Question for frequent PVC suffers.

[gomez35]

So I've been a PVC suffer for about a decade or so now. Mostly they tend to come in very isolated incidents or come on a few dozen for a few days and then go into hibernation......However in the last month I've had the longest sustained episode I can recall where I seem to have a few dozen or so bouts daily......Has anyone else had this kind of dramatic change in their PVC frequency and longevity after such a long period of time?

My second question is for the people who say they have or have had episodes of thousands of PVC's in a day.....Do you actually FEEL all those beats?

[pm16]

Just a general comment.  I have had pvc's and pac's for 34 years and I have been treated at the Cleveland Clinic, University of Michigan Hospitals and many, many others.  Don't know why I have the pvs and pac but have learned that if you find the right combination of medication you can live very well with them - I travel all over as I just came back from a trip to Nova Scotia of one month.  Am active, ride bike, walk, etc.  Best tip I can give you is to go to a medical center than has a good department for heart arrhythmia disorders.  Get a doctor who has a specialty in heart rhythm disorders.  You won't regret it. If you have a change in the number of pvc's you are having you need to let your doctor know as you may need to adjust medication.  Don't just assume it is "more of the same old thing" or you could get into a lot of trouble.  

[Madge270]

Good suggestion about talking to an allergist. There's one about an hour's drive from where I live.  So far I've just been relying on what my internal medicine doctor tells me, because he's the one who has been twith me through the allergic reactions I've had to antibiotics.  He tells me there aren't any of the newer ones that he'd feel all that comfortable using with me, partly because they aren't tested well enough yet, and partly because some of them have some pretty bad side effects, like liver and kidney damage or permanent inner damage. He also talks with an infectious disease specialist friend of his about my situation. I really hope that one of these days I'll be able to just take an antibiotic like everyone else does. I'd like to have a more normal life again.

[soxfan12]

Madge,
Have you ever seen an Allergist about this?  While it is true many antibiotics are updated versions of the same antibiotic class there are newer ones that are totally different in chemical structure than previous ones and may not pose the same issues for you.  Just a thought.....

[Madge270]

Thanks for asking about that today, Lisa. It means a lot to me. My cardiologist is gone for a few weeks and his office nurse isn't very fast for taking/returning messages anyway. I think I'd feel a lot better if I knew that an antibiotic wasn't a necessity for something like an ablation, should I ever need one. I"ve nearly died several times from antibiotic treatment, and it changes how a person lives his/her life, that's for sure. I had to give up my teaching job, the volunteer work I did with seniors in nursing homes and my part-time job with Head Start kiddies. I loved it, but the doc said there's too much of a chance of catching strep, etc., in situations like that.

I think I'm still having about 8500 PVCs a day, but am not sure. I couldn't sleep for a few hours last night, because no matter what position I slept in, I couldn't get rid of the PVCs. Finally, I did get to sleep toward morning. That hasn't happened to me before, so it was a bit unnerving.  I do know that PVCs can increase (or sometimes decrease) for no apparent reason. Just trying to get used to this. At least I'm not constantly checking my pulse anymore. Doesn't do any good anyway. LOL.

[Mom2four85]

I would ask my cardiologist or EP, I didn't have them for my ablation or cardiac cath,  but did have them for my pacemaker/icd implant.  I'll ask my today why that was.

[Madge270]

Hi, Lisa...

I've talked with my family doctor about this, since he's the one who has had to deal with some of my serious reactions to antibiotics. All he said was that most heart procedures require antibiotics because you don't want an infection of the lining of the heart. That's what concerned me.

If some of you had ablations or pacemakers put in, and didn't have to take antibiotics, or didn't have an IV drip before or during your heart procedure, I'd like to hear about it. It would probably make me feel a little better.

[soxfan12]

I have had much of the same situation with my PACs.  I have had them for about 10 years and they would come and go.  Sometimes I could go months without feeling any then they would crop up with a greater frequency just to disappear as suddenly as they came.  I have never been able to figure out a trigger for them.  They have recently come back but even now I can go for hours during the day with none or only a few and then they start up with frequency, sometimes after meals sometimes not.  It just adds to the frustration with these things.  

