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Heart Palpitations Forum >> General Discussion >> New here but not new to palpitations
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Message started by Mima19 on Apr 30^th, 2013, 10:11am

Title: New here but not new to palpitations
Post by Mima19 on Apr 30^th, 2013, 10:11am

Hi everybody! I am 45 (just turned) and I have palpitation since I was a teenager. They were very rare back then. than in my 20s I got them maybe few times a month, then in my late 20s-early 30s I was prescribed a beta blocker on a need basis which was not too often. After having my first baby at 32 they worsened and I needed the beta-blocker like a few times a week (Metoprolol 25 mg). With my second baby,at 37 years old, I've had preeclampsia and everything was very serious. My heart went awry and I was hospitalized a couple of times for tachycardia with PVCs. In idle status, my heart was beating as fast as 150-160/minute and they were not able to monitor baby's heart beats. I've had emergency C-section at 35 and 1/2 weeks of pregnancy and the baby was and is just fine. My heart wasn't ever at least like before. Now, any type of small effort throws my heart rate to over 150/minute (sometimes not possible to count the beats), and tons of PVCs, some of them occurring even when my heart rate is under 100/min. I ended up in the ER twice after my second baby was born, once was bad: my heart rate was 200/min. or so, couldn't breath, almost fainted. The EMTs were worried only looking at the heart monitor on our way to the ER. After this episode, my doctor put me on Metoprolol daily, about 75 mg/day. Now I'm at 150 mg/day (50 mg TID) and I still have bad days, with lots of PVCs or tachycardia + PVCs. These usually happen when I am very tired. I don't think it's related to stress since they occur even during night sleep,and they are very strong at that time.

I have had a Holter monitor (or something similar) for a while and the cardiologist could see the PVCs and tachycardia but he couldn't link them to anything. I would've need more investigations I'm sure, but my medical insurance stopped shortly after that. Now I'm going to my University medical center for students, where I am a grad student.

It's not getting any better, as a matter of fact, it's getting worse. My whole life has changed. I cannot do even a half of what I was doing before, when I was a very active person. I avoid doing all kind of activities, knowing that my heart will get so fast even under medication, and PVCs will come in long series that will probably not stop until getting to the ER. When tachycardia is very high, I get very lightheaded and I am not aware of my surroundings for a short while. It happens even when I'm driving but I've learned to slow down and get on a slower lane or even stop.
Now, this problem seems o run in my family: both my father and my brother have this but they are doing just fine with only 25 mg Metoprolol/day as they say. The only thing is they didn't have to carry pregnancies and I think this is what was a trigger for my arrhythmia from a mild one to what I experience today.

Sorry for the too-long posting, but this condition worries me, especially the impossibility to do so many of the activities I was doing before.

Title: Re: New here but not new to palpitations
Post by Mima19 on Apr 30^th, 2013, 1:30pm

I would really appreciate some advice, I'm lost and lately the PVCs are very often, today for example I am having at least 5 every minute.

Thank you in advance.

Title: Re: New here but not new to palpitations
Post by Mima19 on May 2^nd, 2013, 8:28pm

Besides everything already listed above, when the heat comes I barely survive the hot days. I can barely walk and breath, and the PVCs are all over the place, even during night sleep. It's very hot here in Socal and I cannot sleep with the AC on.