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New to PVCs

Not really a question but more of sharing my experiences thus far.  I found this site (and contributors) very helpful when this first started happening and hope sharing can do the same for someone else.

I'm a 37m, slightly out of shape but otherwise fairly normal.  I first noticed PVCs after working out one day in Nov. 2017.  Not sure if I had them before that but definitely noticed them then.  As I'm sure you know, once noticed, hard to un-notice them.  I had them off and on for a week or so and never caught them on the ekg and they went away just before thanksgiving.  To be safe, I setup a cardiologist visit and was scheduled for Jan. 2.  For this visit nothing much happened - they were still gone and the Dr. basically said not to worry.  I had been letting some work stress get to me and figured that was it.

Then around end of March came and they came back to make up for time lost.  I went back to the cardiologist (faster this time) and confirmed they were PVCs. This time it was easy to catch as they were 1/5 beats.  Did the Holter thing - 11k in 24hrs.  At least that seemed to get the interest of my cardiologist.  :-)  Good news is that this was a bad day and they've now settled down a bit to 1k or less a day most days.

Since then I've done an echo (was normal except that EF was reported as normal low - more on this later).  I've also did a calcium score CT (zero thankfully) and started metoprolol 25mg ER for the past month and a half.  I did a blood work-up and it was normal too including electrolytes.

I've cut out caffeine for a while, alcohol for a while, artificial sweeteners.  I've tried magnesium supplements, once a day vitamins, fish oil, etc.

Observations for my particular situation:

1. None of the above seems to make a difference really that I can tell
2. Exercise usually reduces the number of PVCs for a while afterwards (a few hours - maybe skippy is tired)
3. When the PVCs are happening frequently - like 1/4 beats, I do feel some chest discomfort.  I guess it could be my mind but maybe that much abnormal causes some discomfort to happen?
4. I was doing a lot of push-ups around the same time this was happening - not a great ideas because lots of pushups can cause chest pain too and lead to more unease.

About the ejection fraction reading - a couple of observations:

1. There's no way that 2-D echo and someone trying to trace the outline of my heart with a mouse from the 80's is super-accurate.  Or at least it seems kinda unreliable to me.
2. I'm wondering what effect 1/4 PVCs has on the reading as well.  I was super skippy while having the echo done.

I'm sure there's more and I'll update as things progress.  I'm hopeful they will up and leave again one day (soon)!
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Avatar universal
Thanks for sharing your story. I'm 24 years old and have been struggling with these things for 4 years now. They suck! I can't seem to get rid of them. All I know is that I have horrible anxiety over them. It's good to know I'm not alone. Although I wouldn't wish these things on anyone!
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Yeah, they are practically impossible to ignore for me.  Unless you have them, I don't think one can fully understand how disruptive they are.  I've been through all the stages now I think - terrified, denial, anger, reluctant acceptance with hope.  :-)
I’m still in the terrified stage lol. I’ve read too much about VT and NSVT. I’m convinced this will happen to me when I’m home alone with my 3 kids :( I have never been diagnosed with PVCs or PACs but I know I have them. I told my dr and he suggested anxiety medicine lol. My husband thinks it’s all in my head but I know what I’m feeling and it’s scary sometimes.
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