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Frequent PVC's with occasional longer lasting "flutter"

Hello Everyone.

First off a little about me an a some back story. I'm a 27 year old male in what I would consider great physical shape. 6 ft tall and only 160lbs. Not as athletic as I used to be, but regularly active with work and weekend activities. I have had single PVC's since I was a teenager. It seemed to all start when I was "young and dumb" and drank large quantities of energy drinks. I seen a doctor about it when I was 17 and he basically told me to stop drinking those energy drinks and lay off the caffeine. I stopped drinking energy drinks and never really drank coffee until a few years ago as well. I have had these single PVC's for over 10 years now. I'm used to them, and they we're never very frequent. Once a week or less. But I always felt them very hard. It would feel like a skipped or missed beat followed by a hard thud in my chest. I never really paniced over them because I was used to them. Another strange thing, about 5-6 years ago (before getting married and going on a tropical honeymoon) I got in very good physical shape. I went to the gym almost every day. I ran anywhere from 3-5 miles almost daily in about 30 minutes before doing any weight lifting. I dropped my weight from 185 to 160, and was in the best shape that I have ever been in. And during that time period. The PVC's we're pretty much non-existent. I don't remember having any for at least 2-3 years.

I eventually fell off of the gym routine and a year or two ago they started coming back again. But within the past 6 months or so they have increased in frequency to an alarming rate. 10 or more in a day easily. I also got a rare occurrence that happened 3-4 times now where it felt like my normal PVC's but it was repeditive. And didn't stop after the first abnormal beat it kept going. I would take a deep breath and cough and it would eventually stop after maybe 10-15 seconds. This was rather alarming to me as this is new, and definitely more scary.

Me being hard-headed I figured it was benign and didn't go see a doctor. Then one Saturday night I fell asleep on the couch watching TV and at some point in the middle of the night I woke up to a PVC. I thought everything was normal and sat up realizing that I needed to get to bed. That's when I felt my heart beating abnormally fast. I then stood up and realized my heart was racing. It felt like I was just running a marathon. Of course I realized that this isn't normal and panic set it. I ran upstairs to my wife and told her to wake up and call 911. Then before she did, I told her to hang on that maybe I just need to calm down. I paid in the floor and called my mom who helped me relax. Withing 2-5 minutes from it starting I was back to a normal rate. The very next day I called my doctor. She made me an referral to get a 48 hour holter monitor. The day that I was supposed to pick the monitor up I had another attack. Same way, a single PVC, followed by my hear racing for 2-5 minutes. This time I went to the ER. They couldn't catch anything abnormal on an EKG. I did have another racing attack at the hospital but they didn't get an EKG to me in time, that one was shorter. Maybe 1-2 minutes. They review the regular heart monitor though and said that they THINK that it could be SVT but they aren't sure and need to catch it on an EKG. So they send me home with a cardizem prescription and tell me to go and get that monitor. During the 48 hours on the monitor I didn't have any racing episodes, just some small single PVC's that they confirmed.

My cardiologist tells me that it's not life threatening and not to worry and to try an relax. They want me to do a stress test and then get a month long event monitor to attempt at catching the racing episode again. Of course they are booked until April 17th.

I have never had anxiety, or any form of panic attacks my whole life. I have been used to these PVC's so I know that they didn't cause panic. But after all of this, I am fairly certain that I now have anxiety because of this. It's all that I think about, I'm constantly worried. It's affecting my quality of life.

I'm finally starting to build some confidence again. I have been running on my tredmill twice a week for a couple miles. Not over doing it. I seem to feel better, have less PVC's and building more confidence in my body.

Until today. I had a great day. No PVC's all day, I was feeling great. I wasn't even thinking about them and then..... Bam! Another one of the rare multiple beats (not anracing episode). It hit me out if nowhere, instantly made me gasp for air. It wasn't just a single beat, it was numerous back to back. I took a deep breath and coughed... And after a few more seconds it went back to normal. Again maybe 15 seconds total. These episodes freak me out even more than the racing episodes because I'm worried that it could be something more serious like Non-sustained ventricular tachycardia or something. Even though the doctor's keep telling me not to worry.

