Does this reading look familiar to anyone at all?

[DaveT81]

I've had horrible ectopics as late, as my previous posts indicate, and it's always worse when I lie down. Last night it was making my quite breathless and a bit panicked so I used my Whitings ECG watch to make about a dozen or so recordings. I picked up this more than once (see screenshot).

Is this familiar to anyone? I'm familiar with what my ectopics normally look like but this reading was caused by some really strange feelings in my chest and that sharp downward spike is a good summary of how it felt.

I've recently had a 12 days Zio patch and based on a CT and echo from 2 years ago my cardiologist was happy to give me a clean bill of health and said I'm just very sensitive to ectopics.

[BobD Volunteer]

Inverted T is ectopic.

[DaveT81 in reply to BobD]

So that's all it is, just another type/variation of ectopic? I've had them for 3 years but that felt like my heart had climbed up my throat and stopped.

[Hidden in reply to DaveT81]

yep, but I feel those inverse ones much more than a missed beat

[DaveT81 in reply to Hidden]

Yeah, me too. Felt like my heart had stopped at one point. Like I said, having had them for years, I know the difference in feeling, at least but these definitely feel worse for me.

[johnMiosh]

I take a kardia test every day. Some consider this a fixation, but I like to think of it as preparing a body of evidence for the EP for if AF should return.

I get an inverted T very occasionally, but don't feel them. More often, I get a short beat followed by a longer one, but both together are as long as two normal beats. I never notice these either, unless I am taking a pulse or BP reading. My kardia also refers to them as normal.

The number has reduced significantly since my ablations, and I probably see five out of the months total readings, effectively working out at an average of 480 per day. Dr Google is inconclusive about what is normal, but various answers are

. normal is up to 100 per day

. 20000 plus means a risk of developing cardiomyapathy

. more than 10 - 15% (8300 - 12500) is excessive

. 5 per minute is "frequent"

I used to find that I had more ectopics when I was worried about having ectopics.

[DaveT81 in reply to johnMiosh]

Yeah, that's the awful catch 22 of it. If I'm not thinking about it, or I'm distracted, they lessen in frequency.

But the worst time for me is at night lying down. I can lie there reading for 45 minutes, as soon as I turn the light off... bang. They kick in. I'm obviously subconsciously worried but I can't seem to do anything to stop them.

[7164 in reply to johnMiosh]

John

Why is it we have them when we think about them?

Would love to stop them!! I too really feel them when they bang in!!

Rod

[johnMiosh in reply to 7164]

Anxiety and stress is one cause of ectopics. It is really cruel that being worried about them makes them more likely to happen. I try not to let them bother me and keep in mind that they are normal. I appreciate that this is easier as I cant feel them and only see them when taking a pulse or kardia reading.