Atrial Trigeminy, PVCs and everything imbetween

[Iamfuzzyduck]

I am now actually quite scared as for the past 24 hours I am showing I am having runs of Atrial Trigmeminy, not all the time I don't know if the anxiety is making it worse. I feel like light headed with worry but I don't know if it is the metoprolol as I upped the dose yesterday, but for the past 4 weeks I have had a lot of ectopics that seem to be worsening, I just don't think my heart recovered from the serious afib event 7 weeks ago. I haven't had afib since I don't think. When I came out of ER everything felt normal until a bout two or three weeks later, and about a week after I stopped the beta blockers on the doctor's advice. I am actually quite worried I will have a cardiac arrest, am I just panicking needlessly?

[BobD Volunteer]

AF seldom if ever causes a heart attack so please get that idea out of your head. Anxiety can play bad tricks on us all but please try to relax, do your deep breathing exercises and stay well hydrated. Any chest pain or fainting./shortness of breath , however and you should seek medical attention.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to BobD]

Thanks Bob, It is the massive amounts of ectopics, every third beat, that is concerning me but I do know anxiety isn't helping!!

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Iamfuzzyduck]

Just do those deep diaphragmic breathing exercises and get down to less than six breaths a minute for at least five minutes. Alwasy worked for me.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to BobD]

I’ll give it a try, thanks!

[OzJames]

Bob is right, the deep breathing helped reduce my ectopics. Mine always came on when I got stressed or ate too much or too quickly. Grabbed a book called Breath by James Nestor, it’s basically how we’ve lost the art of breathing properly. I now think about breathing through my nose not mouth and it’s got me to understand how breathing properly can improve our lives

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to OzJames]

Thank you for the name of the book, I need to invest in it!! Strangely enough my heart seems quite stable today because it is the day I am seeing the EP and having an ECG taken, of course!! My husband suggested drinking a bottle of champagne before seeing him, lol!!

[OzJames in reply to Iamfuzzyduck]

It sounds like stress…. your relaxing now that you know your seeing a doctor, breath! and maybe the bubbly after you see the doctor! … actually alcohol can sometimes trigger AF in some people so maybe just a sip 😆

[MummyLuv]

I haven’t had trigeminy but I have had bigeminy and t is difficult not to panic the first time as you are very aware of them and in my case it made me feel I was going to faint. The first time I had them, it was just after mini maze surgery and I’d never experienced them before and did panic which didn’t help them at all. After than I lay down in a cool place and breathed deeply through them, much more effective. Don’t try and keep going through the trigeminy as if you are feeling faint you could faint due to the blood supply not flowing properly whilst you are having them. As Bob says they won’t trigger cardiac arrest but I can see why you were worrying about that. I hope trying to relax and breath through them helps you.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to MummyLuv]

Thank you, it is truly a strange and frightening feeling when it happens!!

[Sixtyslidogirl]

I had a bad run of ectopics after a couple of AF episodes last summer. I agree they are not nice. I started taking magnesium (just a general one from Amazon) and the ectopics really calmed down. It could have just been the recovery process after the AF but I wouldn’t be without them now.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to Sixtyslidogirl]

Thanks, how long did your ectopic runs last for?

[Sixtyslidogirl in reply to Iamfuzzyduck]

The bad patch (100s a day) stopped shortly after starting the magnesium and then went on a gradual decline after that so now might get 30 or so in a night which I don’t really notice.

[Auriculaire]

Stopping beta blockers abruptly can be problematic for many. It is better to taper off slowly.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to Auriculaire]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind, I see the EP today and will gather more advice re meds

[Ppiman]

You certainly won't get a cardiac arrest from ectopic beats, assuming you haven't been diagnosed with physical heart abnormalities that you haven't mentioned.

