24 hour holter reported 6,060 ectopic beats in 24 hours and 684 couplets. Echo cardio gram reported mild MR. Symptoms shortness of breath, coughing when short of breath, fatigue, heart thumping like missing a beat.
Had to push GP hard for a cardiology referral as I feel so awful. 10 week wait for cardiology appointment, should I dig deep and pay for a private cardiology consultation?
if you are that bad and can afford it and it will put your mind at rest, by all means but still doesn’t mean they will treat. Have you tried the recommended LSD - Long Slow Deep breathing?
when I first started with AF and PVC’s it was a long wait for my nhs appointment so I arranged a private appointment, which cost me £180 at the time, and it lasted half hour including an ecg.It was worth the money and I ended up seeing the same consultant EP at my next nhs appointment .
I wouldn't hesitate; go private for a consultation if you can afford it. It puts your mind at rest and you won't have the rushed appointment you have with the NHS.
Sorry to hear you are suffering. My short answer would be yes. 12 weeks is a long time to wait to get any help, and a cardiologist may well suggest something which could alleviate your symptoms. I wouldn't want to second guess any course of treatment, as we are all different, but ectopics are often treated by prescribing either an anti arrhythmic, a beta blocker, or both. In the meantime, the deep breathing exercises already referred to might help, and other forum members suggest supplements, such as magnesium. You should be able to find quite a few posts on the subject. I've had a lot of trouble with ectopics for many years, and can't honestly say they have ever disappeared completely. The problem is that any volume of ectopics will make you feel anxious, and the more anxious you are the more ectopics you get. It's a classic Catch 22! Anything you can do to relax, listening to a mindfulness app etc might also help. Good luck with your journey, and by all means ask more questions. You are not alone (my highest recorded was 10,000 ectopics in 24 hours)
£220 for a private consultation - I found it worthwhile to alleviate anxiety, but, in the end, I am not sure anything would have changed.
Steve
I wouldn't. I had a similar Holter monitor, thousands of skipped beats and bigeminy and couplets, though I'm not sure if the regurgitation was mild- I eventually had a valve replacement. The doctors really can't offer much, just reassurance and beta blockers which have side effects, though they do block the effects of anxiety a bit. In my case, worry was the main problem, one of those bad cycle things, where the anxiety causes more ectopics, which causes more anxiety, etc.
I’ve been in your situation before I developed AF. Minor MVR was seen on my first echocardiogram 7 or 8 years prior to my first AF episode. I’m not saying you will follow the same progression but I’ve had a similar ectopic burden and I know how miserable it is.
If you have some mitral valve regurgitation you will have had some remodelling of the left atrium which may be mildly enlarged. This is most likely the underlying cause of your ectopics and no amount of deep breathing exercises can reverse this, I’m afraid. You may well try cutting out caffeine (didn’t help me one bit) or alcohol, if you drink, it to see if it helps. I didn’t find anything that helped.
As of now, my ectopic burden has been in the 200-500 per day range for a while. Compared to before, it’s a huge improvement. What did I do? Nothing. There was no diet, no supplements, nothing. I was doing well with very few ectopics and no episodes of AF for almost a year until I caught Covid in 2023 then it all flared up again. It has gradually settled down again, but the ectopics never go away completely and I have bad days/phases and times when not much is going on. I really can’t say why.
You can have an ablation for ectopics but you have to be realistic about it. Sometimes it takes more than one procedure as they don’t always catch all the problem cells, and even when successful, in time the ectopics could come back. It’s not always a permanent cure, but some people do have good results.
I’m not going to recommend any diets, any supplements, anything like that. Everyone knows about healthy eating, exercise/movement, sleep and stress management — and avoiding risky behaviours like alcohol and smoking/vaping and recreational drugs. Everybody knows fruit and vegetables are good for you, junk food is bad for you and alcohol is a poison. Good luck.
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Ectopic beats post ablation
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