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Palpitation - Metabolic panel question
1. I know palpitations that originate in the atria are benign whereas ones originating in the ventricles are potentially life threatening....In layman's terms, what are the dynamics behind that..In other words, can an annoying palpitation suddenly morph into a deadly one, or does a structurally normal heart prevent that?....When someone has V-tach, does that happen in a normal heart, or when that occurs, is there something already wrong with the heart structurally?....
2. Are the the 5 numbers below that ones that make up the metabolic panel w/regards to heart health risk, or is there some other readings included in this panel.....My last round of bloodwork was:
Total cholesterol - 141
HDL - 33
LDL - 86
Trigelcerides - 110
glucose - 84
Thanks
2. Are the the 5 numbers below that ones that make up the metabolic panel w/regards to heart health risk, or is there some other readings included in this panel.....My last round of bloodwork was:
Total cholesterol - 141
HDL - 33
LDL - 86
Trigelcerides - 110
glucose - 84
Thanks
If people with normal hearts get VT, it's not the PVC that triggers it, usually. But as it is all PVCs, it starts with one. Reentry is based on extra pathways, I don't think a structurally normal ventricle has such pathways.
"I have heard of people with normal echo's getting runs of V-tach"
Are you referring to Monomorphic or Polymorphic VT?
Are you referring to Monomorphic or Polymorphic VT?
I get PVC's myself that come and go (very hard ones that give me a stomach rush). From time to time, my heart goes absolutely bonkers, and I feel like I have nonstop or nearly nonstop PVC's lasting for as long as 1-3 minutes strait. But with me, this is so occasional I've never been able to have it documented on any monitor despite having work 30 day event monitors for a total of 90 days! I have nearly blacked out from these 1-3 minutes runs before, but even so the cardiologist I have seen swears it's not life threatening even though I've nearly blacked out before from it. We'll see, if I'm still here in 30 years I'll shake the man's hand...until then, I'm hoping for the best.
I have heard of people with normal echo's getting runs of V-tach
Sorry! :)
I'll try to explain.
1) Your cholesterol and glucose tests are just fine! Only thing is, your HDL is slightly low, it's often improved by exercise and healthy food.
2) Arrhythmias. What I meant was, statistically, a PAC is more likely to cause an arrhythmia than a PVC. But in case the premature beats causes arrhythmias, the PACs will cause supraventricular arrhythmias and the PVCs will cause ventricular arrhythmias.
And:
Supraventricular arrhythmias are usually benign, though annoying
Ventricular arrhythmias are potentially dangerous.
Conclusion:
PAC = higher probability, lower risk
PVC = lower probabiliby, higher risk
Anyway, in a healthy heart, premature beats, especially PVCs are REALLY unlikely to cause any arrhythmia. And even if a PAC produced an arrhythmia, the worst that could happen is a-fib, which is not lethal.
What I meant by rabbits and elephants (Matrix is a great movie by the way;) is that atrias are easy to annoy (they responds easily to adrenaline, but the consequence of them running mad is not that high) where ventricles are harder to annoy, but if they are annoyed, consequences can be dramatic.
I'll try to explain.
1) Your cholesterol and glucose tests are just fine! Only thing is, your HDL is slightly low, it's often improved by exercise and healthy food.
2) Arrhythmias. What I meant was, statistically, a PAC is more likely to cause an arrhythmia than a PVC. But in case the premature beats causes arrhythmias, the PACs will cause supraventricular arrhythmias and the PVCs will cause ventricular arrhythmias.
And:
Supraventricular arrhythmias are usually benign, though annoying
Ventricular arrhythmias are potentially dangerous.
Conclusion:
PAC = higher probability, lower risk
PVC = lower probabiliby, higher risk
Anyway, in a healthy heart, premature beats, especially PVCs are REALLY unlikely to cause any arrhythmia. And even if a PAC produced an arrhythmia, the worst that could happen is a-fib, which is not lethal.
What I meant by rabbits and elephants (Matrix is a great movie by the way;) is that atrias are easy to annoy (they responds easily to adrenaline, but the consequence of them running mad is not that high) where ventricles are harder to annoy, but if they are annoyed, consequences can be dramatic.
