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Ventricular Ectopic Beats

Good day -

I have Ventricular Ectopic Beats. Heart sonar and ECG came out normal - heart is normal.  I suffer a lot from panic attacks.  
Is Ventricular Ectopic Beats a life threatening.. of just something to live with.

T.
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Avatar universal
Thankx again for the advice.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Many of us here have experienced heart-related anxiety problems.  When the heart turns out--after repeated testing--to be healthy in spite of many strange and uncomfortable extra beats, and we are still unable to quiet down our fears, we often profit from a few sessions with a mental health professional.

If you are not quite ready for that--though you might be someday--you might enjoy reading a very nice (and cheap) little book called 'Hope and Help for Your Nerves, by Dr. Claire Weekes.  She specifically deals with fears about the heart's functioning.

If you know you have panic attacks, well, that is a whole other level of anxiety, and I cannot recommend too strongly a visit with a real psychiatrist, someone who has had thorough grounding in medicine as well as training in psychological issues.
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Avatar universal
Once again - thankx for this reply.  I only read the diagnoses from the ECHO - and at the end it says everything in the heart is fine and withing in normal boundaries.  Only the VEB's.  She also mentioned that my anxiety levels are high (I DO KNOW THAT!!). So - I try to relax.. easier said than done.
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86819 tn?1378947492
Hi, CAD is coronary artery disease.  Usually the red light is chest pain, shortness of breath, profuse sweating, syncope, history of heart disease in family, and other risk factors. If you aren't familiar with the symptoms of CAD, you should probably read about it. Ventricular beats can be present.

Now please dont stress about this. What I am trying to get across is that when you have a symptom such as ventricular beats, the doctor needs to make the diagnosis as to their cause or whether there is no cause (i.e. they are benign or "idiopathic"). Once they decide that there is no underlying cause for concern and that the beats are just benign, then yes, at that point they are something to forget about and just live with.

An echo eliminates from consideration alot of structural abnormalities that can add risk if one has ventricular ectopics. It also verifies good heart function, usually at rest. This testing is often used in determining whether ventricular beats are benign. If a patient has no other symptoms, they may leave the testing after a normal echo, blood test, and ecg and/or holter.

Of course, there are a lot of other tests in the cardiologists aresenal. When the symptoms of CAD are also involved in the mix, some of this additional testing gets done on you. Since you do not mention this testing, I assume the doctor assessed you and decided that CAD was not an issue.  But you dont mention talking to your doctor, or your diagnosis specifically.  Dont forget:  you need your diagnosis. Hopefully, it would read something like"my diagnosis is benign PVC's", or something like that.

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Avatar universal
What is "CAD" - for what does it stand?  Also something that would have been detected by the ECG or ECHO?  Or would something on the ECG or ECHO put on a red light which would need a stress test to determine for CAD?
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Avatar universal
Thank you all - It helps a lot your replies.
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86819 tn?1378947492
Hi. I think these things are more of an event than a condition. They can be caused by many things, including underlying heart conditions, such as scar, pericarditis, or CAD. CAD is detected by stress test, echo stress test, angiography. Scar is determined from MRI.

Having a normal ECG and ECHO is helpful, but they may not be provide the complete picture needed for a diagnosis of the symptoms you have.  To know that you probably would have followed up with your doctor until a diagnosis was provided. Speaking from experience only (I am not a doctor), if it is just ectopics and you have no risk factors or other symptoms, your doctor may not pursue extensive testing on you.
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Avatar universal
I did reply to your other post, but I can honestly say that everything I have read about PVCs says that they are benign if your heart is not damaged - an echocardiogram or sonar would show if it was. My PVCs have caused me huge anxiety and panic - I was scared to sleep at times as I thought I would die in the night. Some people can work out what triggers them, like stress, gas, caffeine, heavy meals, and adjust their lifestyle to reduce them. I found that working on the anxiety helped a lot. Self Help for your Nerves by Dr Claire Weeks was a lifesaver of a book and I used some free meditation apps and Jon Kabbat Zin mindfulness CDs too. If you read through the CC expert forum you will see that the docs only seem to consider PVCs an issue if you have thousands a day (like 10k plus at least) or if you have other symptoms too. It's very hard to just accept them when you have lots, but they really do seem to be harmless for most of us who suffer with them.
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