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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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Thanks for your reply!
What is your dosage of l-theanine? What brand
I take Nature’s Way l- theanine. I take 1 capsule (100 mg) twice daily. You can go higher…sometimes I’ll take 3 -4 a day.
Thank you.
Magnesium supplement for sure. The higher your stress the more magnesium needed. You know you are having too much when your bowels let you know. And the type of magnesium varies in efficacy. Sounds like you’ve cut out the other triggers - especially caffeine alcohol sugar etc. lowering your stress level will help a great deal. I used to have 1000 pvcs a day and have none since making the changes.
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1 ReactionThat many PVC’s is not benign, according to my renowned electrophysiologist at Penn Medicine. 18% of my heartbeats were PVC’s and I was told that many would lead to eventual heart failure. I had an ablation targeting the area within the heart identified as the cause. Result was a reduction in PVC’s to 1% of my heartbeats.
Make sure you are seen by a top doc EP at a top medical center asap.
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1 ReactionHas anyone seen Matt at all, seems like he hasn't posted here in a while. I've been dealing with this issue all my life, it's not nearly as bad as Matt's initial issue but when I get them I really feel them bad and when they happen consecutively it ruins my whole day. My chest doesn't feel the same afterwards. I had it happen for like almost 15 seconds in a row and that was scary. I had it happen today pretty bad and I'm going to try magnesium and potassium gummies that were recommended to me by a nurse. I hope you are doing OK these days Matt.
Which magnesium supplement was recommended by your EP?
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1 ReactionI used to have thousands of PVCs a day until I started taking bisoprolol 2.5 mg. i find less intense but the side effects are killing me. I will try to tough it out 3 months and ask to lower but wondering if magnesium would help. Anyone know if we can take bisoprolol and magnesium together or even theanine?
Thanks!
@slw7252
Had the same question for my EP when he recommended taking it. There are so many forms of it out there.
I was told for me 400 mg of Magnesium Citrate. I did asked why citrate form. I was told that citrate form was the most easily absorbed into body. I was told by my EP citrate that high amounts of the citrate form can have laxative affect and if that affected me adversely try the Glycimate which was also easily absorbed.
I did not have any issues then or now with digestive and have been taking about 2 years now.
My wife also takes it per her gastronologist to help with her digestion and constipation but takes 600 mg and to take all at night time.
I need to put a caveat here on my EP asking me to try Magnesium Citrate to help with PVCs. I would check with your doctors before adding any supplements as they can contradict other medications or side affects to conditions.
On my wife's side it was her gastronlologist recommending this. She has digestive gastroperis caused by diabetes (she is a 1.5) and her digestive system very slow and a lot of constipation.
Hope this helped!