So of course, I lose my confidence after that attack. My worrying comes back and for the rest of the night so far I have had more PVC's now. Like my worrying and constantly thinking about it causes a flair up of PVC's.

I guess I don't really know what I'm asking. It just feels good to talk about it to a community that has others with similar issues.

I'm worried that they won't catch these episodes on a monitor. I haven't had a racing epsisode since I have been on the medicine. And the other episode where it feels like numerous PVC's in a row and very infrequent like months apart.

Not to mention that I sometimes feel like the doctor's and even ER staff don't take me as seriously as others because of my young age and physical health. One doctor at the hospital literally said "well your young and not out of shape, and not really at risk for any oife threatening issues". Meanwhile a lady next to me in maybe her 50's said she felt pressure in her chest and next thing you know they say "we're gonna admit you, and do a cat scan and a stress test etc etc" non of which I have had done yet. Nobody has even seen an image of my heart or anything. Just some EKG's and a holter monitor :(



4 Responses
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Avatar universal
I have had PVC for probably 60 years.  That is until a month ago.  I started taking fish oil, Cq10 and a Vitamin B Soft Gel complex.  Arrythmia now gone. PVC gone and I feel great.  The pulse is now consistent 58-64 whereas before it was 48-54
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
I have been doing much better lately. The PVC's seemed to have slowed back down. I have very few per day now. Sometimes just one or two noticeable PVCs per day lately. They really don't bother me much at all as long as they are the single PVCs. I feel them quite hard and very obviously. But these are the PVC's that I have felt for years and I'm pretty accustomed to.

What scares me half to death is the thought of what is going on when I have the more rare multiple PVCs in a row. In that moment when I become scared and panic starts to set in, it's almost impossible for me to count how many that I am having in a row, or if they are followed by normal beats in between or not. This scares me terribly because if it's multiple PVC's in a row without regular beats in between it's considered VTach if it's  4 or more PVC's. Sometimes these thoughts hit me even at my best moments and they literally ruin my day. I start to worry about if these episodes are VT, what would happen if I had a longer run of VT and how people can suffer from SDC and all sorts of scary stuff from VT. How can the doctor just tell me not to worry that it's not life threatening when they honestly do not know.

The thought of VT scares me. It makes my mind wonder, it makes me think if terrible things like what would happen if I had another instance of multiple PVC's in a row that didn't stop. If my wife could do CPR or not. Etc etc etc. And it's hard to shake those thoughts at times.

I still have yet to get ab echocardiogram, I was supposed to do a stress echo this past Monday and they called and cancelled because of a scheduling error and nobody was there to perform the test. So now I'm scheduled for the 17th. I hate waiting.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
You may want to ask your cardiologist for a 30 day loop monitor. It's much more likely to catch infrequent palpitations than a 2 day holter. Even if you don't get this rare run on the first loop monitor you can always ask for a second one (for a total of 60 days).

Btw, they can hook you up to one of those big monitors at the ER. If you ever have another episode that lands you at the ER, you may want to ask them for this monitor instead of waiting for an EKG.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Alkile1,

Thanks for the response. I was actually going to try taking fish oil as I have heard that it is generally good for the heart etc. Then I scared myself after reading some articles about studies suposedly showing that fish oil actually increases PVC's or arrythmias. So I wasn't sure which to believe and scared myself away from trying it.

Maybe I'll give it a go.

Thanks again
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
neagle392,

i cant see any truth in fish oil causing an increase. and even if it did, they are unlikely to be dangerous in any way shape or form. weather you me or anybody else who feels pvcs likes it or not, they will happen at times reardless of what you take or dont take. the truth is, u need to put into your body what you want back. fish oil is good
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