Premature atrial contractions: Anyone have any helpful info on this?

Such a good question, @tcokeefe. Everyone is different. 4,000 steps is great! The average American walks 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, or roughly 1.5 to 2 miles. Depending on your health status and your goal, 4,000 may be perfect for you or you may be thinking about increasing your activity.

Here's some related reading:
- Mayo Clinic: 10,000 steps a day: Too low? Too high? https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/10000-steps/art-20317391
- Fitbit: Should You Really Take 10,000 Steps A Day? https://blog.fitbit.com/should-you-really-take-10000-steps-a-day/

I gave my mom my Fitbit for a while so she could track her steps (I have yet to get it back. Guess I'll have to get a new one. 🙂 10,000 steps was an unrealistic goal for her, so we cut it in half to 5,000. She is 80, fit with no heart-related issues. She loved the motivation that achieving that goal provided. She's a sucker for the badges. A few months later, she increased her goal to 6,000. That seems to be just right for her. She achieves it most days, so stays motivated. And at least once a week, she exceeds that goal, which usually results in an excited phone call to me. I'm so proud of her.

@tcokeefe, how do you feel with 4,000 steps? Do you achieve it most days?

@kellycross I have binders of information. Have gone through 4 doctors so far (not including the ones in the hospital that I only see while i'm there). The first i had for my first 2 heart attacks and my stent with the life vest that had it in for me. Second doc was my 3rd and heart attack and the start of heart failure. 3rd was a Mayo doctor who I only saw once before my second doctor (current cardiologist) said he wanted me to see his specialist instead who is now my 4th doctor and an advanced heart failure doctor. But out of them all, can't any of them seem to tell me yet what even caused the first heart attack, let alone how in a year and a half I have gone from there into heart failure. So far the most recent doctor (who I only first saw towards the end of October) seems to be actually trying to manage it but seems like he's trying to play catch up in a game he knows he wont win in the end anyways. I've come to accept the terms. My new favorite saying is "it is what it is". My family is having a harder time with it. I went from working 50+ hours a week and putting in every waking minute outside of that in at home to being out of breath before making it across the house and sleeping nearly 15-18 hours a day in batches cause I'm just always so tired and can barely keep myself up. Then these "palpitations" don't make anything any easier. I try to lay down and sometimes they hit and I just wonder "is this it". I try to play with the kids and i can't help but just stop when they come on. I try to ignore them, try to push though so that nobody else notices but some of them, it's just like holy hell. Especially when they start and just keep going on for what seems like an eternity (maybe only like 20 minutes or so). Now with the fluid overload and all these extra pills they are talking i might end up on dialysis cause my kidneys are not doing what they used to. But for the moment they have worked out with me that after the holidays (cause of the kids mostly) i will go in for a week or 2 to try and get my fluid and kidneys in a decent place if possible and do another cath to see where things are at and have discussed an ICD cause nobody knows why the first doctor didn't do it instead of the life vest or why he had me send it back.

I went to mexico with a freind who had bad afib for a week he was to afraid of mexican doctors and their hospitals. Got back to Minnesota went straight to hospital stayed for 2 days before hospital were able to get it under control. doctors in mn told him, had he seen a doctor in mexico there would of been no problem. The medical profession around the world is better than no doctor visit. So now for you please dont stop.living because of your attitude. Life is to short. My MIL would not travel because it was to much money, her trip to visit relatives in europe was 3000.00. 6 months later a bad stroke left her paralyzed, she could not speak. All the money she had went to the nursing home so for years of saving and living below her means the last 15 years were terrible.

Wow - what a challenging venture. I'm so sorry. What is ICD? Are they talking at all about a pacemaker? I can't imagine how scary it must be to feel out of breath, palpitations, and wonder ... is this it? I get nervous with my small seizure of being out of breath, mostly because they are so new to me and I don't know what they mean. I hope you can keep your kidney safe, and still give you (and your family!!) some much needed relief from this. Thank you for sharing. Good luck after the holiday - let me know how it goes please.

Good lesson for us - thank you for sharing and I"m very sorry about you MIL.

@kellycross Hi and yes an ICD is a pacemaker with a defibrillator to not only pace and monitor the heart but can deliver a shock similar to the exterior type done with a defibrillator. I had one for years and can save your life during a bad arrhythmia or heart attack.

@shawnb2020 I can relate to your situation. Not fun trying to figure out the correct doctor to help. I've had my fair share also. Keep at it tho it sounds like you're fluid retention is the biggest factor. Mine was also but did get better with some of the early ablations I received. Postponed the need for further treatment. But also as a positive I thank God every day for the Heart transplant I ended up getting. I mention that to say there are more options going forward and don't give up.
Have a blessed Day
Dana

Let that be a lesson to all of us. 2016 as I immerged from near death heart failure, as the months passed, the little I could do began to expand into more activities available to me. I began to say to myself, do it now. That was the lesson of the moment. I was the one who would say, "oh, I'd like to see that lake as we would approach the turn off, I'll see it later." I realized, there may not be any "later". So I forced myself to do the thing I wanted to do. Driving south on 395, is Convict Lake in the Sierras (terrible name), I said, "now". We took the turn west and drove around it and walked alittle of the shore. It was so beautiful. And then Juno Lakes, again, so beautiful. And then the turn east to Bristlecone Pine at 10,000. I knew my heart wouldn't let me stay for long at that altitude. Slow uphill haul to the summit, but what a different, remote forest. It's been 3.5 years and I'm so much better, and have slipped alittle into my old habits. But covid19 has stopped those travels. But we do have a comfortable home we moved into about 3 months ago, and invited our divorced underemployed daughter and 14 introverted granddaughter to live with us. I doubt I would have taken such a leap into the unknown before heart failure but now, open to movement into the future.

Yes as @danab mentioned, the ICD is basically a pacemaker with a built in jump starter. As explained to me if my heart were to stop it could be the difference until the ambulance shows up, or if so programmed (since my heart rate does jump to over 200 at times) it can shock it back into "normal rhythm" if the pacemaker can't adjust it. But yeah, it does get scary at times. But I think what worries me the most is the family. We have a total of 6 kids ranging from 18 all the way down to one that turned 2 on monday. So life is stressful enough not just for me but for my better half. Who now has to worry about me. Can't even count the number of times i have woken up to her in my face trying to see if i'm still breathing. Cause at some point some doctor told her that since when i'm asleep my heart rate tends to drop to the mid 20's to mid 30's and my already shallow breathing that it could just stop. So then i wake up freaked out cause she is right in my face and then it starts racing and then she feels bad. So when the palpitations start up i have to try and decide if i want to say anything. I don't want to add to her stress and worry more. But then it gets to that point of "this is it" and what to say if anything. I mean with the first H.A. it was at 6 in the morning while i was getting ready for work. She called the ambulance, and i refused to let them come in the house and wake up all the kids and get everyone riled up so i got out of of bed and went and stood in the front yard waiting for them just to avoid any extra worry. I mean i know its their job to do so but if i can limit it i will. It's just never knowing if it's a time i should be limiting it. Hard to explain and i apologize for rambling

I am getting a lot of pac's but no long events of afib. Take eliquis and metoprolol daily. pac's feel like afib but not according to nurse. Is there a concern? How many/often is too much?

Hi @damari, I see that you are having PACs, but no ongoing Afib. You will notice that I moved your comment to an ongoing discussion about PACs so that you can connect with other individuals that are experiencing that as well. People such @jddart, @shawnb2020, @yorlik, @danab and @tcokeefe can attest to premature atrial contractions.
@damari, did the nurse address your concern with how many you are having? Did she suggest any precautions to take?