PVCs...any tricks????

[Michelle D]

I've had PVCs for years but not as frequently as now and I feel them more strongly. Anyways they are making me crazy, they get more frequent and strong as the day goes on. I avoid ALL stimulants. Anyways anything to ease them??? Any positions of lying down or special breathing techniques or anything??? I'm willing to do headstands if that would help. I'm desperate right now, lying in bed having a PVC every third beat and they are pounding hard.

 

[nngbwh]

I am not a expert hopefully someone here can assist you with more information. You should maybe contact your cardiologist and explain to them your problem. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Michelle D]

My cardiologist knows and I will be getting a 24 hour monitor next week. I've beencomplaining about PVCs for so long to any doctor that would listen and they say PVCs are benign and not to worry about them but they are really starting to disrupt my life so I'm looking forward to my holter.

 

[kfay]

Michelle, I know exactly where you are coming from. I have always had pac's/pvc's my whole life as well, but they really ramped up after this last surgery. All my Dr's were constantly telling me that they were benign, learn to live with them, etc. I told them all that if they had to spend one day in my body, they would be beating down the door to get them under control.

I finally convinced them to do something about them, and I tried almost every class of drug to no avail (or the side effects were too bad). Eventually, my Dr.s at the Mayo clinic agreed to do an ablation to try and stop them. The first one didn't work, so we went back for one more time. It took four months for me to see the results, but it did substantially decrease them. Just to be clear though, I was having around 25,000 of them on an average day.

As for what I found that worked on my own, not much! Laying on my left side definitely made them worse. Xanax would almost always stop them for a while, so on nights when I just couldn't take them anymore, I would take a xanax. Good luck on getting help with these. They may not be life threatening, but they are life altering.


Kim

 

[ALCapshaw2]

The usual first step in controlling PAC's / PVC's is a Beta Blocker.
Toprol or Toprol XL (extended release version) and several others I have forgotten all seem to work well.
The downside to Beta Blockers is that they tend to make you feel 'dragged out' at higher levels.
Hopefully your Cardio will work with you to find the 'minimimum theraputic dose' that works for YOU.

 

[Michelle D]

Yes Kim they are definelty life altering. From around 5 pm to 9 am I have one every third beat. The rest of the day the come and go. I'm Not sure why this time in particular, I've yet to pin point it. Maybe tiredness at first and then while sleeping (they wake me up) low heart rate?

Al, I'm becoming tolerant to Xanax which was the only thing that helped me, now they barely help.

I'm hoping the monitor will reveal that my heart rate isn't too low while sleeping and they can put me on corgi or toporol. I was on corgi prior to surgery and never had PVCs.

 

[Bina]

Check with your doc before doing this:
What works for ME is splitting my Metoprolol into 3 doses per day. I really needed a tiny dose before dinner.

 

[Michelle D]

My iPhone insisted I meant corgi when I was trying to write Coreg. Anyways I called my cardiologist and left a message along the lines of "I can't live like this". I hope he calls today. I still have some Coreg, Toprol, and Metapropol in my cabinet. So of he gives me the go ahead I'm ready.

 

[Michelle D]

To make matters worse I searched ventricular tachardia. I'm completely freaked out now. I guess it is rare so not much info. I hope I can get some rest. I'm beyond sick and tired of these PVCs and them causing me to lose sleep.

 

[Michelle D]

So no sleep last night. Did any one have less palpatations once their heart was done remodeling? I'm hoping this is just temporary. I've always had PVCs but not like this. They say they are benign but how can they be when my heart is trying to recover from surgery and learn how to act right with my non-regurgitating valve? This is insane. I feel like I should just move into the hospital so they can monitor me and I can sleep knowing I'm not going to die.

 

[Marguerite53]

Well it certainly sounds like you are willing to try everything! Please remember that beta blockers (should you go there) are not like Zanax... you cannot just take one once in awhile to alleviate particularly strong PVC's.... beta blockers are very serious meds and must be taken as directed and then slowly weaned away should you stop them.

So here's an idea for you. Up front, let me say that this will sound silly, but here goes. Talk to them. Pretend that they are something outside your body, like a dog or cat or a heavy rainstorm. Let them know (and of course, you don't need to speak to them out loud) that you are busy and really can't have them lurking about just now. Try any kind of obedience type conversation. They are whining at the door, you see, don't let them in -- sorry -- no time for you now -- maybe if you would come in and not terrorize my body I would consider it. Focus on them as something uninvited, something outside of you. Be the alpha dog!! Lead them away... shut them out... and don't just try it once -- keep trying.

Another thing I used to to do for really bad headaches was to focus very intently on them and try to maneuver my thoughts to the very core of the pain. Once I isolated the center of the pain I would work to disperse the pain by trying to spread it around and thereby lessen the intensity. It really did work for me.

I guess it's an acknowledgement of the presence of this "thing" that has placed itself in your body. Maybe by acknowledging it's a step toward letting go of the attention we are giving it. Yes it's annoying, but now you are even telling your body to anticipate it at a certain time of day. You are training your body to expect them and guess what -- they'll be there!! Right on time.

Silly, I know, but we have SO MUCH brain power that we have no idea what to do with -- why not try to use some of that gray mass to your advantage? Give yourself some power within yourself. Just a nutty bio-feedback kind of idea.

Good luck. I feel for you; honest!!

Marguerite

 

[hook]

My PVCs have gotten a little better with going up to 50mg a day of coreg, plus the med is good for other heart related issues that may help remodeling. A lot of people have bad things to say about coreg, but I am a fan of th med.

I am trying taking 3 to 4 grams a day of pure fish oil to help my afib, and hope it may have a possitive affect on the PVCs. I also plan to re-intorduce exercise once my ICD implant feels more settled.

 

[Michelle D]

I was a big fan of Coreg, out of all the beta blockers I've taken that one had the least amount of fatigue. Ove slowly noticed that my PVCs are becoming further apart and less noticeable. I think that since I stopped taking Prednisone one week ago I might have been either withdrawing or low in potassium. I take a potassium supplement since I'm on lasix. I'm not sure, PVCs are such a pain because it's so difficult to pinpoint why they are there. All I know is if they stayed as bad as they were when I started this thread I'd definetly try ablation.

 

[Michelle D]

I finally talked to my cardiologist's nurse and will be going to the lab for a blood work up. She wants to check my electrolytes. They'll also do a CBC just for my own piece of mind. I'm hoping I've got the anemia under wraps, last night I had a black BM scare, but just the iron supplements. She is also taking me off the xanax and putting me on valium for bed time. The ambien no longer works for me and after sleeping 3 hours I wake up and can only sleep 4 minutes at a time then I wake up in a panic, then 30 minutes later fall asleep for a couple minutes just to wake up in a panic again. I'm not sure if it is the PVCs waking me up or what but Im exhausted and annoyed. I hope its just a simple electrolyte problem. I'll let you know.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

My PVCs have gotten a little better with going up to 50mg a day of coreg, plus the med is good for other heart related issues that may help remodeling. A lot of people have bad things to say about coreg, but I am a fan of th med.

I am trying taking 3 to 4 grams a day of pure fish oil to help my afib, and hope it may have a possitive affect on the PVCs. I also plan to re-intorduce exercise once my ICD implant feels more settled.

Are your Cardiologist and Surgeon aware that you are taking 3000 to 4000 mg of Fish Oil daily?

My Cardio said 1000 mg MAX.