Diagnosed with PVC

I am 36 years old and was recently diagnosed with PVC.

I see a cardiologist because I was diagnosed 2 years ago with a mild MVP (mitral valve prolapse). I was told it was common and I wouldn't need any treatment, but would monitor with an echo once a year. I just had it done in April along with a 24-hour Holter and all was fine.

Last Thursday I started having flutters every couple of minutes. It really freaked me out. I was scared to death that my heart would just stop. I called the cardiologist Friday morning, but he was not in. Fridays palps were not as bad and I started to relax a little. Saturday they got bad again and I went to the ER. My BP was 160/95 and my pulse was like 104. They gave me an EKG which was fine. After being monitored for 3 hours, my BP came down to 107/70 and pulse was like 69-80. My oxygen was at 99-100 the whole time. They could see the flutters on the monitor (which by then were only 3-5 minutes apart) and said I had PVC. Because of the MVP, I was really afraid something was wrong. The ER doctor told me that MVP is really "much ado about nothing". Now don't get me wrong, I know some have more serious cases than mine. In fact, even with an amplified stethoscope he could just barely hear the murmur.

When I got home, I instantly googled it and came across this forum. Reading so many stories of people having PVC and being totally fine otherwise was encouraging. I am still having them and have had maybe 24 or so today. I can't imagine being one who has thousands as the most I had was about 80 in one day.

I don't exercise much, but I am a dancer and was afraid to go to class tonight for fear of getting my heart rate up. I am home now, normal heart rate but have had a few flutters.

I also have horrible health-related anxiety so this has really put me two steps back in my progress with that.

Hi LB,

Im a 39 year old female that is still trying to understand why I have PVC's.  I used to always get a flutter or two every once in a blue moon but one day, the night before my 32nd birthday it struck me like a bolt of lightning and has not stopped ever since.  I literally thought I was in cardiac danger.  That night, I went to bed thinking I could just "sleep it off" and the next morning, to my surprise they were back.  I didnt know what to do and went to work anyway since I didnt feel any chest pain, dizzyness or shortness of breath but I just couldnt function so I ended up in the ER that afternoon.  Long story short, the ER Dr brushed it off to being too stressed and stay away from caffine, alcohol and spicy foods.  I followed Dr's orders for 3 months and had no relief.  My symptoms got so bad that I had 3 to 5 minute episodes of constant PVC's.  Talk about scary!

I decided that enough was enough and saw a cardiologist.  They did the whole 9 yards.  I got stress tests, echo's, EKG's, halter monitor, nuclear tests, blood work, you name it, I got it.  After all was said and done; everything came back normal with the exception that I was vitamin deficient in a few areas but nothing that would cause my ticker to go out of whack.  The horror, the shock to think nothing was wrong having this type of arythmia. 

After several years of trying to get myself back on track (living with PVC's) I just couldnt.  I started looking elsewhere for answers instead of just doing a search for PVC's.  I noticed that a lot of people with PVC's also experienced having gall bladder disease, acid reflux, GERD and food sensitivities.  To my surprise, (after being tested by my GI Dr.) I had 3 out of 4!!  I had my gall bladder removed just under a year ago, Im on a gluten free diet (no ciliac disease just Dr's preference) and I was diagnosed with acid reflux.  I can tell you that I have had significant relief from PVC's after taking my gall bladder out and eating gluten free (it' not an easy diet to follow).  I still have the reflux but am torn between taking a medication every day or just watching what I eat.  I have also been diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD because of these pesky little PVC's but again, Im trying to do things wholisticly instead of medications.  Call me crazy but with my little PVC condition, I dont want to add anything to my body that isnt natural.  Im still a work in progress as I am in therapy for my anxiety and it is working but it is a LONG work in progress.  I hope you find relief and can give you a sence of understanding since I too am going through the same thing.  Check with your Dr to see if any of the upper GI problems I had is what could be brewing within you.

