Hi all, just wondering if anyone else has come to the end of their tether with ectopic beats etc. Since 2019 ive had skipped beats, extra beats, pauses and flipflops but no answers!!! Since 2019 ive had two 7 day monitors, an echocardiogram, stress treadmill test and an mri. Cardiologist first found fast rate so ive been taking bisoprolol 2.5mg since 2019. All other tests have come back fine just 2 episodes of some sort of ventricular beat after the treadmill test.
Im not due an appointment now until April but the last few days ive noticed an increase in the pauses, skipped beats etc. Ive read that skme things can increase them?
Shall i drink more water, cut out sugar or fats? Maybe lower the bisoprolol dose?
I don't know what to do im pulling my hair out! Im starting to get scared even though they tell me they cant find anything from the mri, echo or numerous ecgs. 😫😫😫
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DanniC88
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Hi I feel for u, I’m suffering with ectopic beats several times a week I feel mine as palpitations I do have a congenital heart defect which I’m waiting for surgery. The cardiologist thought I may have a heart rhythm issue but had all test and apart from sinus tachycardia nothing has shown not even the ectopic beats. I’ve noticed then through a cardio tracker. The information out there is confusing most say isolated ectopic beats are harmless and no trouble. But a few post I’ve seen scare the s##t out of me
Sometimes its such a worry, they told me it doesn't look like they are dealing with anything dangerous which Ok, is relieving but they must be happening for some reason surely?? Even if its a minor reason its still a reason... im fed up with it, sometimes i think, God, what if my heart never restarted after a pause..
Yeah I get that feeling too but again it seems most people do suffer with them at some point with no problem at all. Most people I’ve spoken to or read about they are harmless but the more sensitive u are about what ur feeling makes it’s worse or at least more frightening think that’s me in a nut shell
A friend got ectopics under control by eliminating coffee, chocolate, alcohol and spicy food from his diet. Eliminating stress, another trigger, is harder. Smoking and recreational drugs are a total no-no.
Look on YouTube for the videos by Dr Sanjay Gupta he gives very good explanations about why ectopics can occur. Very reassuring.
Ectopics in most cases are benign and just there - no known reason, and the medics themselves don’t completely understand why they happen beyond being able to determine that they’re not of concern for 99.9% of people. I have an arrhythmia triggered by ectopic beats (SVT), which is considered a benign arrhythmia (although not at all benign feeling when you’re in the middle of it and needing your heart stopping to get back into normal rhythm), so the aim of treatment is to reduce ectopics and therefore prevent attacks. The two main ways of doing that are medication like bisoprolol, which also lowers heart rate, and for a significant proportion of people - but not everyone - there are a number of lifestyle factors and substances that are medically recognised to increase the frequency of ectopics, so excluding some or all of them can also substantially help. The list is:
Caffeine (all caffeine, not just coffee)
Ginger
Dark chocolate
White chocolate
Some medications including, but not limited to, pseudoephedrine found in cough and cold remedies, some asthma inhalers (e.g. salbutamol), adrenaline based local anaesthetic
Stress
Insufficient sleep
Anxiety
Smoking
Alcohol
Recreational substances, particularly stimulants
Exercise helps some people and makes it worse for others. Some people also swear by cutting out spicy food, although this isn’t officially recognised as being a trigger. There’s also increasing research confirming that foods high in tyramine can sometimes also trigger not just ectopics but conditions like atrial fibrillation, so avoiding anything high in those might - for some people - be of benefit, although I haven’t gone for that as yet.
In my own case, with medication alone, I was still having regular bouts of SVT, sometimes several times a week, which went on for about 5 years before I had my last major attack that saw me needing my heart stopping again. After that, I grudgingly began cutting out things linked to ectopics and discovered that caffeine, ginger, dark chocolate, pseudoephedrine, local anaesthetic, and insufficient sleep all noticeably increased my ectopics and therefore gave me episodes of SVT. Fast forward 6 years, and although I do still have daily ectopics as seen on a holter last autumn, they’re fairly dramatically reduced in number now that I completely avoid the things I know set me off, and I haven’t had a single episode of SVT since, not even a minor one. To people suffering with ectopics, I would always advocate looking at diet and lifestyle - it doesn’t help everyone, but for some it genuinely does make a huge difference.
Hi, yes horrible feeling. I am currently doing a 7 day holter with Sanjay Gupta. I've read a lot of his stuff in the past. The new type holter is very easy to wear. I am hoping to get a better handle on it 10 months post AVR.
I have a crtd and suffer a lot of eptopics, they were picked up on the device at the rate of seven eptopics a minute and they tell me there is nothing to worry about
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