PVCs

[kcossich]

Thanks to a doctor's answer to a previous post about my chest pain, my family dr. has diagnosed me with costochondritis and I am finally starting to feel better; however, in the past few weeks, I have begun to have some PVCs. Can stress cause PVCs to happen?  My father died unexpectedly on Dec. 22 and both my brother and I have had episodes of PVCs (I am 31 and he is 29).  I also had a baby 5 weeks before my father died, so I have been under some addition stress! We have never had PVCs before.  The only reason I know that I'm having them is because my brother is a nurse and told me what they feel like.  Both of us have had treadmill stress tests and I have had a Thallium stress test, which all came back normal.  How do you cope with PVCs?  Is there any deep breathing technique that can help with them? Is just de-stressing enough to make them go away?  I usually have 1 every other day, but yesterday, I had 4, and I got a little worried.  Thank you!

[kokes]

i'm new here and welcome anyones comments or thoughts.  I have recently started having these interruptions in my heartbeat and i'm guessing it is what everyone is referring to as PVC's.  They happen almost only when I am running.  I've run 6 marathons before and never had a problem, now almost on every run and within the first few minutes...thump!

My echocardiogram today looked normal to the tech.  Do others get pvc's while exercising?  Did those who have many pvc's now start by only having a few?  Does it get progressively worse?

[Suzy]

Hi all PVC suffers!  Like most of you writing in this section,  I am a PVC sufferer too, getting approximately 6 PVC's a minute.  Very annoying, often with chest pain, and like everyone (it seems) been told not to worry about it.  Of course I believe my doctors that they are benign and probably won't kill me but they are worrying and it's difficult to not worry when your chest is flip flopping all day and your heart feels like someone is stabbing it with a pin! Just curious about the chest pain - is this normal with PVC's.  Would appreciate any feedback. Good luck to you all and hope we can all somehow figure out how to minimise these rotten things!

[JR]

suzy,
have chest pain all the time, but its probably from the beta blocker that im taking form my thumps and bangs. are you taking anything for it? also ive found that taking care of my digestive system (GERD)seems to help immensely.

[Barbara]

I too am bothered with heart skips.  I recently went to the emergency room with them.  They hooked me up to the monitor and did ekg's.  guess what?  They asked me if I care to talk to someone.  When I said yes, they sent me to the crisis center to speak to a counselor.  They told me it was nerves and there was nothing wrong with my heart.  How's that?  Two weeks ago, the doctor sent me for a thalium stress test.  I also got a clean bill of health from that.  I went for massages, counseling, and even church,  with nothing helping.  Now there coming more frequently, like an episode every hour.  I don't know how much more I can take.  Anyone care to email me  ***@****.  Thanks for listening.

[dodgybeats]

I just want to say that I take my hat off to you out there who have thousands of PVCs/day - I have had about 50 today and it has been absolute sheer hell.  How do you cope with so many??

[CCF-M.D.-DLB]

Yes stress can definitely cause PVCs. Chronic stress can do it, as can acute episodes of stress. When the stress is acute, the PVCs usually go away with time. getting enough sleep can avoiding caffeine can help as well.