PVC’s. Lots of PVC’s...

Chocaholic · 10-27-2019, 11:12 AM

Anyone else deal with that? Had a full cardiac workup...EKG, Stress Test, Nuclear study, Echocardiogram, yada, yada, yada. All good...no wall thickening, no blockages...perhaps the Crestor has helped.

Diagnosis: Harmless PVC’s...no a-fib, etc. Taking metoprolol (beta blocker), potassium and magnesium supplements and it’s helped considerably...but those PVC’s still routinely show up. Exercise, stress, seem to add to it but not significantly. Mostly, they act up out of the blue. Been on and off for 2 or 3 years.

Apparently not uncommon. Anyone deal with it? Any tricks, remedies that work for you?

stomachmonkey · 12:58 PM

At least the last 40 of my 55 years.

Comes and goes in waves.

So bad one night I crawled out of bed at 2AM and drove myself to the ER.

Doc said, reduce your stress level, quit smoking, drink red wine, have more sex.

I asked him if he could write a script for the last two.

Other than that, learn to live with it which from experience, ain’t easy.

masraum · 11:36 AM

Yep. I got a work up when they noticed. I didn't do a huge hard-core stress test, but they did hook me up and have me run on a treadmill while constantly increasing the angle and speed (and I wasn't in shape at the time, but they said that I did better than most).

They asked me several times if I had any symptoms, tired even after sleeping, etc.... I've got nothing. And as soon as I start to exercise, they go away, and my heart beats fine.

He basically did the medical equivalent of shugging and saying "if you feel ok, then don't worry about it."

I've since run a 10k (several times) and ridden a bicycle 150 miles in 2 days and run 8, 7.5 and 7 min miles.

I'm not dead yet.

I don't feel anything. If I (or someone else, or most machines) take my pulse and I'm very relaxed, then it usually shows as between the upper 30s and 50s, but that's because they aren't feeling 1/3 - 1/2 of the beats.

Chocaholic · 10-27-2019, 03:44 PM

Can definitely feel the arrhythmia. Also spent a night in the ED. At one point they gave me intravenous magnesium...20 minutes later...perfection. Seems the older we get, some of us don’t absorb mag and potassium very well. Oral supplements help but don’t completely erase the symptoms...at least for me. Wondering if the braintrust has any other ideas.

dobryan · 06:32 AM

Had them off and on for years. Feels like my heart flip-flopping...

Went to the ER a few times when they first showed up because I was getting a panic attack from the experience and was light headed and feared heart issues. It was finally ID'd as PVC when on a heart monitor during a treadmill test.

Now that I know what it is I no longer get the panic attack adrenaline rush and can ignore the PVC. Only happens every few months. No meds were deemed needed for my case. YMMV.

sammyg2 · 08:31 AM

What dosage of metoprolol are you taking?

Years ago the doc upped me to 100 mg, but that felt like too much and since then I've made some lifestyle changes and have been doing much better thank you.
I stopped taking it all together for a while but some days i felt not quite right and the wife wasn't happy, so now I cut em in half and take 50 mg daily. That seems just about right. Plus it saves me about $4 a month!

I prolly should go see the doc again, but it hasn't been 10 years yet.

pwd72s · 10-28-2019, 09:56 AM

I got the upper chamber thing, AFIB. Just another reminder that nobody beats father time. All one can do is hope to beat the actuary tables while enjoying life as much as we can. I figure, based on the number of old buddies no longer with us, that I gave already beaten the odds.

Doc has me on blood thinner elequis (sp?) to reduce stroke risk. Notice that I tire a lot easier than I used to. But hell, if I make it, I'll be 76 in a couple of weeks. Had a pretty good run, yeah I did.

John Rogers · 10-28-2019, 11:12 AM

You mentioned a stress test, what kind did they run. I had two on a treadmill that showed all was okay and then one with the IV injection and all showed I was fine? A year and a half later I had one at a different hospital after a heart specialist listened to my insides with some sort of special stethoscope and ordered another stress test, to be done within an hour!

Well after laying down and getting all setup the nurse gave me the chemicals and within 5 minutes they called the heart doctor and as I found out later I was having a heart attack! The tech/nurse kept asking me if I wanted to stop as the pain was pretty much unbearable and since she said they'd just have to do it all again I was screaming NO, NO while the doctor sat there saying hum, hum, hummm! Seems all the blockage was right where the various pluming goes into/out of my heart. A test if stents would work showed no I was too bad off......so quad bypass! That was at the end of May in 2014 and I feel great!

Remember your heart is a pump, nothing more or less and is run by electricity and if there is something not quite right.....then there is something wrong maybe electrical maybe piping, maybe?????

Chocaholic · 10-28-2019, 11:59 AM

Sammy...taking 50mg a day (25 morning, 25 evening)...and occasionally bump it up to 75 or 100 depending on how I'm feeling. Apparently it's completely harmless and eases how hard your heart works. Also good for stress...some people take it before giving presentations.

John...sounds like the stress test saved your life! Congrats. Not sure which I had...it involved an injection and she was able to see take-up in the heart was as it should be, hence no blockages. But there was also a nuke study...not sure what that was for.

mattdavis11 · 10-28-2019, 06:22 PM

I went to the ER back in 2011, age 36, really high BP, felt awful, doc gave me metoprolol 25mg. Spent 3 days in the hospital, doc would not release me until I had a stress test, they had to induce, the doctor said no to the treadmill.

