PVC nightmare

@kpryor1982 well, I've been there too, had it seriously bad for one year and doctor after doctor just shrugged it off, and plenty bad enough for several more years, but I'll give the doctors this much - I survived, with apparently no lasting effects, afaik.

I was in the hospital for a few days for something else, and hooked to the monitor for a few hours, and the PVC and PAC lights are going off like a pinball machine, and the computer didn't care, and the nurses didn't care, and the doctors didn't care. Been on Holters and AI Holters and "Event Monitors", and the event monitor went off a few times but NOT from the PVCs and PACs, and the AI Holter reported "NOTHING" when I had hundreds of PVCs and PACs including some (or something else?) that left me almost unable to walk. "Nothing". SMH

In case you missed my commnet on another thread, I was in much the same state as you in 2024 - PVcs and PACs at ahigh level - 20 to 30% of beats and feeling Afib symptoms My EP gave me the same message - PACs and PVCs are no big issue, everyone has them. Well not to the level I had. So he offered to put me on Multaq an antiarrythmic drug. But I'm opposed to antiarryhthmics because of side effects and the fact they are famous for losing their effectiveness with time. He also offered another ablation. First one in 2017. Then in passing he recommended that I raise my TSH level (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) as my TSh was less than 1.0. (I take levothyroxine daily as my cancerous thyroid was surgically removed 35yrs ago). it tooks a few weeks for the TSH to increase but after it reached about 5.0, the PAC/PVCs went away. I repeated the test and same result. then I visited Dr Google and found there is a recognized link between hyperthyroidism and arrythmias. By the way if you don't have a smartwatch that can record your heart rhythm, you're flying blind. Holter monitors are OK but inconvenient and temporary - watches are better. I've owned both Samsung Galaxy as well as Iwatch. I've also used a device from Kardia but I prefer the Iwatch. There's also at least one implantable devcie - Medtronic Link which can record 24/7 for several years. More expensive and needs medical folks to install but appears to be the best solution for someone wishing for continuous monitoring - I have no experiene with Link. The Iwatch is reported to be highly accurate in Identifying Afib/Flutter however it fails to differentiate between PVC/PAC and Afib so in 2024 my watch was continually reporting that I was in AFib which prompted my EP visit only for him to say that the watch was wrong, (There's an online service, QALY, that for a fee will interpret your smart watch traces. ) My experience may be separate from mine but if you haven't chased this rabbit hole yet im recommend doing so. I also recommend "The AFIB Cure" by Bunch and Day which has many lifestyle change recommendations to reduce arrythmias.

@chickenfarmer Hi...just wanted to chime in here in regard to TSH. Mine was 15.56 if you can believe that! My PAC's were out of control and I was SO sick. Once we got the TSH back in normal range, I've been much more successful using Diltiazem to control the PACs

Hello, kpryor, This is my story of how we dealt w/ my sudden appearance of constant PAC's, trigeminy and bigeminy, which were driving me nuts (yes, I believe that's the technical term 🙂 ). I was already taking 180 mg of extended release diltiazem daily, but it wasn't stopping the ectopics. My cardio who is not an EP said, "Increase diltiazem to 240 ER, and add 25 mg of metoprolol twice daily." It took a few days, but it stopped all of the ectopics completely. Not everyone is a candidate to take BOTH of these meds together, but I have no structural heart issues or other contraindications. (I had been on metopolol by itself for the last few years, but only 12.5 mg twice daily, and mainly because I take flecainide PIP to stop AF episodes.) I don't seem to have side effects from any of these meds. This regimen might prove to work for you--I hope so. Most of us feel that ectopics are far worse than having AF episodes.