Ectopic/Missed Beats

[BlueDouble007]

Hi, would anybody have information for what is the average acceptable amount of ectopic/missed beats per minute?

[Lowerfield_no_more]

I suggest you talk to the BHF Heart Helpline nurse

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

[Lexi72]

Hi Blue Double. Ectopics are very upsetting if you can feel them however many you have (not everyone can feel them) The advice I always had was that generally ectopics are harmless unless you have a very high load (I had a 20 per cent load before my ablation ) or lots of doubles or triples. You would measure the load with a 24 hour holter ECG or longer not generally over a minute. Ectopics are it is my understanding a type of arrhythmia and need to be distinguished from AFIB or atrial flutter which can be more serious. I would speak initially to a medical professional (GP) who may refer you for an ECG or if appropriate a cardiologist or electrophysiologist although it can be hard to get appointment in the NHS. None of us on the site have any medical knowledge and it can be dangerous to generalise from our personal experience as everyone’s circumstances differ. There are various things you can do to try to work out what triggers ectopicsUnfortunately as you may know already the triggers for many people are nice things like coffee, chocolate and alcohol or even eating big meals. Best wishes

[devonian186]

Good advice from Lexi. Keep a very detailed health diary for a few weeks which might identify the causes.

Include not just food and drink but exercise and the circumstances i.e episodes worse on a rainy cold day with lots of humidity.

Also insert any details on rows, incidents at work or even if you get a new phone or change the position of your router as electro magnetic interference can play a part in health issues.

[Murderfan58]

No idea but I have been on Flecainide and Apixaban since 2021 and found after a year I didn't have so many missed beats . I do get palpitations and heart flutters but no that many and I just relax if I do they don't last long . I do get breathless at times the cold or hot weather effects my breathing more . After my weeks stay in hospital last month have a spray only used twice but just 1 spray . Tastes vile but it works . Only wish I had asked for one back in 2021. Been put on Atorvastatin as after angiography found slight furring in my right artery but didn't need a stent. And it's to help stop further furring.

[Ham1846]

Hi, I suffer from ectopics I get them every day. Some are big missed beats that feel like electric shocks and disturb vision and hearing and others are just mild. Some days especially if I’m anxious I get loads and other days just a few. I’m on high bp meds and just recently been put on a beta blocker to try and suppress them. I was told by a cardiologist to buy a Kardia ecg machine and it records my heart patten directly to an app on my phone. It saves them and also you can download as a pdf. It’s good for evidence.

[BlueDouble007]

Thank you for all of your comments and helpful advice.I already use a Kardiacare 6L and was interested in the amount of missed\ecotopic beats that people get. Having down a 5 minute 6 lead ECG with the KardiaCare device I was getting 6 to 8 missed\ecotopic over 5 minutes, roughly 0.5% of heart rate. This doesn't account for the severity of them and the feeling it creates.

It would be good to create a scale or measurement of the feeling it creates from this heart situation, so that it can be gauged on the action to be taken. I think most of mine are created from the thought process that goes on in one's brain.

[Lexi72]

I was getting 6 on a 30 second Kardia trace - my resting heart rate was 46 so that was a lot. They now seem to have stopped (according to the Kardia) post ablation although not immediately after the operation a few months later . The reason an ablation was recommended in my case is that I have increasing damage to the left ventricle and the possible joint causes were regurgitation and the high ectopic load. So they tried to fix the ectopics first but that made no difference.Am now having the valve replaced to fix the regurgitation. The really strange thing is that I was never able to feel them unlike many others on this site Lexi