14,500 PVC's per day?

[TimRo]

Hello all. I am 50 yr old, W, M.  Last year I had a issue of rapid heart beat (with skipped beats) and Aphasia, which put me in the E.R.  Because of the Aphasia they thought I might be having a TIA, but all MRI/CAT scans came back normal.  They did put me on a 24 Holter Monitor that showed: "Extremely frequent Ventricular ectopic activity, Over 14,500 ventricular isotopes were noted, Rare couplets were identified. Several episodes of bigeminy, trigeminy and quadrigeminy were documented.

I had another episode this last March.  They did a TEE to check for clots/holes and was clear except for leaking mitral valve, that my Cardiologist was not to concerned about.  I just finished a 1 month event monitor and will be going back to the doc on Thursday.  

When I have the PVC's which seem non stop, I have throbbing in the back of my head were I feel every heart beat and what feels like skipped beats. When ever I lay down I can feel every beat in my chest, of course my anxiety goes up when this is happening, which is all day everyday right now.

Have any of you had issues like this and what is normally the treatment.  What would be some good questions to ask my doc?

Thanks in advance

[MichelleP_3811]

Did the Aphasia clear up?  Glad to hear you weren't having a TIA but gosh something was messing with your brain.  I have not heard of pvcs themselves doing something like that.  Have you had the artery in your neck checked?  My mother had a whole litany of heart test done to make sure she didn't have blocked arteries and no one thought to check her neck.  Turns out she had some pretty extensive blockage in her neck but not in her heart so maybe ask for it to be checked.  It could be partly the cause of the Aphasia and maybe even what is riling up so many pvcs.  In general the only way to be truly rid of them is through a cardiac ablation but ablations for premature beats, pacs or pvcs, do not have the success rates that svt ablations have and there tends to be reoccurance more often.  I might try first working on your diet, avoiding caffeine, sugar and carbohydrates.  Avoid spicy foods and foods that cause acid reflux and make sure you are drinking lots of water and manage your bp.  If you have high bp then avoid sodium.  Other than that go over the pros and cons of what having that many pvcs is doing to your heart.  And definitely ask to have your carotid arteries checked in your neck.  Take care.  Keep us posted on how you are doing.