I was last here in 2008 and I was delighted this morning to find RLR continuing to dispense wisdom to people like me - he was (almost literally!) a life-saver to me back then. Such a generous and altruistic person; we are so lucky that he spends his time doing this. A huge thank-you from me!

And a few words of wisdom, in case they help anyone:

I still have some of the symptoms I had back then, but I have learned to live with them. (I'm a 52-year-old post menopausal female). Having survived this long, I have learned that ambulance paramedics are sometimes wrong. Doctors are sometimes wrong. Even cardiac specialists are sometimes wrong! They can actually make things worse by saying frightening things which can increase patient stress - you'd think they'd know better! I don't believe there is anything remotely wrong with my heart, despite having been "diagnosed" with a "heart condition", "abnormal trace", and even "supraventricular tachicardia, possibly requiring ablation". What I do have is a tendency for my heart to race - ameliorated by controlled breathing - and a tendency to PACs and PVCs. While I don't know exactly why these happen to me, I feel that the hormones of menopause, combined with a stressful time in my life are the things that triggered it. The things that demonstrably make it worse include wine, coffee, chocolate, lack of sleep, and lack of water. There may be more, but they are hard to identify. Stress on its own does not seem to make a difference, and often there is absolutely no apparent cause but there they are again, those pesky ectopics. They like to sneak up on me most when I am at rest.

The reason I came back to the forum is that I'm going through a bad phase of almost continual PACs/PVCs - must be thousands a day - and I just needed a bit of support again. I can no longer sit in bed and read in the evening - that really seems to bring them on. Even sitting now at my computer they are annoying me, but at least these days they are gentle, compared with the enormous thumps I was having back when this all started. They wake me in the night as well, and I sometimes try this exercise (I can't remember where I read about it - somewhere on the web - but I copied the text and I'll paste it below word for word). It often helps enough to let me get back to sleep:

"There is an exercise that I do sitting down that takes about three minutes and suppresses the PVCs for from 30 minutes to several hours. I learned this at a Donna Eden workshop. (I believe she has a website). It basically involves sort of marching your feet while sitting, and twisting your whole upper body, including turning your head, to the side opposite of the raised knee, and striking the raised knee with the opposite elbow, or as close as you can get. Alternate 12 straight marches (1 march=left AND right) with 12 twisting marches, repeat 3 or 4 times. Don't know why this works." - author unknown (anyone want to claim it?).

I've also learned that these heart things come and go. I recognize that while I feel I will always be in this high ectopic phase, it IS a phase, and it will disappear in time. A few months ago I was waking in the night with an almost indescribable buzzing feeling in my upper chest, which made it impossible for me to sleep and made me feel physically ill. I was awake those nights for four or five hours until it subsided. I've no idea what that was, but it too passed. There are always new symptoms to contend with. Right now I'm suffering with an unusual amount of intestinal gas, which may be causing my present "phase" - but again, I have no idea what might be causing the gas as my diet and lifestyle haven't changed. It doesn't seem to be related to eating at all, actually. Any ideas about this gratefully received!

Best wishes and coping strategies to everyone, and a big thank you again to RLR!

- carol