Ectopics - when will they end ?!

[Annie2609]

I've had them every single day since mid December last year. I tried many many things.. diet changes, lifestyle changes, medication changes. Nothing seems to help. This post is not meant for asking for more solutions. Just wondering if people here had them on a daily basis for such a long time, and if they eventually stopped.. I just want a break, one or two months.. am I asking too much??

[Hidden]

Yes me. 24/7, 365, thousands a day since many years ago (10?). I had to go through quite a few drugs to find one that keeps them in their place. I still have them, but they don't bother me.

[Tikaneko]

Oh yes Annie2609 every flipping day. Absolutely drive me bonkers. No matter what I do to ignore them! I can’t remember how long I have been having them it is such a long time. I tried to see what the trigger was but to no avail, slow breathing does help. Look up Dr Sanjay Gupta (York cardiologist) on YouTube, he has done several talks that are really helpful. Sometimes mine feel really powerful and I feel my heart is about to jump out. Take care and good luck.

[Padayn01]

Every day for me also for the last two months I’ve just tried mag taurate for the last week and they have calmed down a bit but still get them espically after eating

[Annie2609 in reply to Padayn01]

Mine too are worse after eating.. I will try Mg taurate.. so far I tried My Glycinate - no effect, Mg Citrate - a bit better but still there...

[Padayn01 in reply to Annie2609]

I tried glycinate with no effect either

[Auriculaire in reply to Annie2609]

Try taking the magnesium in small but more frequent doses ( ie 100mg 3 or4 times a day) rather than one bigger dose once a day.

[Dangerousdriver in reply to Padayn01]

Are you eating a decent sized meal or eating like and often. I find it I have a large meal it will cause issues, again related to the vagal nerve. I don’t eat big anymore, I don’t touch booze at all. And even Coca Cola will set me off, so I don’t touch that anymore.

[Hidden in reply to Dangerousdriver]

Same here, I have to keep meals small (never get anywhere near filling myself up), no alcohol, no caffeine, no sugar.

[Padayn01]

What has your cardio say? About them?

[Annie2609 in reply to Padayn01]

My cardio said they are benign, told me to take Mg.. at last call, I convinced her to send me for an echocardiogram to check my valves.. I have a history of mild mitral valve regurgitation/ prolapse Cardio doesn't think thats the cause but she will refer me for reassurance..

[Myya]

Annie, I have had an Af episode since the end of June, not nice , I wonder if the heart can go back in rhythm, no one seems to know!

[Ppiman]

I think they can stop, yes, but I imagine it depends upon their cause. I've had them on and off for very many years, and I'm having them as I type this. Is there any other effect on you that is worrying apart from the palpitating feeling in the chest? That's the only symptom that I seem to get that is related to them.

Steve

[Annie2609 in reply to Ppiman]

Good question... they are making me feel very uncomfortable, and anxious, thinking my heart will stay out of rythm forever and eventually givr up. Eventually they keep coming back when I get the anxious thoughts stuck in.my head. If they last longer or are more frequent I get unpleasant digestive problems.. so I find it difficult to ignore them..

I am mostly dissapointed as I quit my job to see if this problem gets resolved, hopefully by reducing the stress in my lifr.. and after 2 weeks of doing almost nothing there is no change in my symptoms..

[Ppiman in reply to Annie2609]

Anxiety is at the heart of many of my own problems, so I can sympathise with how you feel if that is weighing on you. Digestive problems are a part of my life, too, thanks to reflux, HH and DD - I often think there's a direct link between these and arrhythmias. Oh to be young again, I say!

Steve

[Dangerousdriver in reply to Annie2609]

To be honest, I can completely understand the anxiety surrounding the heart. After all it’s the pump of our body. If it isn’t working then of course you’d be superhuman not to be concerned. But, I’ve also learnt to live with it 95% of the time and that of the key. At the moment you are living with a condition ruling your mind. Flip it on its head and let the condition live with you. Do you want to spend your life worrying about when something might go wrong and not enjoy life as much as you could, or live life as best as you can and when it’s your time it’s your time. That’s the option I have chosen, and that’s not to say I don’t have my moments of darkness where a cloud descends over me and I have negative thoughts. But, the secret is not letting it rule your thoughts.

[Annie2609 in reply to Dangerousdriver]

I totally agree with you.. it is ruling my.mind and how could not happen when everytime I do something I have to think about if that will trigger palpitations.. I cannot drink coffee, cannot have the occasional glass of wine, eat chocolate. I am thinkimg now I should cancel my 2 day trip in the country because its going to be a long drive and if I don't get palpitations (sometimes triggered by tiredness) I will get digestive problems.. Also I want to go to the beach and do suntanning and not sure if this will not cause more problems .

So you see where my frustrations come from as my quality of life torally sucks now without big improvements in my health..

