pvc

[granddaddy]

what can be done about them

[artskip]

Well apparently not much. I have been plagued with PVC's for 15 years the last two years have been constant. When I get a PVC every 4th to 10th beat thats a relief for me. They are mostly bigeminy, for hours. As upbeat633 says there's not muchto take but beta blockers.They work inconsistantly at best. I have also been told that ablation and anti-arrythmics are a risky and PVC's are just a nuisance. Because PVC's don't have any life threatening effects, not much has been done to cure them. I take a low dosage of inderal when they get to invasive. For me excercise that gets my heart rate up seems to irritate them, so I walk slowly, I do everything but at a much slower speed than I used to.

[upbeat633]

well, according to the electrophysiologist I just saw, I have an estimated 30,000 pvc/day and he suggests a beta-blocker but nothing else, nothing. Suggests anti-arrythmics and ablation both have potential life threatening risks while pvcs do not.

But I've tried 3 beta-blockers already and they didn't do anything for the frequency, they just made me very, very tired.

I'm trying acebutolol (sectral) right now, and it works inconsistently. It has relieved some long strings of pvcs, however I'm still left with bigeminy, trigeminy, quadgeminy, you name it, just not couplets and triplets and long strings for hours on end. It's better than the other 3 though, it doesn't make me tired.

Other things that I've found that can trigger the pvcs are things you can try to avoid therefore potentially reduce them? ........caffiene, alchohol, lack of sleep, large meals, dehydration, mineral imbalance (calcium, magnesium, potassium), and stress. I know other posters have several other triggers that I haven't mentioned, but again it's a matter of knowing what yours might be and trying to avoid them. However, I don't stop living, bigeminy or not, if I want a glass of red wine on a Friday night with dinner, I have one.

Oh, ya, exercise seems to decrease my pvcs at least for the duration of the event, if I get my heart rate above 120bpm. That's become a little harder to do on the beta-blocker but I just have to kick up the incline on the treadmill.