Skipped beats in a row

[Kellylou1712]

I can go about my day to day fine with no symptoms, and out of nowhere and during my sleep I can have about 5 skipped beats in a row before I jump back into NSR - does anyone else have experience of this? It’s very jolting waiting to go back to NSR, I’m about to start bisopropol to see if this will help but these episodes are very random and only happen maybe once a day, sometimes It will be just the one skipped beat, sometimes it will feel like my heart has fallen out of rhythm. I’ve just been diagnosed with junctional rhythm with NSR, echo came back okay.

[HamishBoxer]

Have you checked these beats on a Kardia etc? Think sometimes PVC.s /PAC,s can give that effect.

[Kellylou1712 in reply to HamishBoxer]

Hi Hamish, I have an apple watch that I often record ECG's on, I did record a strip that showed many the other day and they do look like PVCs/PACs on the strip.

[HamishBoxer in reply to Kellylou1712]

Has any professional given you an opinion on the recording? There are plenty of experts on various facebook groups.

[Kellylou1712 in reply to HamishBoxer]

I'll take a look thank you!

[kelleybean]

Did you explain these symptoms to your doctor? I'm assuming you have seen a cardiologist, if you recently had an echo?

[Kellylou1712 in reply to kelleybean]

I have yes - My cardiologist says she gets them too and there's nothing concerning but I do feel like experiencing them everyday can get a little overwhelming!

[bantam12]

I have this and was talking to my pacing team ( I have a pacemaker for bradycardia and pauses) yesterday about it.My pacemaker showed no events despite me feeling the skipped beats, what they said was that when we feel ectopics, skipped or extra beats the beats can actually still be happening but we can't feel them and any device used will likely not pick them up, so we feel symptoms and a long gap but hidden in the background is a faint beat. If you are truly missing lots of beats you will be symptomatic and be passing out, been there and got the tshirt !

[Kellylou1712 in reply to bantam12]

Thank you so much for writing up a reply to me - that's really useful.

[Oldacre-girl]

Hi Kellylou, I’ve had this in the past and it is very uncomfortable but as you have been checked out you should be fine. My cardiologist told me that they think a drop in blood pressure and a slower heart rate when resting/sleeping can trigger these events. Now I’m older I have less of a problem with them. Always get checked though.

Oldacre Girl.

[Kellylou1712 in reply to Oldacre-girl]

Yes! Apparently this is the cause - my hearts natural pacemaker gets overtaken by the 'back up' pacemaker when my heart rate starts to slow upon breathing out - the cardiologist said that your heart should speed up when breathing in and slow down upon breathing out but it's like my heart has anxiety and says 'woahhh is this okay?' and the back up takes over.

Your response is really encouraging - I read so much about PVC/PAC's and rhythms like this getting worse as I get older so the fact that you now have less of them gives me hope for the future!

[Oldacre-girl in reply to Kellylou1712]

Hi Kellylou,I don’t know how old you are and I would always say to anyone to get professionally checked out, but my personal history is that the very bad episodes of PVC/PAC always coincided with my menstrual cycle and then escalated because I became very anxious about them. The menopause was very, very difficult but now I have far fewer of them except when I’m very stressed. Even half a glass of wine will trigger them and very hot weather too. It’s difficult to learn to manage them as sometimes attacks seem to be unprovoked but you will find your personal triggers. Hope this helps; I know how alone this problem can make you feel. Please remember I’m not a doctor tho’!

Best wishes.

[Kellylou1712 in reply to Oldacre-girl]

The same goes for me, menstrual cycles seem to make it worse and definitely stressful, anxiety provoking situations. Thank you I appreciate you replying to me!

[HamishBoxer in reply to Kellylou1712]

I have read that a few times.