Ectopic beats and anxiety

[Disneylover24]

Hi all, new to here. I'm 24 and last year I had a cardiac ablation to reduce ectopic beats. I've been ok but still suffering with some and now when I get them they feel more scary than ever. What can I do to try and help them or for me to stop worrying about them. I've been told they will never 100% be gone and my cardiologist doesn't want me to go onto any medication and try and deal with them naturally but they feel scary and having anxiety doesn't help! Any recommendations

Thanks.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I imagine others with more experience of the condition will be along tomorrow. Two friends around my age suffer from arrhythmias and ectopics. There appear to be two main triggers - stress and food - although sometimes the cause is unknown.

Stress is the hardest to deal with. A degree of stress can be healthy but constant unhealthy stress is not good. In these days of zero hour contracts and frequently poor management it can be hard to avoid.

Food wise it is worth cutting out caffeine, alcohol, chocolate and spicy foods as this often helps. By doing this one friend is now off all related medication.

[Hidden]

As per MichaelJH’s reply: have you tried any lifestyle changes? There are several things medically known to be able to increase ectopic beats in individuals sensitive to them. Lifestyle changes don’t work for everyone, unfortunately, but I have SVT, which is an arrhythmia triggered by ectopics, and was able to reduce my burden from hundreds each day even on medication, to around a dozen by making various changes alongside meds. I still notice many/most of those dozen, but it’s a big improvement, and have gone from 6 years of having episodes of arrhythmia 2 or 3 times a month on average (sometimes a week), to not having had a single episode at all since 2015. The things medically recognised to be able to worsen ectopics for some people are:

Caffeine (all caffeine, including in tea, soft drinks, medications etc.)

Dark chocolate

White chocolate

Certain medications, including - but not limited to - antihistamines, asthma inhalers, pseudoephedrine found in cough and cold remedies, and things like local anaesthetic.

Alcohol

Smoking

Insufficient or broken sleep

Stress and anxiety

Other people also swear by avoiding spicy food, and ginger can also be a trigger for some, including me. If I inadvertently have something containing one of my triggers, or I burn the candle at both ends, it’s rapidly apparent in the number of ectopics I have, and one of the interesting things about ectopics is that once you start noticing them, the more you are likely to feel. Almost everyone has them, it’s just our bodies become attuned to spotting them in a way many other people don’t. If you haven’t seen them already, a British cardiologist by the name of Sanjay Gupta does some excellent videos on YouTube regarding ectopics, which some people find useful for learning to live with them. My arrhythmia kicked off when I was the same age as you, prior to that I’d had no awareness of my ectopics, but 12 years on, whilst they’re still annoying, the PVCs and PACs are not the scary experience they once were as a result of understanding what they are, what my triggers are, and having far less of them.

[Identiy in reply to Hidden]

In the old days - the 70s and 8os - life insurance companies did not load policies if ectopics/VPCs were found on a routine ECG.Not sure if it is still the same today, but they were not out to make friends - only money - so they are obviously no too sinister.

[peterosgood]

After my OHP surgery, I have had ectopic beats. I may have had them before but never noticed them, now I can hear my heart more due to the mechanical valve, these initially were very scary. I have had discussions with my GP on what they are and the various feelings I get but the most useful source for me has been Dr Sanjay Gupta who has a host of videos on youtube covering this whole topic. I have found the information really clear and it has helped with both my understanding of ectopic beats, what they are, how they can feel and ways in which to deal with them. This has helped settle my anxiety issues which can increase the amount of ectopic beats you get. So my advise is speak to your GP or cardiologist but have a look at Dr Gupta on youtube. Good luck and I hope this helps.