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Sigh. PVC’s have me desperate. How to cope?
First off, thank you for reading. I know from reading posts that people have it worse than I do and I offer my utmost respect for those of you who do.
Briefly-
39 yo/m
Reasonably healthy. Non smoker. Stressful job.
So, a few years ago I started to have an occasional (painful) pvc that always got my attention. Once it hit 3-4 a day, I did like everyone else, and sound of the alarm and got the full gamut of testing.
Benign. Low dose Metoprolol.
Ok great.
Fast forward to these last two months, and the amount of PVCs I am having has increased 100 fold. They are all day. I went from a few a month to one a minute.
Panic. Doctor. Here we go again.
Once again, they are telling me that they are unifocal and harmless. These. Don’t. Feel. Harmless.
They absolutely stop me mid sentence every time. Each one is like a jump scare. My stomach drops like a roller coaster and I have a brief adrenaline shot. Like you’re scaring the heck out of me over and over. Just a Deep painful fear each time.
The doctors don’t seem very concerned. They recommended a magnesium supplement, which I am taking religiously.
No caffeine. No smoking. No alcohols.
Nothing.
This has destroyed my quality of live almost overnight. I wake up in anticipation. I go to sleep in fear.
Does it get better? Is this my life now? Even as I type this, I’m having one about every 30 seconds. I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to do anything. I’m just petrified.
Wonder if switching from a beta to a calcium channel would work? Is this my life now?
The sad thing is… I “know” it’s supposed to be fine but why doesn’t it feel fine? Every shot of adrenaline warns me that I won’t be around much longer.
Just terrible.
Any input is appreciated.
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I feel ya! I've been having nonstop frequent PVCs for 7 months now. Told by Cardiology that my burden was too low to treat. I am unable to take a beta blocker because my heart rate runs in the 50s. I asked for a repeat holter so hopefully they can see the increase in frequency and maybe do an ablation. It's affecting my quality of life. The sad part is the doctors are all scratching their heads.
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1 ReactionWhat do you keep saying on these posts? I must have missed it. Thank you if you can repeat it.
I assume the attached ECG was generated by an Apple Watch? I use an Apple Watch and your PVC's look just like mine. I had a PF ablation mid January. Post ablation I was getting fairly frequent PVC's, sometimes ending with a single hard heartbeat. The PVCs have lessened over time, but I still get them occasionally, mostly at rest after strenuous activity. I do notice them but they don't concern me quite as much as before. I hope yours resolve, please keep us posted.
What i hear is fear and pain. PVC as you know is a premature ventricular contraction. Did you have the Covid vaccine? That seems to have changed a lot of people's rhythms and I don't know if you did and I don't know if it happened at the around the same time just one of those coincidental things that seem to have happened to many. As for you, you have to be able to trust your heart, trust that it's gonna beat, trust and get rid of a lot of the fear that you're having. The fear causes the anxiety. It would be awful to feel that way every single time you had a PVC. Most heart patients have a real problem with their heart issue in life until they learn how to handle it and be able to trust that their heart will beat again. It sounds like you are in a position that PVCs are just there so not treatable with anything other than what they are doing. Maybe a different all beta, beta blocker like bystolic would help? With meds its trial and error and it takes awhile to find something that works or works better. That is between you and your DR. Cardiac rehab might be a good option even for a few sessions so you can see your heart working while exercising and having a medical person there who you can ask questions and gain confidence. Depending on size of facility and who runs it and whos paying will determine that option. I am just a lifetime cardiac patient and cardiac nurse, and cardiac rehab nurse, thats why i responded the way i did. You are looking for answers that you feel good about. Dont stop till you are there, you just may have to get a little creative. Have a better day.