Hi ISM,
I apologize for the question, i wasn't aware of the specific question requirements,but i totally understand how excellent this forum is and i realize that many people want to have their heart questions addressed...
I appreciate your answer but i have to repsectfully say I'm more confused, lol....When you talked about rabbits and elephants, i kept thinking this was "The Matrix" "follow the white rabbit", then when you did the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown i thought it was NYE in Times Square...And your explanation about palpitations left my head circling more than a 3rd grader who just had a Harvard Law professor explain constitutional law to the class...
Best wishes to you to, take care...
HH
I apologize for the question, i wasn't aware of the specific question requirements,but i totally understand how excellent this forum is and i realize that many people want to have their heart questions addressed...
I appreciate your answer but i have to repsectfully say I'm more confused, lol....When you talked about rabbits and elephants, i kept thinking this was "The Matrix" "follow the white rabbit", then when you did the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown i thought it was NYE in Times Square...And your explanation about palpitations left my head circling more than a 3rd grader who just had a Harvard Law professor explain constitutional law to the class...
Best wishes to you to, take care...
HH
I was hoping one of the experts would answer his questions :P No offense to you; you explain things as well as the experts, but I've been waiting to see what the dr says =)
Did I miss this or just not reading the answer incorrectly - "In other words, can an annoying palpitation suddenly morph into a deadly one, or does a structurally normal heart prevent that?....When someone has V-tach, does that happen in a normal heart, or when that occurs, is there something already wrong with the heart structurally?"
Can arrhythmia's just "morph" into something deadly? how, why? what constitutes a "normally" structural heart and makes a seemingly rather benign arrhythmia turn deadly? 2 years of waiting and I still have no answers. Either you have benign arrhythmia's or malignant...how do they just change...I'll never understand that.
I'm curious what the dr has to say - my new cardiologist says everything on my Echo is "normal" still and not much has changed from my last echo; which was structurally normal; shaking my head over how that can be - I know from my EPS and cardiac cath I have malignant pvc's - polymorphic VT.
Hiker in Hawaii I hope the EP or cardiologist does chime in also; I'm very interested in your questions and what they have to say.
Did I miss this or just not reading the answer incorrectly - "In other words, can an annoying palpitation suddenly morph into a deadly one, or does a structurally normal heart prevent that?....When someone has V-tach, does that happen in a normal heart, or when that occurs, is there something already wrong with the heart structurally?"
Can arrhythmia's just "morph" into something deadly? how, why? what constitutes a "normally" structural heart and makes a seemingly rather benign arrhythmia turn deadly? 2 years of waiting and I still have no answers. Either you have benign arrhythmia's or malignant...how do they just change...I'll never understand that.
I'm curious what the dr has to say - my new cardiologist says everything on my Echo is "normal" still and not much has changed from my last echo; which was structurally normal; shaking my head over how that can be - I know from my EPS and cardiac cath I have malignant pvc's - polymorphic VT.
Hiker in Hawaii I hope the EP or cardiologist does chime in also; I'm very interested in your questions and what they have to say.
Hello.
This is absolutely no offense, but I would ask you to remember the rules of the Expert Forum, you can only ask 2 questions in 6 months.
The capacity of this forum (because it's free) is very limited and other members are waiting to ask questions. Your questions are by the way fairly easy to answer and I don't think you need a cardiologist to answer them. You could try the Heart Disease Community or Heart Rhythm Community with qualified members to help you?
By the way, the possible answers are (I'm no expert):
Q1: Unless you have pre-exitation syndrome (WPW) the greatest disaster a PAC can cause is atrial fibrillation, which, as you know, isn't an acute emergency. PACs can also trigger supraventricular tachycardias, which in a normal heart is usually a benign phenomenon. But if you compare an arrhythmia to starting fire, you need both a spark, and wood. The PAC is the spark. The heart usually needs to be predisposed to arrhythmias if a PAC should start one.
