Hi,
My partner has had her b12 injection on Thursday and has noticed in the last two days that her heart seemed to miss a beat. She had tests on friday at the hospital and the conclusion was ectopic heartbeat.
Can anyone offer theirs insights to this and should we be alarmed?
John
Ectopics are fine.
No need for alarm at all, I promise.
The are just a beat with an early initiation followed by a normal one. Because the timing of it is sooner than those in your normal rhythm but the next one is at the time it would have been expected it results in a bit of a pause to the second, normal beat. In this time the heart can fill with slightly more blood so when the normally timed contraction goes off it is a bit stronger than the others so you can feel it as a bit of a thud in your chest. The skinnier you are the more you can feel it as there is less fat around your heart to cushion the feeling.
These ectopics can initiate from the ventricle = premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), or from the atria = premature atrial contractions (PACs).
As far as I know, everyone gets them but most people don't notice them. They aren't a problem - other than causing alarm because they feel significant!
Cardiologists usually won't consider doing anything about them unless you have more than 10% all the time with symptoms beyond feeling them, and then they might just dish you out some beta blockers or something like that. This is because any treatment is likely to be more detrimental than the ectopics themselves and there doesn't seem much they can do about them either.
Now, don't get me wrong - I get both sorts and know that they feel blinking horrible if you aren't expecting them so I do sympathise, but promise you that there really is nothing sinister about them.
It feels like you are being fobbed off or they are missing the point because surely something that feels so bad can't just be "nothing to worry about"! But it is OK, really.
Like you I'm not convinced that they mean nothing at all because I get more when I'm comprised somehow - illness, deficiencies, over exertion, that sort of thing - and I think that our bodies only do odd things as a way of trying to tell us something. But there has been lots of study into ectopics and there are specialists in them and all sorts and they haven't yet found a connection with increased mortality, hence why they don't get excited about them and don't usually do anything!
It's a bit like the timing not being quite perfect in an engine - it still works, and works OK, especially once it warms up, so it's not really worth tinkering with until it gets really bad and sounds like a box of bolts! Only if the performance is noticeably affected all the time is it worth spending your time and money taking it to the garage to get an engineer to fix it!
Lots of people who have B12 deficiency issues get them/feel them and I think it is to do with the nerves and conduction system not working quite right - but not being bad enough to be a problem. For most people, enough B12 for long enough usually fixes the problem or at least helps lots.
As it happened after a jab it might be that her nerves are working better and so her heart is now responding properly and so she is feeling them more. If you went to hospital with a heart issue they will have checked your potassium levels so it won't be that dropping - which can cause heart rhythm problems.
I also get completely missed beats and have done for decades. These also aren't a problem in themselves so even if she was missing beats altogether this isn't a major issue either - even though it sounds drastic if you aren't used to it. This is another thing that happens in young and very fit people as standard - although I don't fit into either category these days! 😃
Mine now misses up to 30% of its beats and I get ectopics on top of that so at times it does feel like I've got the "box of bolts" going on. Even still the cardiologists aren't worried but I am getting symptoms which affect me to the point of it being worth doing something so I have persuaded them to fit a loop monitor in me on Wednesday which I will have for 3 years so they can keep an eye on things.
I had a couple of ablation operations on my heart 26 years ago and they said then that I would probably need a pacemaker but to do lifestyle changes and come back in 5 years time.
I cut out caffeine, didn't drink alcohol or smoke anyway, kept as fit as possible and I eat a healthy diet so I'm the right weight for my height with a good range of nutrients, and this, along with plenty of B12 for 7 years now, has meant that it was 25 years, rather than just 5, before I needed to ask for any additional help.
Believe me - lifestyle does make a difference and is worth making the effort to keep things good.
I hope this has helped.
Thank you for this thorough response deniseinmilden, it has helped me enormously.
I have been suffering with ectopic beats myself for about 4 years now and they vary in intensity and duration and I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of them. My doctor has said to me that it’s nothing to worry about, but didn’t give your explanation, so thank you.
Thanks for posting your comment, Rowcocks. I second deniseinmilden’s comment about lifestyle making ectopic beats worse. For me, the one thing that makes them noticeably worse is eating chocolate, even just one chunk - they then go off like the clappers, all day long for several days, which is very alarming! If I stop the chocolate they reduce again to their ‘normal’ background level of a ‘missed’ beat once every 30 seconds or a minute. I have already cut out caffeine, alcohol and gluten for many years now. So perhaps Rowcocks, if your wife monitors what she is eating, or when she exercises etc., you might notice something that makes the ectopic beats worse?
I am just starting the process of Pernicious Anaemia investigations, which I’m hoping will lead me to a solution to reduce my ectopic beats. 🤞🏻
Hi Shuck, if you start your own post on the forum, there's a lot of info that forum members can pass on to you.
A couple of links to start you off .....
PAS (Pernicious Anaemia Society)
Based in Wales, UK.
pernicious-anaemia-society....
There is a helpline number that PAS members can ring.
B12 Deficiency Info website
Check your folate level.... I get this when my folate level is low ! A week or two of topping up and the "problem" is usually solved.
I also get it more when I've overdone it physically... my poor body can't keep up with all the things my head wants to do 
so try to get enough good quality sleep.
Potassium esp can become low when getting a B12 'oomph', & folate. I get this fluttery palpitation sometimes when I have not been keeping my potassium intake decent (can be hard) or folate supplement at tine of injection.
Thank you all so much for your insights. We will start monitoring and definitely look at folate levels. She had a full set of bloods done friday too, so hopefully that will flag any other low levels.
Hi,
I hope they test her ferritin and other iron levels.
Iron Studies
labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...
Links below are about hydroxocobalamin
nhs.uk/medicines/hydroxocob...
bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/hydrox...
I left some links on your other thread that might be of interest.
I had ventricular ectopics diagnosed from a 24 hr heart monitor. 4,000 episodes during this time - which was not concerning to the cardiology department of my local hospital, and they were quite happy to pass this onto my GP. She told me they start for no known reason, and can stop in the same way. Once I knew that I stopped being concerned - and they have gone back to being a rare occurrence now. It took a few months to gradually become less frequent or severe. I was offered statins but declined them.My concern was due to both parents having died from heart conditions. deniseinmilden 's advice and explanation as usual is spot on. Good to know not to worry.
Talk to Your Family about B12 Deficiency
15 year old granddaughter 
Neurological symptoms of deficiency
