Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia/PVCs and PCAs

Posted by feliciaah9 @feliciaah9, May 1 4:17pm

I’m a 32 year old mother of 3 little boys and another baby on the way.. for just over a year now I have been struggling with IST and frequent PVCs and PCAs. It’s debilitating. I first had to fight the doctors on a diagnosis as they were convinced I just had “anxiety” cause of my age. Then they tried saying I only had POTS. I’ll be sitting down watching a movie as relaxed as I can be and boom my heart will spike up to 130. It’s been 150 before. Lots of ambulance trips. It almost always starts with multiple PVCs in a row.. they have my on metroprolol now finally.. which helps most days but today I did take my second dose right on the clock and while at work I got about 6 PVCs in a row then severe tachycardia with PVCs and then started getting dizzy. It usually won’t stop unless I put ice on my face. Please help me. I’m miserable. I can barely work or take care of my kids and the doctors just chalk it up to “well it’s not life threatening” but it is debilitating and it’s a problem! This is normal at my age to come out of nowhere one day… I don’t know what to do anymore😭

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rr1967 | @rr1967 | May 2 11:01am

Hello Feliciaah9
I am sorry to hear about this and I wish you a full and speedy recovery. Now, my heart does not race like yours, but I am a long term PVCs and PAC suffer. Have you met with a cardiologist. I have learned to be an advocate for my health as too many docs have told me it is stress/anxiety. Fine I agree with the stress/anxiety part, but I needed more concrete answers and I insisted on seeing a cardiologist and then an electrophysiologist. Yes, I still suffer from PVCs and PACS and they are at times, debilitating. But I have underwent tons of testing and imaging...all normal. So I can only use my faith and trust my cardio docs that my heart is healthy.

Getting dizzy is not a good sign, but it can be a part of the "fight or flight" reflex that causes shallow breathing. Please see a cardio doc and get an echo test and a holter monitor. If your bloodwork is normal, that is good sign and the two tests will help you as well.

You will get through this!

RR1976

gloaming | @gloaming | May 2 3:33pm

I can't believe someone told you it's POTS. From what I have read, and I am neither a sufferer of POTS or what you have, nor am I a medical practitioner, POTS is typical for when one rises to one's feet and gets faint or has a high HR when standing. I haven't read much, so maybe there is more to POTS than just standing and racing heart.

An electrophysiologist will map out your heart's electrical grid and pinpoint where you are getting the re-entrant foci to cause extra beats (also known as ectopic beats, or simply 'ectopy'). However, you don't want just any EP, you want the most highly sought and highly skilled one within 400 miles if you can get to that person readily.

A skilled EP can bring you back to normal sinus rhythm (NSR), but it can sometimes mean one or two ablation procedures. This is a grind, to be sure, but it's a grind well worth submitting to and enduring because you will probably get your life back. Be assertive about your own health care and needs, and don't buy the first offerings on the shelf....do some local research and find out whom you should seek for a remedial ablation.

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