[Pam-51]

Five years ago I experienced daily episodes of AFib & Flutter for 8 months. Meds not effective. Ablation for both conditions was successful, no episodes since, though continue to take Flecainide and Apixaban.

Best wishes Pam

[Annie2609 in reply to Pam-51]

Can I ask how old were you when you had the ablation? Nobody mentioned it ( GP or cardiologist)..I am turning 50 this fall ..

[Pam-51 in reply to Annie2609]

Hello,

I was 63 when I had the ablation at Papworth hospital. Make sure you see an Electrocardiologist as they are the experts in these conditions. I had the procedure done privately as I have private health insurance.

Pam

[Lilypocket]

Hi Annie

I used to have 1000 a day ( but that's not as many as you!). When my cardiologist changed my meds from Sotalol to Flecainide and Bisoprolol ( Sotalol wasn't working) the ones that I could really feel stopped. Maybe a coincidence or maybe the Flec? Anyway it was a welcome side- effect! The echocardiogram shows I still have some but I can't feel them. What meds are you on?

Take care

[Annie2609 in reply to Lilypocket]

I am on Bisoprolol 5 mg (can't increase due to low HR) and Amlodipine 5 mg ( I was on this one for a few years for other angina related pain).. funny nobody mentioned Flecainide.. I wonder if they use it here in Canada..

[TMeditation]

How annoying! I have regular ectopics but my cardiologist isn’t concerned as they don’t seem to last for very long. However for me they can be a bit scary as I wonder if I’ve gone back into AF and run for the BP machine to check. We all sympathise, you just wish your heart would behave don’t you! All I’d say is stick with it (not like you’ve got any choice 🙄) you’ve had a lot of good advice from people on here and know you’re not alone. 🙏

[Ecki]

Hi Annie, I had an ablation in January and was recovering nicely until, in mid May I started getting continual ectopic, which I think was triggered by something I ate. After a few days I contacted my EP, who changed me from bisoprolol to sotalol. I also started taking vitamin D and magnesium at the same time. It probably took about 2 weeks for the EP letter to the GP to arrive so my drugs could be changed. I was still having ectopic all the time, made me feel awful. After another 2 weeks, in mid June, they stopped suddenly. The relief was unbelievable. Since then I've had a few isolated ectopics but nothing like my month of hell. I was being careful about what I eat but now much more so. Hope yours stop soon.

[Annie2609 in reply to Ecki]

Wow such a relief for you!! I am thinking I should talk to the cardio and try to change the meds.. there was no mention for EP referral or even ablation. In my case. I guess I have to push for that.

[philologus in reply to Annie2609]

Try doing what I did.

Take your shoes and socks off and stand on grass, sand, concrete (unpainted) etc and see if it improves things. Have a cuppa and stand or sit with your bare tootsies touching Mother Earth.

Some of us are very sensitive to the electricity/EMF that pervades the area around us more and more now.

Simply by Earthing ourselves we can reduce its impact.

Try it - it's free!

I did it for half-an-hour before bedtime and slept like a log. I now Earth myself as much as I can and I don't suffer from ectopics anymore. I used to get 30,000+ a day.

More info:-

Declaring an interest.

I now use an Earthing mat and have started selling them on ebay UK and have had a lot of good feedback.

[Annie2609 in reply to philologus]

Wow very interesting, thank you for sharing this!.. I will definitely try this (sometimes I walk barefoot in my backyard but not on a daily basis)..

[philologus]

There's a lot of info online about Earthing/grounding.

When you are not feeling well listen to the Earth saying, "Come to Mama."

[listerines]

Hello Annie2609, wondering how the battle with your ectopics is going - hopefully you have found some relief and greater heart stability these last few months. Am in Canada myself and suffering with many ectopics so wondering how your treatment plan was modified and if it was successful. Wishing you well

[Annie2609 in reply to listerines]

Hi listerines, I still suffer from palpitations. I tried for a while to increase the betablocker dosage from 5 mg to 7.5 mg but it didn't make a big difference. My cardiologist then changed the calcium channel blocker to one that slows the heart rate, so I had to go back on the lower dosage of the betablocker. I am now taking both medications but frankly I didn't notice a big difference in my ectopics. Other things that I tried were 1 - ignoring them as much as possible, which seems to work better, and 2 - supplementing with magnesium taurate - which also helps a little. Over all, I still have worse days, when I feel these palpitations a lot, and better days. I can say that I've been trying to adjust to my new condition as I don't think it will end soon and looks like I have no choice. Maybe it's a result of ageing, or maybe there are other things, but looks like neither my cardiologist nor my family doctor were able to figure out the cause of it (I was hoping if we find the cause we could treat the condition..).

How about you? Where in Canada are you? I'm in Vancouver.. Have you had any luck/improvement with a treatment? I find the doctors here are reluctant to do anything (I asked my cardiologist to send me to an electrophysiologist and she refused, saying that my condition is not so serious.. well, it is for me..)

