I have had ectopics for most of my adult life. I hadn’t had any for ages then suddenly following a fatty meal when I hadn’t eaten for a some hours I got loads of ectopics all together. They stopped and then came back over the next few days and ended up with me going to the hospital as I was so anxious. By the time I got there they had stopped and everything was found to be normal. I have since seen a cardiologist who did an echo and it was normal. A 24hr monitor showed nothing to be concerned about. He put me on 1.5mg Bisoprolol. Problem is I have got obsessed with the ectopics and think about them all the time and it’s affecting everything I do. I am sitting here now waiting for one to happen. I know this is silly and they are harmless but I am so anxious about them. Some days I get none and other days I seem to get quite a few.
Ventricular Ectopic Heartbeats - British Heart Fou...
Ventricular Ectopic Heartbeats
This sounds like what happened to me few years back I suddenly got so many palpitations so I did the same as you went to A&E I had chest pain aswell so I was panicking and when I got there had stopped well the chest pain had but palpitations carried on for about a week but strangely enough they could pick any up on my ecg or blood test or chest Xray but when I i phoned my emergency number they assured me I did the rihjt thing well fast forward bout a year and they discovered through countless holter monitors that I have VT and I'm now on Verapamil 40mg been on it since May. I had an episode of them on boxing day though and when I told my consultant a month later at an emergency appointment they said that when ever I'm having palpitations and headaches or chest pain to always go to A&E. I can definitely sympathise with it affecting your life because it got to the stage where the slightest movement and it felt like my heart was break dancing in my chest especially at night, night time was the worst! And any kind of stress really affected it sooo bad.
I really hope you can get some medication or some way of controlling your ectopic beats
Are you having any more tests???
Hi, no the consultant discharged me. I went to see a hypnotherapist yesterday to see if they could help with the obsession with the ectopics. The holter monitor showed ectopics but not when I felt them which is like you said too. Are we feeling ectopics? if they dont show - its very strange.
Yeah it's very weird some of them can be due to stress and not traceble on holter monitors or ecgs. You literally have to bug them until they realise you can't deal with this with out meds was such a relief when I was told that it showed up and I wasn't imagining it although I will add the first time my monitor was looked at they didn't spot it but they got a doctor who specialises in reading and understanding ecgs and he spotted the VT on the holter monitor and then I was contacted out of the blue and told I was gona be started on verapamil normally my palpitations wouldn't have been an issue however mine were causing light headed sensation and my heart to beat really weird so I'm so relieved to be on medication for it didn't realise how much I needed it till I was on it.
Hi, I really appreciate your concern and must sympathise; sometimes the more you think about it the worse it gets! I’ve had similar events over the past 10 years, including recent runs of vt and atrial ectopics. All very random and unpredictable! I’m still having tests following a syncopal attack at the wheel over a year ago which is very frustrating as I am unable to drive at the moment! The most recent test is for catecholamines and metanephrines, which I am led to believe could be stimulating my cardiac arrhythmia.
Hi just to say you may be describing an endocrine issue that is impacting you heart I would not want to make you anxious but look at autonomic dysfunction as well
I have a rare form of this a pseudo Pheochomacyctoma it's got more symptoms to deal with but has what you generally describe so insist on multiple tests being done by arrangements when you have an episode not weeks later
The tests you mention when done right help diagnose but a high percentage are not administered correctly (as high as 80%) so strict with it make sure instructions are bit read and followed as when I did that woophs suddenly my results were abnormal and that led to correct diagnoses
Good luck with all you deserve an outcome and by sounds of it going in a direction
Regards
Healthy 65
Thanks Healthy65. I received my 24hr urine test results which showed a high level of normetanephrine. All other levels were within threshold limits. My Cardiologist said that it was ok as the high value appeared isolated. Can’t help but feel that it is straying beyond his expertise!? I had an EEG recently and that was negative. I am now being told that I may have a genetic condition! All very concerning, but await the Cardiologist report before deciding on the next step in the process. In the meantime, 15 months after my syncopal event whilst driving and five reported events of VT and AT on my Loop Recorder, I am still no further forward, other than being chauffeured around by my good lady wife! All very frustrating but probably predictable!
If you can afford one, I suggest you get a Kardiamobile device and then you can see for yourself what is happening when you feel them/the problem, and record it.
The recordings are so good they are recognised by cardiologists.
Ectopics are OK - and to put it in perspective, the stress you are feeling about them is more harmful to your body than they are, so it is good that you are trying to get your head around it.
Praise yourself for that!
There are lots of things our body does that we know are OK, even if not pleasant and we learn to accept these and take them for granted. Things like growing breasts as a teenager and having periods, having indigestion, getting wrinkles and a suntan. These are just as "normal" as ectopics but are more commonly talked about. If you can teach yourself to see the ectopics as "normal" in the same way, you will find them less stressful.
If, rather than waiting for them, you tell yourself, "come on, I know they are OK really, I've got to just distract myself, what useful/nice thing can I go and do now?" it won't be long before your body associates them with good/positive things and you will feel better.
I usually get a few hundred a day but sometimes I can get spells of several a minute for hours. Even that's OK and I usually find that even if it makes me feel a bit dizzy to start with, my body knows I mean business and it soon responds by settling down and giving me the right heart rate in the right way.
It then amuses me that I'm calling the shots, not it, and I can get on with my day.
