Dr T, I thank you for your time and greatly appreciate the advice. Reading back through my initial correspondence I believe it would be better to say that when I exercise I seem to notice 3 or 4 premature beats at separate times, not coming at once. I do not believe they are more prevalent during exercise, just more noticeable; I do believe I am having more PACs/PVCs on a daily basis then previous and I seem to always have terrible indigestion/heart burn which I have not had before. Cholesterol, sugar and thyroid were all good at last physical, last halter showed 125 PACs and 2 PVCs in 24 hour period. This is ruining my quality of life, more and more every day and I need to find a solution, is there a better medication or would I be a candidate for cardiac ablation. I previously seen an EP which resulted in the same, you are fine, go live your life, if only it were that easy. Again thank you for your time, I know you are busy but it is nice to consult with a professional who truly seems to care as I often feel my cardiologist is just trying to get me out of his office.
A:
From this I learned that you are mostly troubled by PACs, not PVCs. PACs are relatively benign arrhythmias and are not as serious as Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs) and usually require no medical care. Patients with this condition usually report feeling that their heart “stops” or misses a beat. Sometimes stress causes this, even if there is no immediately apparent source of stress. Since they are obviously bothering you, you should discuss the option of starting medications with your cardiologist, such as beta blockers that can reduce their frequency.
Read more about arrhythmia here:
http://www.cardiac-risk-assessment.com/heart-information/heart-arrhythmia
Hope this helps,
Dr T
http://www.cardiac-risk-assessment.com/
Comments 8
Hello, I have been diagnosed with 12% roughly of pvcs and my cardiologist recommended a pvc ablation to reduce the additional beats so my heart would be in rhythm.
I would suggest getting a second opinion
My cardiologist told me that a person can have up to 25% of total heartbeats as PVCs and it is not an issue, and even if it is more than that it is usually not harmful. I hope this helps ease some folks’ minds out there.
I had 18 PVCs and 9361 PACs in 48hr and the doctor is saying its nothing. This is all mostly resting. I dont understand. Im getting dizzy. I feel my heart jump. I dont understand. I just want this to all stop. When i look it up it says get help if you are having more then 3000 a day. Im having a lot more then that. I dont understand and i cant find awancers.
I got 2000 PACs a day, and i try to keep a for life. It is making me very anxious. I wish to know if is ok to have that much, and if I can work out normaly
I want to know if I am going to die from PACs. I have a Watchman.
I could not agree with Todd more. I have seen 4 cardiologists throughout the years. My pvcs and pacs have exceeded hundreds per day. I have stressed to them all how debilitating these are to my quality of life and they simply could not care less.
Why don’t you just answer the question instead of making people read something they already know.
The question is – how many PACs are too many?
There is only one way to answer this question and that’s with a number. Now the number can relate to a minute (as in packs per minute) an hour, or a day.
Either way, pick a number so as to answer the question.
Trust me. When it comes to PACs cardiologist could not care less about how they affect your life. It doesn’t matter to them that you feel like you are going to die after each one. It doesn’t matter how many you have. Runs don’t matter. Nothing matters when it comes to PACs. Don’t tell me I’ve seen the wrong cardiologist either. I ha e seen 4 of them. All EP’s.Their philosophy is “suck it up butter cup”. Beta Blockers help zero. Get used to those thumps in your chest because you will have them the rest of your life.