Submitted by Dr T on December 17, 2011 – 6:39pm
Question:
I was diagnosed with PVC’s 4 months ago by my cardiologist. He did an EKG and it showed nothing. He then listened to my heart with the stethescope for some time and was able to identify them. He diagnosed me right there and told me it was nothing to worry about, but to come back in a week for an echo, just to rule out any issues.
I came back for the echo, which he said was normal. I did have a few PVC’s while having the echo. He said my heart was beautiful and I had absolutely nothing to worry about. I started taking magnesium as a suppliment and within days it all went away. I thought i had found the issue.Over the next months I slacked off on the magnesium and they slowly started to return, so i went back on it. It didn’t help this time. As they started to get a bit worse I called the cariologist and he took another EKG that was clear of PVS’s and had me do a stress test with EKG on the treadmill. Not a single PVC the whole time. He said he pushed my heart to 90% and it acted perfect and I just needed to get into shape.Two days later everything fell apart. The PVC’s increased to 2-8 a minute and they happened from the time I awoke to the time I went to sleep. Over the last few days I have noticed that they are getting worse still. I have felt beginemy, trigenimy, and also what feels like normal beat, normal beat, fast beat, pause, normal beat. Everything feels quite irregular with no pattern.On a side note I should say that I don’t feel faint, or dizzy and I don’t have chest pains or shortness of breath. I can go for a brisk 30 minute walk with no issue what so ever. I do feel a lump feeling at the base of my throat though and sometimes a generalized tightness in the chest.According to my cardiologist my heart is structurally normal, so my pvc’s benign, but I’ve not had a holter and he’s not witnessed these frequent episodes. Should I worry??
I came back for the echo, which he said was normal. I did have a few PVC’s while having the echo. He said my heart was beautiful and I had absolutely nothing to worry about. I started taking magnesium as a suppliment and within days it all went away. I thought i had found the issue.Over the next months I slacked off on the magnesium and they slowly started to return, so i went back on it. It didn’t help this time. As they started to get a bit worse I called the cariologist and he took another EKG that was clear of PVS’s and had me do a stress test with EKG on the treadmill. Not a single PVC the whole time. He said he pushed my heart to 90% and it acted perfect and I just needed to get into shape.Two days later everything fell apart. The PVC’s increased to 2-8 a minute and they happened from the time I awoke to the time I went to sleep. Over the last few days I have noticed that they are getting worse still. I have felt beginemy, trigenimy, and also what feels like normal beat, normal beat, fast beat, pause, normal beat. Everything feels quite irregular with no pattern.On a side note I should say that I don’t feel faint, or dizzy and I don’t have chest pains or shortness of breath. I can go for a brisk 30 minute walk with no issue what so ever. I do feel a lump feeling at the base of my throat though and sometimes a generalized tightness in the chest.According to my cardiologist my heart is structurally normal, so my pvc’s benign, but I’ve not had a holter and he’s not witnessed these frequent episodes. Should I worry??
Hi Amber,
PVCs are common and perfectly innocent in most people, especially if cardiac testing shows a normal function as in your case. While PVCs sometimes are a marker for underlying cardiac diseases, there are a variety of different causes that may also play a role. In gneral, a new onsest arrhythmia should be examined by your doctors. Meanwhile, once diagnosed patients should try to eliminate caffeine, tobacco and alcohol usage, as it may reduce the frequency of PVCs.
Hope this helps,
Dr T