Ectopic Beats

[Cariad60]

Hi all, I’ve recently started having ectopic beats and paid privately to get some answers. I had an echo and wore a zio patch for 2 weeks. I had my follow up appointment for results last week and was told everything was normal. I requested both reports and on receipt of them found that the zio patch results stated “first degree AV block was present”. This wasn’t mentioned in my follow up at all. My echo report also stated “Low probability of raised RVSP”. Again this wasn’t mentioned by my cardiologist. I’ve googled but I’m none the wiser and have asked the hospital for further clarification but does anyone have any experience of these conditions?

my cardiologist thinks the ectopics are down to stress.

[RaffyD]

HelloI have also been plagued by ectopic heartbeats since my heart attack in March. I've had varying opinions from it's perfectly normal from my GP to possibly the area of my heart that was damaged in the attack is responsible for regulating the electricity. I know how disconcerting and frustrating it is and empathise. My gut instinct is that the cocktail of meds are responsible but I'm currently trying to eliminate caffeine as that is sometimes the culprit apparently. I haven't sought private help yet but that may be my next course of action despite your unsatisfactory experience. I wish you well. Please let me know if you have any improvement.

P

[Cariad60 in reply to RaffyD]

Hi there, no improvement for me sadly - they’ve actually increased. I don’t have caffeine and very little alcohol. I’m at a loss as to what is causing them as I don’t think it’s stress as they’re just too regular now

[Bahamasgirl]

Hello, I would recommend supplementing with magnesium. It has helped my ectopics enormously. The glycinate or citrate version is good (not oxide). I hope that helps. Best wishes 😊

[Cariad60 in reply to Bahamasgirl]

hi, I’ve had my magnesium levels tested and they’re all ok so still at a loss as to what’s causing them

[IndieDot]

I started having ectopics last November and after a 24 hour ECG in December it was confirmed I had ectopics not caused by anything sinister. They were very frequent and sometimes felt like they were constant throughout the day. I'm pleased to say that they stopped completely, out of the blue, about 4 weeks ago. I've not been given any reason as to why I had them, apparently they can just come and go. Anyway my point is you may not have to put up with them permanently. It's a case of wait and see.

[Cariad60 in reply to IndieDot]

I’m not hopeful that they’ll ever go at the moment sadly! I have them daily and have done so since March. If anything they’ve increased

[Zennor7]

I am 69 and when I was 35 I suddenly experienced frequent episodes of ectopic beats which were investigated and deemd to be harmless and stopped after a few weeks. From then until recently I would occassionally experience a few ectopic beats,usually if I was unwell with a virus,but nothing significant.

In March last year I started getting a lot of ectopic beats. It was happening daily with periods of an hour or more where they were sometimes every second or third beat. Again I was assured they were harmless but there was a slight concern about the number of ectopic beats per day,so I was prescribed bisoprolol. This certainly stopped them but I kept feeling faint and had frequent migraines so Iwas switched to propranolol as required. This certainly helped and with less side effects. I also read that Magnesium could help and took magnesium taurate. After 6 months, things started to get better and I didn't need the propranolol every day. I also felt that the magnesium was having a positive effect on my mood and anxiety levels. I decided to reduce the magnesium dose and over the next few weeks the ectopic beats got less anyway,so I am not totally convinced they were helping my heart but my mood and anxiety were worse so they definitely seemed to help that.

Over the last few months the ectopic beats have got less and less until I am now hardly aware of them at all anymore.I have not taken propranolol in this period either. I already had an appointment with cardiology for a follow up 24 hour ECG and scan(still on the waiting list) and the cardiologists opinion is that the problem may have been a form of long covid as I had covid justbefore this started. Apparently the cardiology department is seeing a lot of people with ectopic beats and also with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) that has just gone away after a year or so.

Sorry this has been such a long post,but I hope my experience could give hope to others suffering the same way.