can hormones be the cause of all these PVC, ectopic beats?

[izmomma]

I suffered from many years of infertility with two late lost pregancys, so in course of trying to get pregnant was on mulitple infertility drugs. Finally in Nov 08 we were pregant with a basically normal preg. I had polyhydramnios and they induced me at 37 week. She is healthy and I was healthy. My first encounter the PVC, arrthymia's first came while I was taking pain meds after my c-section. I blew it off then, because I seriously thought it was the pain meds. Well, after I stopped taking the pain meds the PVC's continued. I waited 7 months and then went to my OB?Gyn, he then hurd a murmur and referred me to a cardiologist. She was very aggressive because the first time I saw her I was having these skipped beats every 30-45secs-consistently! She did a EKG, ECHO, HOlter, and blood work. Neg, eKG...ECHO, showed slight enlargement of rt. ventricle, but otherwise normal. Holter showed 1300 skipped beats and came out of all this with a benign prognosis.  The blood work however showed HDL, Cholesterol, glucose HIGH. And a potassium and Mag. D deficiencsy. So I am now on meds.  My questions is at 31 having my first child and seems to have these horrible episodes only on days 14-16 of menstruation and for days 28-3...During these days it is all I can do to stand up to wash dishes because of the mulitple missed beats and the feeling of not getting enough oxygen to my brain, therefore being very lightheaded, dizzy, and feel very faint..My Cardiologist is very smart but seems to not think this has anything to do with a hormonal screw-up. My Ob seems to want to just ignore the fact it is happening during these times too and thinks the Cardiologist is probably right.  All I know is, I have a 15 month old daughter who is my world and I need to be around this earth for many years to come to help raise her. Please give me some peace of mind that this could possibly just be a horomonal thing and I will eventually get straightened out.   Thank you , From a worried Momma!!

[debbier]

I can relate to the hormone roller coaster.  My heart pounds during the ovulation time and 2-3 days before it gets here I get lots of pvc's.  I take Atenolol to control the pvc's but my hormones take control even on the beta blocker.

[bypeep]

I'm in the exact same boat as you.  NSVT three days surrounding ovulation and the first few days of menstruation.  I think that it's not JUST the hormones, you also need to have some irritable cells in your heart.  Then these two factors work together to make a fertile woman's life miserable.  The rest of the month my heart is pretty angelic.  I actually get little anxiety attacks when I feel the shift in my hormones twice a month.  I worry about how bad the palps will get and it probably makes things worse.

My EP saw a relation between my cycle and my palps immediately when reviewing a 30-day monitoring back in August.  He never disputed this, in fact feels as though this is my biggest trigger.  I'm seeing him on Monday for my first follow after an EP study in September and plan to pick his brain about this hormone/PVC correlation.  He suggested BC pills to control the rollercoaster of hormones.  I also take a beta-blocker which definitely calms things down.  Maybe this could work for you too?

I can't imagine a cardiologist not considering that hormones can trigger these.  

Your RV enlargement might be pregnancy related and hopefully will resolve itself.  This in and of itself might be making the palps worse - at least I'm guessing.  

[itdood]

Hormone fluctuations can certainly enhance conditions for ectopic beats but they aren't the cause of ectopic beats.    I think that's where these doctors are coming from.    Only myocardial cells can create an ectopic beat.  There's just way too much anecdotal evidence that, especially for women, ectopic activity ebbs and flows with known hormonal fluctuations.  It could be directly or indirectly enhancing conditions for the already twitchy myocardial cells to become more active.  Or, in medical terminology, myocardial cells with enhanced automaticity will be further irritated by certain electrolyte or hormone imbalances.

I think the electrolyte issue should be more of your focus for now.  The low mag and potassium can certainly be a big culprit.  Especially after you just a had your baby.  Think of all that was needed to create your baby.  All their tissue, their bones, that all come from you.  For instance, I know some women will notice they get cavities in their teeth after being pregnant from all the calcium that was taken from them for the baby to grow.

There are a lot of good Mag supps out there.  Magnesium should always be supplemented with calcium.  I take SloMag because it has both in the right proportions.  I've also taken straight up Magnesium Glycenate 400mg, wow that helped me a lot for few month.  I learned that I was driving calcium out of my cells though, I learned this the hard way.  That's when I switched to a maintenance load with the SloMag.

The potassium is hard to supplement, as too much can kill you.  Usually the best advise there is to eat food known to be high in potassium or your doctor can come up with a plan.

You will eventually get straightened out.  My 'lil sis went through this after her 3rd, it took almost 12 months to subside.  Making a baby takes a lot out of you, pun intended :-)

I totally understand your anxiety about being here for your daughter.  Letting go of that anxiety might help too with your recovery.  Hang in there, you are going to be OK.