It will get better living with PVC's.  We just have to believe it within ourselves

Apple

LB,

I know exactly what you are going through. 24-30 a day is frustrating enough but from all of the research I have done, there are a lot of people out there who get hundreds a day. Luckily, since having my gall bladder removed and diet change, I'm no loner one of those statistics and hopefully never again. I would get them so bad that I've had episoded where it felt as if I had a monkey in my chest trying to pound its way out!! You could literally see my chest move when they were happening but the good news is...I'm still alive :)

I tried beta blockers and they made me feel lethargic, tired and un-motivated. Plus, with the beta blockers, everytime I had a PVC, I felt them but it was like my PVC's were in slow motion and I did not like that feeling at all so I stopped taking them. I am not on any medications except acid reducers when necessary even though I've been told I need to take them every day. I prefer to not put anything in my system that doesnt need to be there. I guess thats why I chose to stop taking the beta blockers because if these PVC's were classified as "normal" then why was I taking them in the first place. It is all about personal preference.

If it's any concolation, Ive managed to ignore these things as much as possible (with the help of my anxiety therapist of course) and I hope this can help you. I told him how can I have a good quality of life when I have this loaded trigger that can go off at any second? I feel like I have this masked gunman threatining to pull the trigger everytime I have a PVC. My reasononing for thinking like this, as Im sure everybody with PVC's feels is that something terribly wrong is going to happen and Im for sure gonna keel over and die today. Right?

Well, he introduced me to the ABC method.
A-Actions
B-Beliefs
C-Consequences

When I have a PVC the fear of death or that something terribly wrong is about to happen is the Consequence. Since every doctor under the sun has told me that these things are normal I am allowing MY personal Beliefs control my Actions. So now, when I have them I tell myself that everything is ok and these will pass. This helps decrease my anxiety level and keeps these PVC's at bay. You have to keep telling yourself that your beliefs are not going to control your actions because your beliefs are giving you false consequences. It's hard I know!! I have struggled and am still struggling with enjoying some of the simpler things in life such as going to a movie, visiting my daughter in college, going to dinner with friends or taking a 3 hour drive to my parents home. When I get them, I just wanted to crawl up into a little ball and ignore everything else around me. Im not go going to be good company to anybody when I feel ike that but thank goodness for therapy :) Like I said, Im a work in progress and it will get better. You just have to believe in yourself that everything will be ok. Also, my therapist told me (and this really put it into perspective for me) was that is the masked gunman really a masked gunman or a clown with a water gun? I really had to think about that for a moment and I realized, yeah I guess it is a clown with a water gun. Which means that this clown, is completely harmless. Since then, Ive been able to enjoy a lot of things that I used to enjoy doing but traveling...Im still working on. I cant seem to leave my "comfort zone"

Please feel free to communicate with me as much as you'd like. I know how alone one can feel when everyone else around you can't understand what you're going through.

Better days are ahead,
Apple

Miss spice bomb

I am sorry to read you are having so many PVCs and yes they do cause anxiety even when our mind know they are most likely harmless.

Please feel comfortable posting in the Anxiety/Panic Forum as we have frequently have members that post about their anxiety connected to frequently PVCS.

Kindly,

Kitt

Apple Thank you for your post. It really helped me a lot. i have had few pvc compared to what I read in the posts but to me they are frightening beyond normal. i already paniked twice bigtime. i feel I am going to die any time. Everything is fine until I have one. Pray they will stop.

LB,

I'd love to hear if acupuncture worked.  Im open to anything holistic that will help me relax.

Mlch,

I know that these things can be terrifying and no matter how hard we try to wish they would just go away, their not.  We have to learn to "live" with these things.  Key word being "live".  We cannot allow these pesky, harmless little things run our lives.  

As hard as it is, try not to panic too much as panicking will more than likely increase your PVC activity.  I used to panic relentlessly in the beginning before I got help and it's not fun.  It's a vicious cycle of PVC, panic, increased heart rate, anxiety.....PVC, panic, increased heart rate, anxiety....over and over which makes the episodes last a bit longer.  I hope you can try the ABC method that Im currently working with as it has helped me tremendously.

I do pray that you will get better.   In fact I know you will   

Kitt,

Thank you for the words of encouragement!!

~Apple