Hi I have had pvc's for 45 years now and none of the drugs that were available that many years ago were effective.
I have heard of a drug called Amiodarone which is getting good reviews for safety and effectiveness. Is there anyone out there who has tried this?
Regards Cliff in Western Australia
What have you tried? Amiodarone is considered a last resort medication - effective yes, safe no without regular tests as the possible side effects can be life changing.
Thanks for that. That's exactly what my doctor said today. I am quite sure at this stage that staying away from anything but very low alcohol drinks will help me. Last week I had 2 decent sized glasses of port before bed but woke up hours later with heart rate 200bpm. I got out of bed and went into another room and sat with a blanket over me and after 30 minutes the heart rate had come down but the pvc's were rocketing along. The only drinks I've had today have been zero alcohol Heineken and the symptoms have almost completely gone. Fingers crossed.
Amiodarone is indeed very effective - it has completely controlled my AF and ectopics. But if on it you need 3 monthly blood tests and ECGs to check it’s not doing any harm to you. I would certainly agree that removing any triggers first is a good idea. In my case I’d done that already and for various reasons no other drug was suitable, but other medications should be tried first if there are no contra-indications. That’s just based on my own experience- I have no medical expertise!
Thanks Visigoth. Yes these things are a real pest. I have had up to 23,000 on a single day. But my wife and I continue to monitor what I consume in a fast to see if there are any effects. Today was really good until about 3pm which was 2 hours after a sticky date pudding and 2 pints of Guinness. The ticker went crazy. But 2 hours later it settled down. My wife is sure that sweet things are the cause and the pudding was really sweet so I will try to take sweet stuff out of my life to see what happens. I know this condition is related to what I eat as I have had it for 45 years and I know that when they are bad a dose of Gaviscon ALWAYS fixes it. Stay tuned. Regards Cliff.
Let us know how you get on. Mine were often related to eating but I couldn’t pin them down to any specific food.
What I find is when I'm hungry they will be worse, by when I have a decent meal probably with good protein they are much less. Also, lying on my left side in bed is a real no-no. I put a ball under the sheet so that if I am on my right side and try to to to my left when I'm asleep, the ball will put into my back and cause me to roll back onto the right. And try the Gaviscon. If you eat something that sets them off this is a life saver for me.
There is a reakky good app called MySymptoms which you can use to log everything you eat and how you feel afterwards. Go to
Thanks, that looks really useful
I have PVCs and yes sweets or refined carbs like rice or bread etc spike my PVCs … I have refused all medication and I treat mine naturally.. I have had several 24 hour monitors and a echocardiogram and several ekg’s.. and lots of blood work ..I have a structurally normal heart.. I had a pvc burden of 13% so roughly 13,000 PVCs on a 24 hour monitor. I changed my diet ( removed most refined carbs and sugar) .. I reduced the amount of coffee I drink. And started taking taurine, “ l-arginine and magnesium glycinate.. after 4 months I requested another monitor as I felt they were greatly reduced and my PVC burden was down to 4% from 13% ..
Hi Niki thanks for your story. There is a beer Heinekin Zero which looks like beer, smells like beer and tastes like beer but is zero alcohol so it is a good substitute for other things that aggravate my problem. There are worse things in life than limiting my alcohol intake. Glad to hear you have got your pvc's in hand too. I had a second ablation 6 months ago which made things a lot worse but the new cardiologist wants to do a P.E.T. test which can apparently show any problem area in the heart. Regards Cliff
Check this out Niki - its an app called Mysymptoms and it allows you to log everything you eat and how you feel afterwards. It's good for tracing what foods might upset you.
Look at
Regards Cliff
Check this out Niki - its an app called Mysymptoms and it allows you to log everything you eat and how you feel afterwards. It's good for tracing what foods might upset you.
Look at
mysymptoms.net
Regards Cliff
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