[listerines in reply to Annie2609]

Hello Annie2609 Thanks for the reply. Challenging to hear that you are still experiencing the palpitations regularly and that they are still causing you discomfort. I know the feeling well as for the past 5 months have been dealing with many palpitations myself (PACs) pretty much every day. Not sure how frequent yours are but I certainly can have 10s to100s in a day to 1000s to 10000+ - I do try to ignore them as much as possible but more often than not the ectopics when in big clusters or runs also come with other symptoms which makes this more complicated (chest pain, anxiety, pain in jaw, GI issues etc…). Stress I find is a factor but certainly not the only factor as the PACs (premature atrial contractions) seem to have a mind of their own - coming and going as they please. I am sure you can relate I am also on bisoprolol 5mg (beta blocker) and have been for months and for me it has not had any effect on the palpitations - maybe I need to increase the dose but not sure I need to have a lower heart rate as energy is not the greatest already… Was also previously on flecainide 50mg twice a day and this did not seem to effect the palpitations either - though this is a low dose and those taking 100mg to 150mg twice a day do seem to report more positive results - though this is a relatively powerful anti-arrhythmic drug so would not be a first line treatment and may only be considered worth the risk in more severe cases.

It is positive to hear that you have got some relief with magnesium taurate - and I as well find this helps somewhat - I have been reading that magnesium glycinate can also be helpful so I may switch to that at some point to see if it has any positive effect. Also on other support sites people have mentioned that they have found relief with CoQenz10, L-arginine, and Hawthorne supplements - so over time I may research and explore these options as like you I do not see these PACs leaving anytime soon (I am about the same age as you but not sure if age is a factor or not?). I have also read that electrolyte and potassium imbalances can be the cause - but further research here would be required as too much potassium from supplements can cause other heart problems (be careful).

I continually bring these ongoing palpitations up with my GP/ Cardiologist/ Electrophysiologist but none of them seem to find them concerning and always brush me off by saying they are benign - a few here and there certainly but every day on and off on and off I do wonder as technically these are other arrhythmias …. Also, I have read that there can be negative outcomes on the heart if the PACs/ ectopics are excessive so I do wish the health professionals would give more weight to my situation (and yours). If they are really excessive they can and will perform ablation to try and reduce the palpitations but I believe one needs to be having 15000+ per day most of the time (and to be fair my palpitations can last for hours but will also disappear for many hours providing some relief). Of interest I have had a recent ablation for my afib which did nothing for the palpitations - the afib has decreased though

BTW I am also in *sunny* Vancouver - sorry for the long message just wanted to share. Happy to chat more on the topic of our ongoing palpitations any time. Keep safe

[Annie2609 in reply to listerines]

Hi listerines, nice to see someone from my city here

I don't have afib (based on the holter monitor results I guess..) so my cardiologist (Dr Sedlak, from VGH) didn't want to refer me to an EP. I trust her but always like to go by a 2nd opinion if possible... so she just prescribed Bisoprolol, which as you said, didn't do much even at higher dose (7.5 mg) except lowering my heart rate.

In terms the ectopics frequency, I had almost 100 on a random 24 hour holter monitor, but I might have more on the worst days. I hear other people having 10000, I feel sorry for them, don't know how that feels.. My concern is that I get them every single day, no break days.. whereas before I would get them once a month...

I tried magnesium glycinate with no results.. magnesium citrate worked better but didn't agree with my stomach... I've been seeing some reduction on ectopics frequency from magnesium taurate, and was thinking to increase the dose.. but wasn't sure because of other meds I'm on . I also suffer from microvascular angina, had this for 10+ years.. I've had chest pain almost daily during this time, relieved by SSRI's mostly but now I've stopped them because of the palpitations.

Thanks for writing here, if you feel like you can PM me as would be nice to share further health challenges/tips..

Good night,

Annie

[listerines in reply to Annie2609]

Hello Annie2609, feel free to PM me as well as happy to chat, share info, commiserate etc...I can appreciate that even if you are having "only" 100 or so every day that this can be challenging/ exhausting. I nearly find that the anxiety of waiting till the next ectopic beat is worse than actually experiencing them.

I spoke to my pharmacist regarding the medications i was on and she did not see that mag taurate was a problem with any of afib meds i am on. My advice would be to discuss your specific situation with your pharmacist. I believe that 400-500mg a day of mag taurate would be max dose unless you are magnesium deficient. Go slowly increasing your amount as can make bowels looser. Also can take 3-4 weeks till properly absorbed in body when up dose so be patient.

Make sure to discuss with Pharmacist as that is what they are there for (if your reg pharmacist cannot help you find a new pharmacist).

Keep safe and well fellow Vancouverite