Episodic PVCs and exercise....

[IMFletcher]

I have read many posts regarding episodic PVCs...I have been suffering from PVCs for years, but only experiencing long lasting episodes with higher frequency of PVCs for the last few months...The odd PVC is manageable, but the runs of PVCs every few beats for hours at a time are very hard to cope with. These episodes seem to hit me out of the blue...sitting, standing, sleeping...morning, noon or night!! The sensation is alarming, and I can feel them through my whole upper body, especially in my chest and throat...Has anyone who suffers from longer lasting episodic PVCs ever tried to exercise during an episode? Does this sound a little crazy?? My PVCs seem to usually occur when my heart rate is lower...I have had occasional incidence after working out, or the odd PVC while running or biking, but they usually happen at rest. I am wondering if getting the heart rate up may jolt the system into "resetting" itself, and break the episode...Any thoughts?? If the PVCs are actually benign, then I can only assume there is NO risk to exercise during an episode??

[IMFletcher]

Interesting. I am sure many would agree that your situation is somewhat alarming, as it puts a benign diagnosis into question. Were you experiencing the additional symptoms (fainting, dizziness etc) on a regular basis? was that the primary issue?? I am trying to understand how doctors would know that there is something potentially more serious going on... most PVC sufferers aren't referred for an EP Study. I think everyone on this site shares the same dark concern that the doctors have missed something, as in your case. Fortunately you caught it. I am sure it is rare that this happens, but concerning none the less...

[Mom2four85]

=) that's why I started the other thread; ...sorry for the rambling

exercise pvc's and patients being scared of exercise is kind of on base with some of your questions/concerns in some of your posts; especially since I've been told different things....I tried to answer some of them like these:

"Has anyone who suffers from longer lasting episodic PVCs ever tried to exercise during an episode?  
My PVCs seem to usually occur when my heart rate is lower...I have had occasional incidence after working out, or the odd PVC while running or biking, but they usually happen at rest.
I am wondering if getting the heart rate up may jolt the system into "resetting" itself, and break the episode...Any thoughts??
If the PVCs are actually benign, then I can only assume there is NO risk to exercise during an episode??"

my treatment was an ablation which didn't work, meds - only Inderal works for me and a defibrillator in case my heart stops again.  

My polymorphic vt and cardiomyopathy did not show up until I had an EP Study and then a cardiac cath 3 days after, until that time I was told I had no structural heart problems and benign pvc's :P

[IMFletcher]

Sorry for my sloppy post - typed very quickly..."accept" not "except". "likely" not "like".

[IMFletcher]

I agree we need a doctor to update us on the incidence of malignant arrhythmias....when are we supposed to worry??? I have had a full cardiac assessment, and they captured my PVCs during an episode...diagnosed as benign...I never have experienced shortness of breath or chest pain, or any real "symptoms", just flip flopping sensations when the PVCs strike...I am trying not to second guess my diagnosis, and except that the PVCs are benign, and not a malignant arrhythmia...My primary focus on this thread was to discern if anyone has tried exercise as a cure for episodic PVCs...I would imagine that if an arrhythmia was malignant, there would like be some presenting symptoms beyond just PVCs?? I would also hope/expect that having all the cardiac tests would show the problem? But, what do I know?!?! Thanks for your comments, btw - what is your treatment?

[Mom2four85]

I think it's a very small amount if you look at the rates of all arrhythmia sufferers - I'm too lazy to do the math lol 1 out of a million; 5 million or 10 million arrhythmia sufferers; I'll have to find the exact numbers.

according to the NCBI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2913541 About 5 percent of arrhythmias are serious, life threatening, malignant arrhythmias (MA) and is regularly associated with organic heart diseases and the most common MA is normally VT -sustained VT

Most people feel pvc's when the HR is low, while many do not feel them when the HR raises and exercise actually helps some - it has something to do with the hr being low, I'm still looking for that thread where the MH dr explains it - feeling them when hr's are low is a very normal common thing.

I had pvc's constantly... from April 2007 until August 2009 day in day, not a minute went by that I didn't have them every other beat or 3rd beat...over 50,000+ pvc's daily...what a PAIN...I've had Bradycardia, Tachycardia, PVC's, VT, NSVT, VFib, couplets triplets salvos', PAC's, PSVT all caught on tests & monitors and dr's have no clue why.

I know what you mean about doctors....before I fell and broke my foot in June 2009 many dr's told me nothing was wrong - even though I had complained of fainting, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, pvc's, palpitations.  I was exercising and they didn't really interfere with my daily activities so they didn't care....pvc's showed up on my Ekg's and they said - it's all in your head and stress related; relieve your stress levels; luckily I went to a new primary when I broke my foot or I would have died.

I'm one of the rare ones who had no structural heart problems (check my test results in my journal), Echocardiogram on July 6, 2009 said I had no structural heart problems, yet on Aug 26, 2009 I went in for an EP Study and was dx with malignant arrhythmia's... so it can happen =)

[IMFletcher]

Looks like we have a lot of similarities including our age. I just had a full series of cardiac tests, as mentioned above. How was your condition diagnosed? I am not completely familiar with Afib...have you been instructed NOT to get your heart rate too elevated? What are the treatment options??