Just curious what causes PAC's and PVC's to vary so widely.
Last night over an 8 hour period I had 2,608 PAC's and 1,237 PVC's, which was much higher then usual.
My Afib burden is very low, each time only lasting 20 seconds and not as bothersome.
The night before for the same period I only had 276 PAC's and 180 PVC's without noticing them.
What have members done to address PAC's and PVC's?
Slow deep (diaphragmic) breathing less than six per minute for at least five minutes usually stops them.
I too have a very low level of AF these days (fingers crossed) and even the number of ectopic beats has reduced a great deal but I do have periods when they are very intrusive. You are having far more than I have but I well recall a cardiologist telling me he has many thousands each day and expects to live a long and healthy life!
As I understand it, these ectopic beat arise in a wide range of places in the myocardium and set off a premature beat, leading to a delay when the NSR beat occurs. This is then felt as a "thump" as more blood is being pushed through the valve and it closes with more force. Sometimes the ectopic beats arrive before the NSR can resume and multiple PVC/PACs occur. I get this most often when lying down in bed at night, but also at other times. Mine always show as PVCs on my Kardia when they do get labelled, but often just show as NSR, strangely. My Apple Watch reports "Inconclusive".
As I understand it, unlike with ectopic beats which still allow NSR to occur, in AF or flutter, the atrium is vibrating too rapidly to develop the single electrical impulse (the "Q" wave on the ECG) that would allow the NSR ventricular beat to occur.
Steve
Thanks for the info.
My Withings watch also labels them as inconclusive, this is the reason I bought a monitor to wear while sleeping.
I even felt these ectopics during the day today so not sure what's going on.
I am in the process of gathering all the nightly data from the last 115 days of wearing the monitor and then creating some charts in google sheets to see the changes in Afib, PVC's and PAC's. I will then take this data with me when I see a different EP in about 4 weeks time.
I hope it settles down...
Mine occur during the day often, also. Sometimes it seems exercise can set them off along with a racing pulse, only occasionally with AF. I feel that my heart is more “fragile” sometimes than others. I’ve had a good long period of it being quiet, but this past week has seen a change.
There is a Wellue portable 24 hour ECG monitor that has been recently made available which, if I had £300, I’d buy.
Steve
Hi Steve,
That is my monitor I believe, I bought it online and it was a lot cheaper.
I don't have A Fib but 5 or 6 weeks ago suddenly started with both PACs and PVCs for the first time ever ; holter monitor shows over 3000 PACs and 200 PVCs within 8 hours before the monitor fell off. NO reason given for why they started but they slowed down two weeks ago and completely stopped last week. I did nothing. I was given metoprolol but before I could take it they had stopped. Can I ask how you know how many you had? Do you have some sort of monitor?
I will have 2000 pac's and 1000 pvc's quite often in the night. Then they will drop to only 200 pac's and 100 pvc's for the next few nights.
I have a Wellue monitor.
Mine just stopped completely , as suddenly as they started. They started within a few days of my covid booster. Never had any before. No one can say if it was just a coincidence. I didn't realise at first until I started taking my BP because I kept feeling sort of dizzy but it was still 5 days before I noticed the little symbol on the BP monitor. When I checked my pulse I could feel they were about every 3rd beat. GP reckons they could come back just as suddenly but said he wouldn't medicate unless I was getting dizzy and when he knew from the holter just how frequent they were. I only waited 2 weeks for the holter which showed they were one a minute all day long. By t hen I was feeling them but they just vanished 2 weeks later. Thanks for the info on the monitor- never heard of that.
That’s all good. One a minute was the good old days for me. I hope your ectopics are truly in remission but I’d also say that given your recent history, if you get a flu or something like that you may get a flare up. My ectopics all kicked off with a viral illness several years ago and deteriorated significantly after a pre-pandemic flu, so it may well be something to watch out for.
Oh yes I'm aware of that. My clener who came lst Thursday went down with Covid last Sunday. I'm just praying I escaped. I went to bed last night and couldn't get to sleep; felt as if my heart was jumping out of my chest. Got up and froze and it was 135. Thankfully settled down after about 20 minutes. BP was also sky high so I don't know if it was just a panic attack or something worrying. BP's back to 127/66 today.
Yes, I am fit and healthy and my heart is fine.
I was having close to 26000 PVCs per day and other than feeling tired, no apparent symptoms…Electrophysiologist tried several drugs and finally tried flecainide…Low dose 50x2/day…within a couple of days PVCs dropped to less than 20/day…with few drug side effects
Thanks for the info, I do have Flecainide as a pill in the pocket but rarely take them as I can resolve my Afib. I will talk with my EP about Flecainide and my Pac's and Pvc's.
That’s very useful information, thank you. Beta blockers are doing nothing for me and I still have thousands every day. I may need to try Flecanide instead and I have such low BP on BBs, as well as mild Raynaud’s which I wasn’t asked about but which I now understand can be affected by BBs. I’ll need to see what the consultant says. I’ve never found any self help idea that ever made one jot of difference to my ectopic burden, but it’s not for want of trying.
Noticed you had 3 runs of VT there OzRob, any chance you could attach a screen shot of the worst looking one to your reply? Probably the feeling of your heart jumping out of your chest as that's how VT felt to me. You are racking up the list like me on the Wellue, won't know what I would have done without it.
First time poster 
Abbreviated Terms
Rhythm with occasional premature ventricular contractions (PVCs).