Don't totally ignore everything though - cardiologists like to think they're Superman, when they're not - so a Kardiamobile can tell you what the real picture is and put you in control.
Good luck with getting it in perspective and therefore feeling better.
PS make sure you are getting plenty of good vitamins and minerals, ideally from meat, fish and plenty of veg, fruit and salads - it will really help with the anxiety and will help the ectopics too.
Bad Tooth? It will disappear the moment you sit in the Dentists Chair. Raging stomach problem? Which will disappear the second you attend your hard won Doctors appointment. Ectopics? Well they have been continuous until I walked in to your surgery and you hooked me up to the ECG!
I think there is an element of anxiety which can disappear temporarily when you get in front of A health professional but undoubtedly ectopics are very curious things which often do not get the attention they deserve.
The fact that it was a fatty meal suggests it is related to the stomach and the Vagus nerve. Have you ever researched that? The bisoprolol will likely help if you give it a chance and curb your anxiety and watch your diet
Yes I thought it could be related to the vagus nerve too. Thank you for your reply
I have just been having a read around vagus nerve. I feel my ectopics on the right side of my neck which is where the branch of the vagus nerve that controls the SA node of the heart so I think you could be correct in thinking this. Thinking back to when I have had really bad ectopics it has been after food. Not sure what the treatment is though apart from avoiding heavy meals and eating low fat.
Probably avoid eating heavy meals, high fat food and eating late might also have a detrimental impact. As for low fat food, yes up to a point, but many of these are highly processed and have lots of sugar. The amount of sugar in so called healthy low fat yoghurt can be astonishing and it is often thickened by various oils, guar gum and other additives.
Interesting thread - I have had SVEs for 7years now and they first started when I was laid flat in yoga after having eaten. I find that they are worse when laid down, after eating and when stressed or tired and ease when exercising heavily. It seems when my heart is working harder they improve. My cardiologist thought they may be linked with the fact I have endometriosis and the neural system is being constantly irritated by it.
I'm exactly the same.Im so glad I'm not the only one.I go for a couple of days where I don't get any and anxiety drops away then bang 1 ectopic Fires off and anxiety goes sky high.I don't really know how to handle it tbh.I do pilates,movement swimming and walking every week also enjoy reading so feel I have a good lifestyle balance but those little blighters floor me.Defo feel your pain .
I am going to give Hypnotherapy a try to see if it helps. Like you I try to keep healthy, I walk and go to a dancing class and I might get an ectopic while I am dancing but can virtually ignore it. It is when I am at home alone that I get all worked up about them. Like you said, I can go a few days without them and feel great then suddenly I wake up the next day and get one and then my mind is focused on them and when the next one will come. I feel your pain too
before you start hypnotherapy have you tried any of the simple breathing exercises which can help you to shift your focus and calm you?
The NHS website is a good place to start: nhs.uk/mental-health/self-h..., but there are plenty more in the same vein online.
Also Dr Sanjay Gupta has some helpful info and videos on his website: drsanjayguptacardiologist.c..., he also suggests relaxation and breathing exercises
Thank you for your suggestions I will most certainly have a look at the NHS site
Never ever worked for me unfortunately. Before ablation for flutter I was in bigeminy for weeks.
it may not actually stop all arythmias but it helps to calm the person experiencing them and shift their focus to something they can control
They are the weirdest and most annoying affliction. I ve had them in phases for 2 decades but last summer(interestingly about 12wks after a bout of the plague) they went crazy. Tests were somewhat inconclusive and after 6 months of bisoprolol 2.5mg and increased lipitor to 40mg, they have more or less disappeared again. I hope yours do too.
I understand that bisoprolol should have an impact but is lipitor known to have an effect?
No idea just saying that's what I have been prescribed which dovetails with my recent ectopic experiences. Lipitor was off course prescribed for hi cholesterol, but happily now way down so in the great cocktail mix of what we take,what we do and how the old pump reacts, only they know.
All of which raises the interesting questions as to whether some ectopics are caused by high or low blood pressure, narrowing of the arteries and sundry other heart related conditions that may manifest itself in extreme cases through the need for stents or surgery.
My ectopics had been much better after my bypass and the inclusion of bisoprolol and Lipitor . I have taken statins for years but not lipitor. There is not enough research into ectopics even though it is a common and worrying condition and usually described as 'benign'..
I agree, they are definitely worthy of in depth research. They cause so much angst, plus costly tests and then they get described as benign or just brushed off.
hi I also suffer with them and understand the worry that makes you more anxious and the problem with that is the more anxious you feel it can make the ectopics more frequent I also found eating Choclate caused mine to be worse and also I seemed to notice them more annoying at night when my heart rate drops I started to learn to dismis them and passed them off as nothing and was told they was benign and harmless so I’ve learned to relax more and I’ve noticed the ectopic beats have all but disappeared so I think the main cause of mine was the health anxiety that I had was increasing them I hope u find some relief that helps you to also get to the root cause of yours and wish u good health kind regards Andrew
Hello yes they maybe a sign of something. I had them since my 20s and turned out to be heart failure diagnosis in my mid 30s. My heart was enlarged when i got them checked in my 20s but they rubbed that off to being into my fitness.
They usually are harmless but i do believe they are a symptom of something... Either heart trouble, aniexity...
I do get a cluster of them together that kind of takes your breath away and you panic thinking your hearts about to stop there and then. Quite scary.
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