PAC's or Afib? And, what are your symptoms when having hours of PACs/PVCs?

[honorscott]

Hello,
First off let me say how great this forum is.  It has given comfort many nights.  I have been having PAC’s/PVC’s for the past three years.  I am a 39 year old male in good shape who exercises regularly.  I had an echo which showed my heart was fine.  My first event monitor showed 3500 PAC’s in a 30 day period.  I had a run of 3 PAC’s, 4 runs of 2 PAC’s and one run of 2 PVC’s.  I stopped having them for about 4 months and they came back.  Nasty at times having runs of 2 or three PAC’s.  I had a stress test and another echo and all was fine.

About 5 months ago I wore a second event monitor which picked up 750 PAC’s, no PVC’s and no runs.  I had another echo and all was fine.  My Electro doctor said all was fine, not to take any meds and try to reduce stress.    

For the past month my PAC’s have been off and on.  I’ll go a week Ok and then one day I’ll have a really bad day of them where they last the entire day (seems like a have about 3000 in the day).  

I do have a lot of stress in my life right now and a stressful job.  I also have a history of anxiety and panic attacks.  

When I have the PAC’s all day I have the same type of symptoms.  I feel bloated and gassy, when the skips happen they take my breath away a little but I feel like I still can breathe ok.  My body feels really tense and I get muscle pains in the back of my neck and my temples.  I can always tell when these skips are going to come on because I have this really weird anxiety feeling in my body (it’s kind of hard to explain).  I feel like I have something in my throat and I feel bloated and then they start to kick off. Also while the PAC’s are going on, my pulse is normal but as I think about the skips more my heart rate gets to about 80 to 90.  About a two months ago they kicked off a panic attack where my heart rate was about 120, but slowed down after I calmed myself down.      
So with all that history out of the way I just had a couple questions.  My first question is does anyone else have symptoms like this?  
Second, how do I know that these are just PCA’s and not Afib?  Can anyone with Afib tell me what their pulse feels like and how fast their pulse is when they are in Afib?  And is there a way to tell from your pulse if you are in Afib or just having skipped beats?  

Thanks for the help.  I just hate to keep going to the Dr and having the same tests with the same diagnosis.  

[MichelleP_3811]

Your monitors would have likely picked up if it was afib.  Stress and anxiety are likely contributors but also consider tending to any indigestion or acid reflux.  Stomach issues can be a big trigger for premature beats.  Simple gas can trigger one due to it's proximity to the vagus nerve.  So watch foods that cause gas or indigestion and see if that helps.  

[honorscott]

Thank you for the response. It helps me realize that I'm just having skipped beats and not Afib. Thanks again and take care.

[CFS56]

Skipped beats still feel regular, your heart goes like beat, beat, pause, beat, beat.  Afib your heart beat is extremely irregular, no rhyme or reason to how it's beating.  It speeds up, slows down, speeds up, you feel dizzy and even on beta blockers when I have an episode by pulse rate is usually 140-160.