So I am on my journey in accepting these...  I have been doing relatively well.  I woke up at 5:30 this morning due to my heart skipping beats..  So of course I felt my pulse because it didn't "feel right" and it skipped 12 beats in a ROW with no normal beat in between them.

Okay, so I could deal with 3-4, but 12!!  Isn't this sustained ventricular tachycardia?  Couldn't this be serious?

I am trying to get past these but new symptoms keep occurring!

RLR please shed some light on this for me.  I don't know if you have ever encountered this, or what your thoughts are, but again your help is much appreciated. I am not going to let this get the best of me, but I need to know if its dangerous in any way, or if I need to so something about it.

If anyone else had similar experiences,please share..

Thanks a bunch!

Steff

Thanks RLR..  I really am tryong hard to not worry, I really am.  It's hard some days!  I am getting 15-30 pvc's every minute which is easily which is 1500-1800 per minute every day!  What I meant by 10 pvc's in a row, was 10 pvc's back to back with no normal beat in between them, and with that the regular 15-30 pvc's per minute.  

The pvc's "back to back, ex: skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, THEN beat, beat, and skip, pvc, etc...  That is what scared me....

I am trying to accept these and am trying to take your advice.  It's not that I am trying to ignore the advice you give me. I use your advice every single day!

I am just tired of getting these.  I can go hours in a day where I can ignore the 15-30 a minute that I get all day, because I am getting use to them, but when I get "runs of them back to back with no beat in between," then I get more concerned.

So my question was not that these are dangerous in the regular amount (15-30 a minute, all day everyday), but rather the 10 pvc's I had in a row.....  I hope that makes sense...

Could you shed some light on this?  

Again, thank you for your time and expertise.  It does not go unnoticed at all.  You have helped me in more ways than you know and I hope someday, someday soon I can say, "Hey, I am doing much better and have worried less" but its going to take some work and time on my part.

Thanks again..

Steff  

I know you are right, RLR.  All I was trying to point out is a change in symptoms and the only basis that I have to worry right now is the change in pvc's.  When the pvc's changed in frequency and duration that is when I started to get concerned that changing symptoms meant something was going wrong.  But I understand what are getting at. That the symptoms are not 'new' and will still be benign.  I know the more I worry the more my adrenaline stays increased, and the more symptoms I will get as a result of worrying that something bad will happen.

It's not that I enjoy worrying, I hate it so much!  Sure we all think: "I wish these would just go away" because they are annoying, uncomfortable and frightening.  And being frightened by them is only natural.  I understand that they are benign and does not constitute a life threatening problem, nor does it mean something is changing in my heart.  I realize the only thing changing is my anxiety in regard to them, but that is the tough part for me.  Is not being scared when I get them.  

When I get many, many per minute, it's an awful feeling and I do get distressed over them, even though I know they are benign.  Just feeling them upsets me, because like us all we wish they would "go away."  

I know the root of my problem is the worry about them, hence increasing them.  So I really need to work on that by realizing how they happen (the feedback loop, ie: worry, vagus stimulation, pvc's, worry, etc, etc, etc)...  And I will be honest and say that it will take me awhile to come to terms with these.  It certainly won't happen overnight and noone can give me a magic pill to make these go away, so I just have to learn to relax and understand where they are coming from.

I just visited my Cardiologist today...

She listened to my heart and heard the pvc's.  An EKG was done and of course none showed up in that 2 min's (always happens that way!), but she also said she wanted to repeat the echo.  Which I had done as well today.  I do not have the results from that yet, but do know my ejection fraction was 55%, which I guess is normal.  The Tech said as far as he could see everything looked okay, except for a small leak in my valve.

She said my QT measurement on EKG was 358, which I suppose is good, right?

My Cardio also wanted to order a 48 holter, but I asked her would it change anything to know if I am having way more than usual and she said "not really."  The prognosis would still remain the same, so I opted out of doing the holter.  Simply because if I had an actual NUMBER of those pvc's, then I know I would just worry more. So that as a GOOD starting point for me was so deny more testing, and focus on the root problem.  So I am going to let it be and try and focus on my worry/anxiety instead.  I am on no meds either for them.

The Cardio said they will increase and decrease in frequency.  But that it is good that I be evaluated any time they increase like that.  She wants to see me in 3 months.

At this point, I know what I need to do.  I have the tools within myself, I need to put them to good use.  I will let you know how I am getting alone.

Thank you for your honest advice.  I know you have seen this stuff before and have much experience with it.  I also know that you know your stuff and I have to trust in what you say and the advice you give.

Lastly, I want to say thanks again.   I know I have been a royal PITA!  I am sorry for that.

Steff    

Great input Kevin. In fact RLR told me to reach out for me since you are doing so well now dealing with your health anxiety (I suffer from it too but I learn a lot from this forum)

So thanks a lot, you are very right about the fact that our worries have a tendency to shift. But being here on the forum is great "education".

Okay Stef, realize that I'm not trying to hurry you along before you're ready. That's not the intent of my postings. I simply want you to start going back and reading the postings that you are making and how they relate to my responses. It is important for you to reflect upon how you're integrating the information being provided.

I think it's absolutely wonderful that you elected to forego yet another confirmatory holter. The results will only reveal the same negative results. I think this may well be a turning point for you in that you are beginning to realize that the palpitations are not life-threatening or even harmful. The fact that you can turn away from reassurance like this literally means you are willing to accept more self-reliance and that's a very big step.

Things will improve. I promise. You have to simply set your fears aside and begin working to better understand how they work and more precisely, why they are unable to harm you. Does that make sense? In other words, if you obtain a sound working knowledge of why the palpitations cannot harm you, then it represents a point of self-reliance and security for you to rely upon. I can tell you the facts all day long but until you accept it as fact for yourself, then you'll continue to have problems.

The echocardiogram will turn out just fine. You have a healthy heart and you just need to boost your self-confidence to the extent you can exercise better control over you fears.

You'll be just fine.

Best regards and Good Health

You're going to do well once you start talking about these issues, you know even though you got your MS Diagnosed.. there are probably a lot of things under that category you are worried about and even though you don't feel anxious,  the constant release of adrenaline  because of the fear of the palps will keep you having them more often.  It is hard to get a hold of it,  in our heads when we are so upset..  Take it a step at a time work with your therapist.   As for me  I have a long way to go , but I am going to keep on working on these issues and try to live each day to the fullest one day at a time.   That's all we have anyway  is the right now...  we aren't even guarenteed the next second,  so try to enjoy the right now,  work on the underlying fear with your therapist and I will bet you will feel better..

Take Care
Kevin