PVC SCARE...need help!

[Jayson2416]

Yesterday I had a massive massive thump or tug at my heart... shot down from my shoulder to my heart... felt like it squuezed it very hard made it stop for a few seconds... then followed by very strong chest pain and tightntess.. I swore i was having a heart attack!!  I drove myself to my wifes work where I knew she could calm me down..  THis was the scariest attack ive ever had... I have anxiety and that didnt help... My question is,  CAN PVC'S BE THAT STRONG AND CAUSE WHAT HAPPENED TO ME YESTERDAY??????... I ended up goin to ER later that nite to double check if i had indeed had a heart attack..  They ran my blood, ekg, had me on heart monitor for 3 hours, and chest xrays... Evertyihng came out normal...  The doctor did say that anxiety, and pvc can cause this.. My other question is, CAN THEY BE  THIS STRONG, SHE SAID YES... THAT HER HUSBAND HAS THEM AND THEY SCARE HIM DAILY..  CAN ANYONE ELSE SHARE  A PVC STORY SIMILAR TO MINE?  I NEED SOME COMFORT IN THIS AREA PLEASE!!    also i have had anxiety symptoms for almost 4 months now... im 31 and this yr ahs been my worst yr health wise... my parents are both alive, there is no jhistory of family heart attacks... I had a aunt die at age 55 from a heart attack, but she was a heavy drinker and more...  ok thank you all PLEASE REPSOND

[Jayson2416]

Thank you both so very much... I have had several test done, ekgs , chest xrays, blood work, echo, stress test, also did cat scans, all turned out clear and good...  SO I have never been diagnosed with pvc's but from what i experienced the doc said it could have been  a large pvc, followed by my anxiety taking over causing the chest pain and scary death thoughts....   AGAIN THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH... my main thing in here is I want stories similar to what ive been thru and to read up on this as much as I can,..

[itdood]

Assuming it was a PVC....

I've had them in swarms of 1,000s per day.  Set your perspective on that!

I always tell the story about when I was in a recliner with a TV remote on my chest.  I threw a hard PVC and it knocked the remote off my chest.

How these feel depends on their timing in the heart beat cycle.  The heart beat cycle has 3 major phases.  It starts with a trigger for your Atria to contract.  That travels to your AV node, which triggers the ventricles to contract.  Then the ventricles repoliarize to get ready for the next beat.

A PVC can happen at any time during this cycle.  So say you throw a PVC when the atria are initially contracting and haven't had a lot of time to push all the blood out.  The blood coming into the ventricles suddenly reverses flow slamming valves shut while the atria are still trying to push blood out.  Then the veins leading to the aria have a pressure spike while those valves are slammed shut.  

Pain is attributed to the differential blood pressures that you normally don't have.

Another aspect on how they feel is that instead of the ventricles contracting at the same time there's a delay.  So if the ectopic signal came from the right ventricle, the right ventricle contracts first followed by the left.  

It really shudders your heart.

So chill out, don't read too much into how they feel.  I bet you have some you don't even feel.  

One thing I've personally noticed is that the really nasty PVCs come in singles and are isolated.  When I've had swarms they are soft.

Since you have anxiety, controlling your reaction will be a huge help.  Don't rely on an ER to get past this issue and especially don't rely on them for a diagnosis.  See your GP then see a cardiologist for workups.

[rmontgom21740]

Jayson,

I am really sorry that you are having a hard time.  I have been stuck with PVCs for the past 20 years and I hate them.  It is very hard to enjoy your life when you feel you are about to die.  I have experienced what you described with the very strong PVC's and I also thought i was having a heart attack.  Recently I went to the cleveland clinic and the Dr put me on a low does of Metoprolol which didn't stop all of the PVCs but I dont have as many and when they do occur... they dont feel as strong.  Might be something to think about.  The Doctor in Cleveland heard the PVC's during my visit.  He told me he was not concerned and that I would not die from it.  He told me that everyone has them but only the unlucky people can feel them.  I am one of the unlucky people becuase I feel every one.  If you have been to your Dr and everything checks out then the ONLY thing you can do is to take meds to control the anxiety and maybe a beta blocker to help calm down the PVC's and make them less strong as you have described.  Try your best to focus on something else and I know that is hard to do.  Good luck and I hope you feel better.

Rich

[saarygirl]

Hello-- are you still having them? I am a 24 year old female, and I have been having them for 5 months. I have about 15-20 per day. Pretty terrible. Hope you are doing better!