New poster - ectopic advice?

[bananas2025]

I replied to someone else for the first time so thought I'd go one further and ask for some advice.

51 year old male, no other real health problems and quite healthy. Only vice was 12-16 units of alchohol across the weekend.

Had a couple of palpitation episodes a few years ago but they disappeared.

Then I started getting palpitations out the blue 3 months ago - missed beats and racing heart at rest. The racing heart subsided after a couple of days but I've been left with the ectopic beats every day.

At rest (60ish bpm) I get between 0 and 10 in a minute of varying intermission, sometimes after 2 beats, sometimes after 30.

When I start moving (90bpm) it goes a bit haywire. Exercise (120+bpm) it's haywire till my bpm comes down.

GP was concerned after ECG so referred me. I wore a Holter monitor for 24 hours and was told it was probably ectopic and quite safe by the cardiologist. Told I was getting 5%, though it feels more to me. I've since had an echo and treadmill to rule stuff out, and told again probably ectopic and safe. I've now had a CT scan to rule more things out, and waiting on results. I'm starting 2.5 Bisoprolol on Friday along with statin and aspirin.

I'd rather not take anything and ignore the beats, but that's very difficult. Hoping the meds help. I bought an Apple watch in January. I'm slightly regretting it as I feel like I'm just watching the ectopic beats on the ECG all the time.

It's getting me down quite a bit, we're moving to a new area and my dreams of our new family life - village pub, long country walks, family parties etc. seem to be disappearing.

I've done everything I can think of - more water, zero caffeine, more sleep, eat healthy, zero alchohol apart from a few glasses at a family wedding, plenty of bananas. I'd like to exercise more but it's scary when seeing the erratic heartbeats.

I appreciate there are many on the forum with much more serious conditions so don't want to sound self pitying. However, if anyone has any advice I'd be very grateful.

[Medicalappointments]

have ectopic heartbeats. After extensive tests given bisoprolol and statin and told not to worry. A few months later I had very few episodes but find anxiety can start it off but only mildly. Sometimes you just have to take tablets. I didn’t get on with first statins but fine now

[devonian186]

You say this started 3 months ago. Does that coincide with selling your house and getting a new one? Anxiety is a big factor.

Its worth taking a bit of time to reconstruct this period 3 months ago as you may be able to identify a root cause which might be diet or exercise related or be due to some big change in your life. Bisoprolol will likely help a lot but so will identifying causes.

[BrackenBT]

I had an Aortic valve replacement in 2021 and in 2023 started to suffer with regular ectopic beats and low heart rate. I work in outdoor education hillwalking and mountain biking and was told by Cardiology that I can carry on as normal which I have done since then.

I agree it is disturbing feeling the erratic beats but do my best to ignore them and lead a normal active life. Like you I'm on 2.5 Bisoprolol, aspirin and statins, I have started to avoid using my smart watch as you can become obsessed by the readings.

Most important to try and lead a normalise.

[Sambobs17]

hello there, so sorry your going through this, can totally relate to your situation, I’m 9 months in with this and tbh not really any further on just been started on 1.25mg bisoprolol that was Monday felt dreadful as it slowed my HR down too much not taken it today I have a follow up next month with my GP - I know it’s trial and error but it’s driving me mad not having the answer - like you say it’s the impact it has in your life in my case it’s wiped out my confidence - I can only say to you I think you will find yourself what works for you as you end up being a detective in this world of ectopics - in the meantime keep the faith and really hope you get some answers soon take care 😊

[bananas2025]

Thanks for the replies folks. Starting the meds tomorrow.

Regarding when it started - it coincided with the week we put the offer in on the new house, and also two nights out with friends visiting. Food and alchohol were consumed but less that I've had on other nights out and I have stopped alchohol, late eating and spicy food for last two months.

Whilst I wasn't massively stressed at the time with the house it seemed an obvious cause. However, the cardiologist really downplayed it. He said people think it's stress too often and he believes environment has a much larger part to play.

I've started home yoga this week. I don't have a stressful job, but home life can be stressful with two teenage kids needing support (one is spectrum, other is a stressed out teenager doing exams).

Hoping for good results from the CT scan next week. House move two weeks later, after that it's Spring and lots of home decorating so hoping that will help take away stress.

[Smits1980]

I get ectopics following a quadruple bypass almost two years ago. I was told they can just come and go with no real reason, and I do have periods with none and then weeks when they come pretty much every night. I have been trying to discern a pattern and I think I get them more when I’m tired. Basically, I need to manage my energy to try and avoid them. And I think that probably helps. I also get them in very hot weather, though assume that doesn’t apply to you right now! Do what you can to try and understand what is causing them but I’d suggest you might not get an answer and overall, accept them, live with them, and don’t let them worry you.