[Mom2four85]

Madge, did you ask your dr about ablation and antibiotics? I've heard some not have antibiotics during surgery, or is there a specific reason some people have it & some don't?

[Madge270]

If my PVCs ever get worse, I wonder what I'll do. Ablations and surgeries (like a pacemaker) are  dangerous for me. Even a strep throat puts my doctor in a dither, because just about every antibiotic closes my throat and gives me giant hives and swelling throughout my body. Being on a ventilator to breathe, and having hives, rashes, and diarrhea (not to mention things like c diff. infections) from an antibiotic really concern me. I keep hoping that someone will come up with a new kind of antibiotic, but it doesn't appear likely. Most of  the ""newer" ones that are relatively safe so far are just different versions of the same antibiotic families. I really do wonder what I'd do. Not a pleasant thought. Lisa, you're so lucky you could have those procedures done.

[Mom2four85]

I know about feeling them...54,000 daily...day in day out...24/7 which is about 2,250 an hour or 37 pvc's per minute...misery at it's finest...I can never do anything halfway :P

I am SO glad I had an ablation that was 99% successful, so now I'm at about 4 pvc's per hour; which I'll live with :)

I had a pacemaker/icd implanted and that helps alot with regulating all the craziness that goes on in my heart.

[newzor]

^Probably because the stomache and the heart are close to eachother and they are both connected to the vagus nerve.

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I used to feel my PVC's and palpitations, but suddenly I stopped feeling them. The only way i can check up on them is to feel my pulse in the neck.

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Be careful in treating abnormal heartbeats with pharma drugs.

If the abnormal heartbeats do not cause you much difficulties,
and they are not considered lifethreatening or damaging in the long run...

Then it is not worth to risk the possible side-effects of pharma drugs.
I have read from some people that took BB's and CCB's to treat their abnormalities
like pvc's... they had success in the beginning of treatment but eventually
their problems got worse which they suspect might not have been the case
had they not decided to take pharma drugs.

In many cases pharma drugs are the best choice but in many other cases it's not.
Always do good research before u decide to take a pharmadrug longterm.
Many people regret going on many different kind of drugs ranging from anxiety, depression and even heart meds.

[Madge270]

I MEANT to say I was having 4 to 5  PVCs a minute, not an hour. (I wish it were only 4 or 5 an hour.) Wonder why I often feel the heartbeat flips in my stomach.

[Madge270]

I've had one of those days when I can feel my heart beating hard in my stomach region. Pulse is a little elevated today and I have about  4 to 5 PVCs a day. I need the laugh, itdood.

[Mom2four85]

@itdood "It's been a blast!  not.  :-) "  that made me laugh lol thanks

[Madge270]

I average about 8500 a day. Sometimes several minute, sometimes less. I feel them only part of the time, especially in the evening after eating and sometimes when I go to bed. The rest of the time I don't feel them much.  If I'm busy and my pulse goes over 85 or so, they usually lessen or go away. I've only known about them for a few months. Am  hoping they don't get a lot worse, since if I needed an ablation they might say I can't have one. I know they give antibiotics for heart procedures, and I go into allergic shock from most antibiotics, unfortunately.

[itdood]

I had a dramatic change in  Jan of this year. I went from isolated episodes to 1,000s per day literally overnight.  It's been a blast!  not.  :-)

yes, I felt every one of them when I was getting 1,000s per day.

[Mom2four85]

I'm one of those dx with "frequent complex pvc's" - after ablation my dx was frequent malignant pvc's [polymorphic vt's that go into v-fib]

Until this year, I had no clue that what I felt was pvc's because different dr's told me nothing was wrong, even when I complained of chest pains, palpatations etc.

I've felt them off & on for as long as I can remember and this year they increased to crazy numbers - over 54,000 daily.  I ignored them most of the time because I was told nothing was wrong, so after awhile I began to believe it, which was dangerous.  

I went to the ER after a reaction to a BB one dr gave me.  I had dr's nurses & staff come in to watch my monitors and go 'hmmm' are you feeling these? lol Yes I felt them ALLL of them, unfortunately.

I had an ablation at the end of August, which got rid of all but 1% of pvc's I had, now I have PAC's which I don't feel as much.