At my next follow-up visit they confirmed that the PVC's were an issue and scheduled an ablation for this as well six months later. The PVC's were to the point to where my heart would "skip" a beat every 2 beats.  This would last some times for over an hour and I would become light headed and have difficulty breathing.  I am a teacher and to have this happen during the school day was debilitating, I couldn't just think "happy" thoughts and have it go away while being responsible for teaching science to a group of 30 children.  The doctors in the electrophysiology department agreed that it was debilitating enough to do the ablation. That was 5 years ago and until last Monday, I hadn't had even a "bump".  Last Monday after watching my son's basketball game I began to feel that familiar skipping and flopping that I had felt before.  Upon taking my pulse, I noticed that it was skipping every 7 to 10 beats.  I didn't think much of it and tried to ignore it, which I could never do anyway.  When it got to the point of skipping every 3 beats for over an hour I went to the hospital.  I told them what it was in the ER, but the "cardiologists", as always, treated it as a cardiac event and admitted me and began all the tests.  After two days of this, it was still flopping in my chest.  Luckily, a young cardiologist reviewed my chart and had a member of the new electrophysiology department at the hospital consult on the case.  He agreed with everything I had told him and began administering metoprolol.  Next morning, normal rhythm and discharged home.  Been good since.  Just hoping that the affect of the medicine lasts longer than a month, but if it doesn't, another ablation would not be out of the question, especially since we now have our own electrophysiology department.

[lam101]

When my first started, about 10 years ago, the doctor asked me if I drank coffee.  I told him a drank two cups a day - always have.  All my other drink choices are caffeine free, when available.  So, I switched to decaf coffee for a year or two and they cut back so much that I hardly noticed them.  Now, I'm back on regular coffee again and have been for awhile, and they're back.  I understand that alchohol also triggers them.  I have a drink every night before I go to bed, and it really acts up then.  I've been to the doctor and know that they're harmless, so I really don't worry about it much anymore.  If it bugs me enough, I'll cut back on the caffeine and alcohol.

[GGL288]

You mind can take control of your heart beats if you keep on thinking about it. The more you thinking about the heart beat skip, the more it will happen.  I found the best method is try to think something else with your mind when the heart beat skipping occurs.  Or try the slow, long breathing excise at the same time to think about those past pleasant events in your life time --- get you mind out of thinking about the heart beats. That worked many times with me.

I remember many years ago I saw a documentary in TV, when the old American Indian chief wants to die, he went up to the mountain, found a quiet place  and use his mind to control his heart beat to stop. Once his started, even the doctor couldn't do anything to restart his heart beat. That was how the chief die.

Remember your mind can control very part of your body. use it wisely.

GGL