Ventricular Eptopic

[Neil_69]

I am 56 and have had this condition from 1998 , I get it on a daily basis , it scares me ,does any one have experience with these and how to best cope ??

[Thomps95]

My understanding is that unless they are accompanying certain types of heart disease, or are occurring almost continuously (e.g., every other beat), ventricular ectopics are common and benign. I get them too - and I agree they are annoying so I'm totally sympathetic! How often do you get them and when? I get mine in the evening after eating, 2-4 per minute for up to 4 hours (so often over 1,000 in the evening). They are worse after a big meal, or working at a computer in a hunched position. Beta blockers quiet them down. Talk to your doctor and tell her / him they are bothersome - and please let me know what you find out!

[philologus in reply to Thomps95]

I have arthritis and was given Tramadol for the pain. I took this for more than a year before I started getting palpitations and shortage of breath. I felt really bad on night and rang 999. The paramedic wired me up with an ECG and asked if I knew I had an irregular heartbeat.He gave me the printout and said that it was called bigeminy.

At the hospital I was told that it was probably caused by the Tramadol and that I should stop taking it but the extra heartbeats would be uncomfortable but not really significant.

I did this but the irregular beats continued, sometimes bigeminy, sometimes trigeminy and sometimes completely random.

I was near to collapse one night and rang 999 again and was told the same story.

I felt ill one day while out walking my dog so called at my GP surgery to see if anyone could help.

A trainee doctor agreed to see me and she gave me a thorough checkup.

The outcome was a visit to an arrhythmia clinic where I had a 24 hr monitor fitted and had a scan.

I was told that I had heart failure at the most serious level but they could not say whether the HF caused the extra beats or the other way round.

I was put on all the usual medicines and was checked every week to get these to the optimum doses.

That was about a year ago and I'm still taking the tablets which has greatly improved the HF problems but I still get the ectopics.

I bought an Alivecor device so that I could monitor what was happening and have found that I have a lot of ectopics. I use the device on my left knee and right hand to get a number 2 lead reading and have an ectopic beat every second, third or fourth beat constantly.

Most of the time I don't have any problems with this but there are times when I feel the fluttering etc. My wife says that she can always tell when I'm having "bumps" as she calls them by looking at my face.

I have been told by my EP that I should have an ablation to fix this but other health problems prevent me from doing this so, as he said it was not life-threatening, I put up with it. I have no scientific proof of this but I find that taking magnesium seems to help. I think this is partly because I take a diuretic which is a "potassium saver" type but causes a reduction in magnesium. I have also reduced my salt intake and lost about a stone in weight.

I am a seventy-year-old male who is six foot four and weighs fifteen stone and who has always lived a very active life until the arthritis reared its ugly head.

So.... my advice would be to think about possible causes (previous medication etc), talk to your GP and arrange to see an arrhythmia specialist and have the tests, monitor yourself to see if there are any triggers that set the flutters/palpitations off, and, hardest of all, try not to worry too much about it - you can do this most effectively by learning all you can about your problem and asking questions (make a list) when you see doctors EP's etc.

Please come back here to let us know how things are going.

[Neil_69 in reply to philologus]

Thank you for taking time to reply

[kevserg]

i suffer from vt but had a ablation 10 weeks ago i get lots of eptopic beats that lead to anxiety and panic attacks im trying to work my way through it and slowly getting there you have to accept them and have confidence in your self your going to be ok easier said than done i know it takes time but just keep telling yourself nothings up its just part of the condition and you will be fine i have struggled like mad with palpitations eptopics and bygeminies and vt but slowly feeling im moving forward

[Devine75]

I'm three months post ablation for svt/vt and have ectopics daily and they are so difficult to deal with. I also have bad anxiety which results in viscous circle. Ectopics are harmless so im told but they certainly don't feel like it. I have been given anxiety meds citalopram and am still on 2.5mg bisoprolol but it doesn't stop them. Hoping the anxiety meds will help once in my system properly and am stating counselling this week to help give me some tools to cope. I hope someone out there has some ideas on how to help ease them but I think time is the answer time to get used to them and cope with what if anything triggers them. I don't know about any other females but I find them worse on the lead up to time of the month that's when they seem to be really constant and strong?

[Oaksy100 in reply to Devine75]

Hi, just joined this group and saw your post. I'm exactly the same. I have an ICD now which does give reassurance but the amount of Ectopic beats means there is a constant reminder that there is a heart problem. Personally, I have found that taking all Caffeine out of my diet has helped hugely. if I stop and 'tune in' to my heart too much, this makes it worse. I try to keep distracted if I start to stress about them. I also try to eliminate foods containing msg as this affects my heart rate and amount of ectopics. I hope counselling helps you. I am sure it will.

[Devine75 in reply to Oaksy100]

Yes Ive stopped caffeine too and no alcohol. I'm trying really hard to ignore the ectopics now like you say when you become too in tune and focuses they become worse. Forgive my ignorance but what is ICD?

[Oaksy100 in reply to Devine75]

An ICD is a Implantable Cardiac Defibrilator. I had one fitted last Dec due to VT. Has the ablation helped your other symptoms?

[Devine75 in reply to Oaksy100]

No more svt or vt so far and no other symptoms and no blackouts. Just ectopics and anxiety.

Why were you fitted with a ICD? Could they not a ablate?

[Oaksy100 in reply to Devine75]

I think I will be having an ablation later in the year. Due to the VT and the family history of sca, they decided to put an ICD straight in. Quite a life changer but hopefully in a good way eventually. As you say, it's the anxiety that's the problem. This is going to sound weird, but when I get bad anxiety, I find colouring really helps. I bought a few adult colouring books and get lost in that for a while. Supposed to be like meditation.

It's a shame the ablation didn't help your ectopics. Do you think they will try another one at some point?

[Devine75]

Yes I colour in too and I also build with my daughters Lego it's equally as good for taking your mind off everything!

The ectopics are here to stay the doc said he'd do more harm than good if he were to try and ablate. I don't think they are as bad as most people's but they are very symptomatic just like my svt and vt. I just hope once the anxiety is under control I won't feel them as much x