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PVCS and Sleep Apnea

I'm writing this in the hopes it may help someone.

I've had the same curse that many of you who come to this forum have.  PVC's and the destruction they can bring to your life.

I'm 44...I played college basketball.  I've experienced PVC's randomly since I was in 9th grade.

They became consistent in 2012.

That said I tried everything to fix them and I've posted here a few times on things that I "thought" was helping.

I'm adding one more thing to the list that I've "tested".

I went to Just Answer one day and just asked a doctor about Flecainide as my EP wanted me to try it.

The doctor said he wouldn't recommend I try it.  Instead he asked if I ever was diagnosed with sleep apnea.

I said "no".  He said "get tested".

I was tested by my doctor and lo and behold...I stopped breathing at least 18 times per hour during that test.

I was started on CPAP and I didn't stick with it very well.

About July 6th this year...I really started using the CPAP on July 6th consistently.  About 5-6 hours per night.

After about a week my symptoms drastically improved.

I had very few PVC's per day for about a month and a half.

Then one day my kids got sick...I had to sleep in the same room with my daughter for about a week.

My PVC's returned.  I didn't correlate the two...but one night when they were really bad I remembered that the symptoms improved when I started CPAP so I thought "let's try CPAP again".

Wouldn't you know it after two days of using CPAP symptoms dramatically improved again and have stayed there.

There is certainly a correlation with sleep apnea and heart arrhythmia's.  You can Google it for yourself.

Maybe this will help someone...maybe it won't.

I know what you're going through so if there's anything to try it's worth trying.

Good luck
2 Responses
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973741 tn?1342342773
I also want to thank you for telling us your experience.  Real life situations teach us a lot. Is it hard using the CPAP machine?  That's always a fear of mine.  
Helpful - 0
15695260 tn?1549593113
This is brilliant, thank you very much for sharing.  While some of it is conflicting and perhaps not completely definitive, there does indeed seem to be a correlation between sleep apnea and pvc's.  Not in all cases of pvc's.  While pvc's are touted as harmless and benign, that does not mean that they don't negatively impact your life as they did you.  And that the CPAP is having a direct positive effect on eliminating them, this is wonderful information to share.  Thank you and we wish you continued health.
Helpful - 0
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