The same goes for PVCs. But where an atrium is a rabbit, a ventricle is an elephant. The atrias are far more irritable than the ventricles. The "risk" of a PAC starting up something is higher than that a PVC should start up something, but the consequence is worse. Ventricular tachycardia is worse than supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation is of course worse than atrial fibrillation.
It should also be mentioned that supraventricular tachycardias often involve AV node reentry. This arrhythmia can (usually) only be onset by a PAC.
Re-entry arrhythmias (which may be onset by PACs and PVCs) develop due to heterogenous repolarization of the heart chambers. If one part of the heart is recharged after another, the early recharged part can fire a premature beat, which is conducted to the later part, and when it returns, the first part is repolarized again, and so on. Your doctor can see repolarization issues on an EKG, by measuring the QT time and the QTd (often written QTc and QTcd) (last one is difference in repolarization in the different leads). If some of them are prolonged, risk of ventricular arrhythmias is elevated. I guess the same can be done for the atrias, but that requires an esophagal electrode or an EP study, as the ventricular depolarization overrules this wave on a normal EKG.
Q2: In Norway we have the 5-4-3-2-1 rule. In the US, cholesterol is measured in mg/dl, where other countries measure mmol/l. The rule is:
Total cholesterol less than 5 mmol/l
Total cholesterol / HDL ratio less than 4
LDL less than 3 mmol/l
Triglycerides less than 2 mmol/l
HDL higher than 1 mmol/l.
You can convert this to US measuring units using a calculator online, just google it.
Best wishes, and remember, you're always welcome in the Heart Rhythm community or to the great guys at Heart Disease community :)
This is absolutely no offense, but I would ask you to remember the rules of the Expert Forum, you can only ask 2 questions in 6 months.
The capacity of this forum (because it's free) is very limited and other members are waiting to ask questions. Your questions are by the way fairly easy to answer and I don't think you need a cardiologist to answer them. You could try the Heart Disease Community or Heart Rhythm Community with qualified members to help you?
By the way, the possible answers are (I'm no expert):
Q1: Unless you have pre-exitation syndrome (WPW) the greatest disaster a PAC can cause is atrial fibrillation, which, as you know, isn't an acute emergency. PACs can also trigger supraventricular tachycardias, which in a normal heart is usually a benign phenomenon. But if you compare an arrhythmia to starting fire, you need both a spark, and wood. The PAC is the spark. The heart usually needs to be predisposed to arrhythmias if a PAC should start one.
The same goes for PVCs. But where an atrium is a rabbit, a ventricle is an elephant. The atrias are far more irritable than the ventricles. The "risk" of a PAC starting up something is higher than that a PVC should start up something, but the consequence is worse. Ventricular tachycardia is worse than supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation is of course worse than atrial fibrillation.
It should also be mentioned that supraventricular tachycardias often involve AV node reentry. This arrhythmia can (usually) only be onset by a PAC.
Re-entry arrhythmias (which may be onset by PACs and PVCs) develop due to heterogenous repolarization of the heart chambers. If one part of the heart is recharged after another, the early recharged part can fire a premature beat, which is conducted to the later part, and when it returns, the first part is repolarized again, and so on. Your doctor can see repolarization issues on an EKG, by measuring the QT time and the QTd (often written QTc and QTcd) (last one is difference in repolarization in the different leads). If some of them are prolonged, risk of ventricular arrhythmias is elevated. I guess the same can be done for the atrias, but that requires an esophagal electrode or an EP study, as the ventricular depolarization overrules this wave on a normal EKG.
Q2: In Norway we have the 5-4-3-2-1 rule. In the US, cholesterol is measured in mg/dl, where other countries measure mmol/l. The rule is:
Total cholesterol less than 5 mmol/l
Total cholesterol / HDL ratio less than 4
LDL less than 3 mmol/l
Triglycerides less than 2 mmol/l
HDL higher than 1 mmol/l.
You can convert this to US measuring units using a calculator online, just google it.
Best wishes, and remember, you're always welcome in the Heart Rhythm community or to the great guys at Heart Disease community :)
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