Continuous skipped beats, tests are normal. What to do?

[Jenjm32]

Hello all,

New to this forum. Whew ok, let me start by saying I’m a 32 year old woman, slightly overweight but not much, I had a baby’s 3 years ago..

So I’ve had palpitations on and off (in that I’d get one or two a day and none for several days) since I was about 20.(I’ve had several ekgs, few echos and 24hr Holter done-all came back , as well as blood work done which was also normal save for a low vitamin D)
Last summer I had a fight with my brother in law (I had had some drinks) and the next  day I had non stop palpitations (skipped beats) for 4 days straight. I did my best to ignore them. I went to an amusement park w my family and walked backward into a cold waterfall and they stopped. Really weird.

Flash forward to last Friday, I’ve had non stop palps  since around 7pm. At first tried ignoring them in the hopes they’d just go away as they had last time. I even attempted  to talk a cold shower but I couldn’t bear it for more than a few seconds.
This morning they were so bad I went to my doc, she did an ekg me several PVCs were present. She said nothing life threatening but I went to the cardiologist today. He did another ekg, more PVCs came up and he decided to put me on atenolol. I started crying Bc I don’t want to take medication. I’m so scared of side effects I barely take Advil when I need. I must add I also have suffered w anxiety disorder and panic attacks for 17 years but this episode of constant palps came on w/o any anxiety. Not sure how unconscious it can all be., but I wasn’t anxious, but the length at which these are lasting is starting to make me anxious.
Sorry for the long post but has anyone had palps lasting days on end and if so, have they gone away? Has anyone taken atenolol for them, has it helped? Any bad side effects ? Sorry for the long post but I wanted to ask all I needed and provide all the details I could. Thanks so much to all!

[klutzer25]

I often have thousands of these PVC irregular beats day. I have had this condition since 1978 and I'm 67 years old now. It does affect the quality of life. Doctors are not very sympathetic, especially if they have never experienced these irregular beats.  They just say they are benign. But that doesn't help you to cope. I read a study that said participants in the study benefited from Acebutolol, reducing the number of PVCs up to 70%.  I asked my cardiologist if I could try it and he said that it was an older drug but worth a try. I am on 400mg twice a day and it has been like a miracle. I might get an occasional PVC in a month, but most of the time I am not aware of any at all.  Previously I had like 10,000 or more a day.  It might be worth a try to ask for Acebutolol. I don't like being on drugs either, but sometimes you have to give in. God bless.

[Katerxwhite]

Hi, I know you wrote this a few months ago and I’m a bit late, but I just stumbled across this and your story sounds a lot like me. I’m seventeen and I have currently been having them for almost a month straight. From the time I get out of bed in the morning to when I go to sleep at night, I feel skipped beats almost constantly. I too have suffered with anxiety, but these came on in a time of no anxiety, so when people tell me it’s anxiety’s fault, it makes no sense to me.. I’ve had many tests done and they all came back normal. A few months ago I had them for 5 days, they went away, and had only just came back at the beginning of this month out of the blue. It’s very frustrating:(