Sudden PVCS amd frequency

[Zoodaloo]

Has anyone reading this ever gone from having a handful of PVCs every few months to suddenly having thousands every single day? If so, how long did you continue to have thousands a day? I’m on month 4, and it’s driving me nuts, and I feel terrible. Did you ever find out what triggered such a huge change in frequency? I don’t smoke or drink, and I completely cut out caffeine in all forms, but that hasn’t helped.  
Also, i have had a 2 week Holter monitor
And a chest CT with contrast. Is that enough to determine these are strictly benign? Meaning no heart disease or congestive heart failure or blockages?

[Careful35]

Are you seeing a cardiologist? Have you had an echocardiogram? If you haven't it may be a good idea to have one done...

There are a whole bunch of us that know exactly what your going through and what you describe is common when it comes to ectopics. The amount you have can vary from time to time and the drs say you can have 5 or 5,000 but in a structurally normal heart with no disease they are still benign.

There are things you can do to try and lessen them like not drinking caffeine, not smoking, avoiding stress, getting enough sleep etc.. I know having an increase of the them is certain to cause a little anxiety but try to remain calm and do your very best to ignore them because the more you focus on them, the more they will happen..

If you get to the point where you feel like you cant deal with them anymore, you can always ask your dr for a low dose beta blocker to take when episodes are bad and see if it helps... Some people find that magnesium helps.

[Zoodaloo]

My cardiologist is the one who had me wear the Holter. There was a report sent to her, but she didn’t want to print it for me because it was 120 pages. She really didn’t say anything to me about it. I know there were an assload of PVCS, and no dangerous other arrhythmias that she mentioned, but other than that, I know nothing else.  She has not sent me to have an echo or anything. I had an echo 2 years ago, and she said that since that one was good, she does not recommend another. I told her that I thought it would be a good idea, seeing as how this came on suddenly, and the frequency started off in the many thousands. She still wasn’t convinced I needed one. I’m supposed to see her again in 3 months. She gave me diltiazem first for 2 months. It did nothing. Then Metoprolol, and it started off helping a bit for the first 2 weeks max, but now I’m back where I started again. I hate these evil things. I miss feeling normal.

[Careful35]

Aww I'm sorry that your having such a hard time. I know how bad these things can make you feel. I have been having dizzy/lightheaded spells for a long time now that have increased in frequency and I'm just now getting all  the advanced testing. I am getting a loop recorder implanted next Friday and will also be wearing a 30 day event monitor on the same day. Weird to have them both at once but whatever maybe it will help figure out my problem... it's all very scary and so I can deff relate. I have a family history of sudden death on my fathers side and even with that information I was put on the back burner for years... but currently I'm seeing my cardio, EP and a genetic dr and so I'm hoping we can figure out what's going on or at least God willing rule out my heart being the cause.

I honestly dont know how much can change in 2 years to know if another echo would be beneficial or not. Its totally within your right to see a different cardiologist for a 2nd opinion. Also within your rights is copies of your medical records no matter how many pages long they are. Did you by chance have your monitoring service done through cardio-net? If so you can contact them and they will also send you copies of the results free of charge or at least that was the case for me. I personally do like to get copies of all my testing results for my own personal file, so that I can have it in the event a different dr wants it and 2 I have had instances where there was something in my results that was never mentioned to me at follow up. Nothing major but things that would have been nice to know or maybe something that really isn't a big deal at the time but needs to be monitored.

If they beta blocker helped at first but then stopped perhaps you need some tweaking to the dosage. Maybe see if your cardio would be willing to up the dosage just a little. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to find what works. What works for some people may not work for others. I personally have found some success with magnesium and from what I read a lot of other people do as well but again there are some who it just doesn't help, though it does seem to help more people then it doesn't. Perhaps give that a try?