I got out of sales a year later. Stress is much lower now, don't take meds daily, but every now and then I need a pill. Lost over 30 pounds in the last year, and that seems to help out.

WPOZZZ · 10-28-2019, 11:01 PM

I've had PVCs for about 10 years. Metoprolol 50mg 1x a day. At one time it was 2x a day, but my doc cut it out all together, then he added it back as the PVCs came back. Go to the electrophysiologist 1x a year. When I was first diagnosed, I had that big Holter monitor stuck to my chest for a few days. Then with technology, I had this small unit that was taped to my chest for a week. After that, I take it off and mail it in!

ckelly78z · 10-29-2019, 02:03 AM

I always had a heart rhythm problem for years, but also CHF from some chemotherapy treatments that I had years ago...this elevated to the point of needing a new pacemaker/defib 2 years ago. I take several other RXs, but never Metoprolol.

lendaddy · 02:51 AM

I just found out I have AFIB myself and it led to four days in ICU last month. I was apparently in AFIB for months and didn't know it (on and off likely longer but finally got "stuck" in the elevated rhythm).

I was running at 155 BPM and honestly had no idea, even in the hospital hooked up to the monitors I couldn't have told you my rhythm was abnormal. Anyway, the extra stress on the old ticker led to congestive heart failure after it grew weak and enlarged from the extra work. I had no idea what was going on but went into the ER unable to breathe as my lungs filled with fluid(thought I had overworked myself into pneumonia).

I go the the old high voltage reset and am back in rythmn now but my heart is still recovering (I'm at about 40% of where I should be for heart strength). All signs are pointing to an eventual full recovery though.

One point I wanted to mention is that I now have a device (made by Kardia for $99) that allows me to perform a really simple EKG right on my phone every morning. It identifies abnormalities in your signals and obviously your generic heartbeat. It gives me a significant peace of mind improvement.

As a note I'm otherwise very heart healthy, great blood pressure/cholesterol levels/resting heart rate. If not for the AFIB going unnoticed for so long it would have been a minor event I imagine.

WPOZZZ · 10-29-2019, 02:37 AM

155 bpm, and you didn't know it? Whoa!

lendaddy · 10-29-2019, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

155 bpm, and you didn't know it? Whoa!

It was weird no doubt, that aspect of everything really freaked me out. To be fair my heart wasn't beating at anywhere near full strength (as it had been beaten into submission I suppose) so it's not like a normal 155BPM but still... The docs were very surprised I couldn't tell regardless.

I ordered the Kardia device fro my ICU bed and had it the next day, now I know

As a matter of interest my resting heart rate is now 43BPM (medication assisted) but I've always been around 60 prior.

MBAtarga · 10-29-2019, 06:03 AM

Guy at church was diagnosed with PVC and has a "normal" heart rate of 30 bpm. He's headed up to Ohio (from ATL) for a med evaluation tomorrow. He has no symptoms, other than a very low heart rate.

masraum · 10-29-2019, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

Guy at church was diagnosed with PVC and has a "normal" heart rate of 30 bpm. He's headed up to Ohio (from ATL) for a med evaluation tomorrow. He has no symptoms, other than a very low heart rate.

My guess is that he's got PVCs at a regular interval (every other beat, maybe) which means that the average heart rate monitor (machine or human checking your pulse) will only register the beats that aren't premature. So his heart is probably beating 60bpm but most machines (other than an EKG) will only register the beats that aren't PVC (so registering as 30bpm)

If your heart settles into a rhythm of 2 regular beats followed by a PVC it's called Trigeminy, and if it is 1 regular beat followed by a PVC is called bigeminy.

If you hook someone with those up to a regular HRM, then the HRM will register either 2/3 (trigeminy) of your heart rate or half (bigeminy) of your heart rate.

sammyg2 · 10-29-2019, 11:27 AM

One time in the middle of a business meeting, I got hit with a bout of PSVT.
Got dizzy, threw up, hit the ground.
Really scared the bosses and later we laughed and laughed, ahhhhh.
The doc ruled out wolf-parkinson so I got that going for me.
No problemos in maybe 7 years but I still miss my beer.

masraum · 10-29-2019, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammyg2

One time in the middle of a business meeting, I got hit with a bout of PSVT.
Got dizzy, threw up, hit the ground.
Really scared the bosses and later we laughed and laughed, ahhhhh.
The doc ruled out wolf-parkinson so I got that going for me.
No problemos in maybe 7 years but I still miss my beer.

I'll have to remember that for the next horrible meeting I have to go to.

Congrats on 7 more years and still kicking!

MBAtarga · 10-29-2019, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

My guess is that he's got PVCs at a regular interval (every other beat, maybe) which means that the average heart rate monitor (machine or human checking your pulse) will only register the beats that aren't premature. So his heart is probably beating 60bpm but most machines (other than an EKG) will only register the beats that aren't PVC (so registering as 30bpm)

If your heart settles into a rhythm of 2 regular beats followed by a PVC it's called Trigeminy, and if it is 1 regular beat followed by a PVC is called bigeminy.

If you hook someone with those up to a regular HRM, then the HRM will register either 2/3 (trigeminy) of your heart rate or half (bigeminy) of your heart rate.

He was very clear when he was talking about the upcoming med evaluation. His heart beats 30 times per minute. During a stress test it took 14 minutes for his heart to reach the beating rate (120?) that normally a person hits in about 6 minutes.