I get ectopic beats much as you describe, and they are very worrying with that strange "bump" feeling in the chest. The light-headedness is much more likely to be anxiety, but when the heart is beating erratically, or too quickly, then its output will be reduced and, depending upon your blood pressure, I imagine, you might well feel "different" in some way, including light-headed, dizzy, slightly out of puff and so on. Mild chest discomfort might be felt, too, at least I get that, spreading into my back even.

If you had an Apple Watch, Kardia or (my preference) a Wellue AI ECG device, you could save a trace of the ECG to show your doctor.

Steve

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to Ppiman]

I am seeing the EP today and of course this is the first day for a month my heart is behaving, it was bananas yesterday!! Luckily I do have lots of weird ECGs from my watch!!

Thanks!

[Ppiman in reply to Iamfuzzyduck]

I imagine you get, as I do, a mix of ectopic beats (PACs and PVCs). Mine can be very regular and in runs - all making me feel rather weird (and often rather worried!).

Steve

[Iamfuzzyduck]

what kind of magnesium?

[Sixtyslidogirl in reply to Iamfuzzyduck]

Triple Magnesium Complex, 2000mg Magnesium Glycinate, Citrate & Taurate, Clean Label & Chelated, 262mg Elemental Magnesium, Vegan, 60 Tablets, 30 Servings, by Igennus amzn.eu/d/dQ3BOjk

[Madscientist16]

I know everyone is different, but after my first AF episode, any consumption of MSG, yeast extract or artificial sweeteners would bring on bouts of trigeminy that would last for hours or days. I still get ectopics, but since I eliminated these from my diet, I have not had any trigeminy or bigeminy episodes.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to Madscientist16]

How did you find that out? I wouldn’t think to look at yeast!

[Madscientist16 in reply to Iamfuzzyduck]

I started to examine what I was eating every time I had trigeminy and narrowed it down to these ingredients. And I said "yeast extract" which is used as a flavor enhancer like MSG is used. I did not say yeast which is used to leaven bread. I have no trigeminy eating bread or other products made with yeast.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to Madscientist16]

Thank you! Yes, sorry I misread it, so I don’t need to cut out bread … 😃. I do find artificial sweeteners make me feel bad so I avoid them…

[MeganMN]

I have regular atrial bigeminy or trigeminy every day (over 20% of the day). At night it goes up to 50% of an hour. It is VERY awful feeling. Beta Blockers did not help me but Propranolol allows me to at least sleep by decreasing the force of it. The doctors don't get worried about it. They say treatment is focused on relieving symptoms. Hope it gets better. Its no fun.

[Iamfuzzyduck in reply to MeganMN]

It is just alarming feeling it but it seems it isn’t too harmful which is a relief

[Autumn_Leaves in reply to MeganMN]

I can relate to that. I did have some improvement on Bisoprolol but only in the sense of a few thousand less per day! 🤣

You are totally correct that doctors are never concerned in the least about ectopics. In fact, they are quite blasé about AF, in my experience. For us, it’s all horrible, but it’s just routine to them.

[Autumn_Leaves]

I’ve had every variety of ectopics — trigemeny, bigemeny, PVCs, PACs, runs of ectopics, and ectopics all day, every day, thousands picked up on 24h Holter, years and years of it. Until I had AF, no cardiologist was ever the slightest bit concerned. Some people with AF aren’t troubled by ectopics, some people have them constantly. If you have them in the thousands every day, chances are that you have some rogue cells that are feeling particularly irritable and firing off beats at random, in which case all the advice about “breathing exercises” and “don’t eat this, don’t eat that” won’t make one jot of difference. Sometimes the ectopics will settle down without “doing” anything. But sometimes they just carry on relentlessly. Ectopics, regardless of how they are described eg bigemeny, trigemeny, couplets. triplets, runs, salvos or whatever, aren’t in themselves putting you in any danger. AF is far more serious because of the risks that come with it, so concentrate on managing those risks eg if you have been prescribed anticoagulants, and manage your AF as advised.

[MeganMN]

frontiersin.org/articles/10...

I just read this though, and wonder what the docs would say about it.....