My cardiologist has diagnosed me with atrial fibrillation (fast and irregular heart beat) and I am taking a blood thinner (xarelto) for that to prevent blood clots.. I was taken off metoprolol, a beta blocker which slows a fast heart rate, because it lowers my blood pressure too much, making me faint and out of breath, but comes and goes. I also have PVCs but cardiologist did not prescribe anything for that. My cardiologist has never mentioned anything called PAC.

Afib can cause blood clots to form not pacs. Almost everyone gets pacs from time to time and they are benign. Almost everyone gets pvcs from time to time and they are usually benign unless there is a structural problem with the heart, heart disease, heart failure, or a genetic disease. Then they become a little more significant as they can lead to vtac or vfib.

A-Fib is a more serious form of arrhythmia in which the atria go out of sync with the ventricles, and begin shuddering or vibrating. The ventricles exhibit a fast irregular heartbeat at the wrist as the attempt to get back in sync. Some people have episodic A-Fib, while others are in A-Fib all the time. A-Fib can lead to stroke or heart attack because the blood is not moving efficiently and can clot. For this reason, people with A-Fib take medication to slow their heartbeat and thin their blood. My A-Fib was episodic, lasting about 20 hours per episode. PACs and PVCs are generally benign anomalies but can trigger A-Fib episodes in someone with the condition. My condition was corrected with a catheter ablation. Now I just have leftover PACs and PVCs, which are annoying, but nothing as annoying or serious as A-Fib

This is such a great discussion!
Hi @kenny48,

I thought I'd jump in and mention that Mayo Clinic Connect is a patient-to-patient community – the most important ingredient of Connect is its members, like you. It is not designed to be a community for medical experts to give advice, but is a place to learn from all your shared experiences, insights, suggestions, and tips. If you'd like to learn more about Connect, the "About Connect: Who, What & Why" Page, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/about-connect/ has some great information.

On the other hand, you can view Mayo Clinic experts talking about various health conditions, treatments, published studies, etc. by visiting the Connect Pages at https://connect.mayoclinic.org/pages/

I also thought I'd post some information about different heart rhythm disorders. An abnormal or irregular heart rhythm is called an arrhythmia, which occurs when the electrical impulses that coordinate your heartbeats don't work properly.

PACs or premature atrial contractions:
– Also known as atrial premature complexes or APCs
– early extra beats that originate in upper chambers of the heart (atria)
– Usually do not require treatment, and many go away on their own

PVCs or premature ventricular contractions:
– Extra heartbeats that begin in the heart's lower chambers (ventricles)
– Occur in people with or without heart disease
– PVCs with a normal heart may not need treatment
– If you have heart disease, your doctor might suggest lifestyle changes and/or medications like beta blockers

Afib or atrial fibrillation:
– The heart's upper chambers beat out of coordination with the lower chambers
– Symptoms may include heart palpitations, shortness of breath, weakness
– Afib also increases your risk of stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications like blood clots forming in the heart, which may circulate to other organs and lead to blocked blood flow (ischemia)

You can find all this information, and much more here, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-arrhythmia/symptoms-causes/syc-20350668

Posted by hilly2016 @hilly2016, 1 day ago
In reply to @jddart "Yes, I'm one of those people, a "highly sensitive person," who can…" + (show)

….Stress, bending over from waist, and overheating are my triggers. Meditation, yoga, also help,….
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WOW. Triggers! Never considered that! Just thought it was RANDOM… yet… just before my aorta valve replacement surgery I went to emergency room due to supper dizzy, almost falling over – from doing my morning outside animal feeding chores – including BENDING OVER AND CLEANING AND REFILLING WATER BOWLS…. Just after this I had to sit down as totally out of breath… then 30 minutes later off to emergency room…

Now after surgery, doing that same bending over causes my a-fib to kick in hard! I had no idea! I just thought I got it worse by working outside in the heat/humidity in the morning… But now I can relate! WOW!

So this morning I tried to limit my bending over at the waist and I think I am less dizzy than 'normal.'

SO TRIGGERS CAN BRING ON HEAVY or HEAVIER A-FIB. What a concept! I am a believer now. Thanks!

Glad to be of help, of course what works for us might not work for someone else, but when I was still working as a nurse I always told my patients to “listen to their bodies”.

I've taken your suggestions, especially staying well-hydrated and starting a daily regimen of 250 mg of magnesium, and I'm amazed to say that yesterday was my first PAC-free day in months. Of course, it could be a placebo effect, but time will tell. Thanks so much for the suggestions (we already eat bananas every day).

wow! How many days did you take thee magnesium before this PAC free day?

Just started, only 1 day. Might be a fluke, but as I said in an earlier post, I get several hours of back to back PACs everyday between lunch and supper. Yesterday was the first day in months that didn't happen.

@molly906 At 60 I had my first afib event, the cardiologist put me on diltiazem stayed out of afib for 3 years. Then started having atrial flutter was put on Eliquis and higher doses of diltiazem for 3 weeks then was electrically cardioverted and put on fecainide along with a lower dose of diltiazem and same dose of Eliquis. After 4 cardioversions in 3 months I had a PVI ablation, after the procedure I was symptom free for 12 days then had a pac took a couple of pips of diltiazem and they were gone. I will tell you my staus after my blanking period. PACs and afib are nothing compared to atrial flutter for me Hope that helps.

This is also my question. I had a TIA 4/18/18 followed with lone A-Fib. I would randomly go in and out of A-Fib episodes up to 20 times a day. I had ablation on 7/20 this year and am now experiencing SCPCs started minimally and wore a Holter monitor for 48 hrs and had 16 SVPC. It is becoming more frequent as time goes on. Also, the docs think my pericardium effusion has returned. My Mayo docs don’t seem very concerned but it gives me anxiety. Always feels like pressure in my chest and harder to breathe. This all started about 3 weeks ago.

Hi Julie, do you mean PVC’s? I am not familiar with SCPC or SVPV. I have had SVT(Supra Ventricular Tachycardia) and PVC’s, as well as A-Fib and PAC’s but never heard of what you are referring to. Having said that, I have also had Pericardial effusion 2-3 x’s, depending on how much fluid is around the heart then it might not be anything to be concerned about, the body may absorb it, or it might remain there without causing you further problems. Yes, one does feel short of breath and pressure on chest especially when lying down, you probably have minimal fluid and that’s why they are not concerned. I would report any increased SOB (shortness of breath), increased pressure or pain and any other adverse symptom to md promptly if you don’t get any improvement.