more frequent PVCs

Hello,

I have had PVCs for 2 years now and in the last month they have become more frequent and violent.   I  got a blood test and my Postassium was 5.4 and Magnesium 2.2.    I have the PVCs anytime of the day, and there is no exact trigger.   If they come on, they last for 5-10 hrs and I have them every 2-3 beats.  Sometimes I can hear lub dub dub dub (triplets)   It is so stressful and worrisome.

I  don't use caffine, tea, only herb teas, and eat very slowly.  No excess carbohydrates, no alcohol, no high fat foods.   My cholesterol is 135, LDL is 82 and my Triglicerides are 58.  My resting heart rate is low --  52 to 58 at rest and my BP is a struggle to keep it up to 100/49.  Is registers in the 90s in the morning.   (now this  low HR is new -- up to last month, my resting HR was 60-66.)

I use a lot of salt to keep my BP up and sometimes drink  salt water.   I was taking coreg 3.125 pill, but it didn't help too much but lower my BP.  Now I am taking Inderal at 10 mg 2x daily.  I just started so I am not sure if it will work to lessen them.

I finally got to see a cardiologist but he wasn't too interested in knowing about them.    He gave me an echocardiogram and it showed pretty normal.  Then i had a stress test myocardial perfusion and when i had started the test, I was already having a violent bout of PVCs.  To my surprise, my rhythm became normal after my HR went up to 110. 

Then I was in NSR for the test, then later they came back but not so violent. 

So now I am on Inderal (for a few days now), drink no coffee, decaf, eat slowly and am trying to train my nervous system not to accept them if they start.    If I do start to get them, i notice that my pulse is in the 50s and so I start a very fast walk for 30 minutes which helps alot. 

Sometimes they would come on after eating, so i eat very slowly and drink warm water. 

I think I  should get a different doctor and have a holter monitor to see what the EKG shows.   I think there must be some tests to take to help determine the cause of these PVCs.   

I can't see how, when they come at every 2-3 beats and last for 13 hours every day, that they could be harmless.   what about blood clots?   What else can  I do?    Please help.

Thank you.

jeanie

I've been dealing w/pvc;pacs for about 40 years now. When I was finally diagnosed, they put me on a low dose beta-blocker...that pretty much kept them in check for 20 or so years. Then they increased in intensity and frequency. So, up went the dosage of B-blockers. Anyway, long story short, I still deal with them. I seem to notice an increase in PVCs as my HR is lower...But, as with anything else concerning PVCs, it's not always that way. I've heard from doctors for the last 40 years. "everyone has them, some worse than others; they are not life threatening; cut out and stimulants; don't over eat; etc...you know the drill. I finally got a very successful and noted cardiolgist to admit they don't really know that much about the them. You could go on strong arrythmia drugs like Amiodarone or Rythmol, etc...(sorry about any mispelling). THose actually do work, but the side effects and long term effects didn't seem worth it to me. So, I deal with them still after 40 years of trying to find an answer. The beta-blockers do slow the heart rate down...and as I mentioned, when the HR gets down to sub 58 b/m I notice an increase in PVCs. But that's just me. I can almost set my watch to 20 minutes post meal and expect the PVCs to start up. Sometimes they last 15 or 20 minutes; sometimes they last hours. If you haven't yet worn a 30 day event monitor, you should. If nothing else, this will give you peace of mind because the Drs. will see everything you are experiencing and can make a decision as to the risk factor...usually, they'll just say it's a benign malady and "most people live with it and don't even notice it". Yeah, easy for them to say. Just hang in there. Eliminate any other posiblilities to give yourself peace of mind. Stress also kicks up the 'bumps'. Try to relax with it.