Hello All, & Especially to the Doctor,

I am a 63 y.o. male. While I have various issues now - from general anxiety disorder (under control now 99% of the time, using cognitive therapy and self help tools after getting good professional help) to fibromyalgia, idiopathic thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), a little arthritis, occasional IBS, and other minor things. Not great health, but it could be worse

I've had PVC's off and on since age 19 when I first started having some anxiety issues. I also started having back muscle problems and when my back is very tight or fatigued I got/get strong twitches in the muscles. Like one gets sometimes in their eyelid, only much stronger. I found sometimes I would get a PVC at the same time I got a strong back muscle fasciculation/twitch! Odd, huh? I talked to doctors who said it was baloney, and a few who did not dismiss it as possible.

After all these years, I found some docs who actually hooked me up to a "rhythm strip"/EKG, and pressed on my sensitive back muscles. When I got a strong twitch, they could see a PVC on the strip! So, it was not all "in my head." This has continued to this date off and on. I am interested that people and the doctor mention the part the vagus nerve plays with the heart and many other things! I mention this because it runs up the middle of your body from very low to high across your intestines and stomach area to the neck. A very long nerve! People often say they get more PVC's or the start of them after a heavy meal or eating too much or during times of indigestion. Me too!   My own feeling (and the doctor or others can chime in if they wish) is that the pressure of the food and irritability of the nerves in the stomach and close to the vagus nerve set things off sometimes. Pressure against the nerve perhaps. Pregnant women often get PVC's quite often, and I have had two doctors tell me it was due to the weight on the stomach area and I suppose then, the vagus nerve, and hormonal changes. Makes sense to me.

So today I had my annual physical exam. Just by coincidence for once I had a few PVC's while at the doctors. He did an EKG - normal. I told him I was getting a few where I felt not the "paused beat" then the stronger beat, but a regular beat, then a quick beat almost upon the next normal beat. He said it is like bigemeny or two PVC's in a row...nothing much different and nothing to worry about. Just different from what am used to most of the time.

I have learned at least one important thing over 45 years of having these "events." The more I worry or focus on them, the longer it takes for them to go away usually. Worry = anxiety and anxiety by itself can cause unifocal, BENIGN PVC's!    So, Googling about heart issues or doing anything but focusing on something other than the PVC's is best. If anxiety is an issue, as it has been with me, learning to gain "mind over matter" and RELAX the mind (and nerve impulses) is very helpful. It's easy to obsess about PVC's. We know if our heart stops we die!   But we also know from reading here and other places where there are experts, that PVC's and PAB's are normal in everyone! The lucky people do not feel them. If one's heart is healthy and has been tested to be so, they cannot kill or harm us, unless we allow them to make us nervous and anxious. I'm not saying it is easy to hear a doctor tell you "It's normal, don't worry!"  What I am saying is that until/unless we come to a place where we can say to ourselves, "OK, I am having a few or several PVC's, and I've had them for years and they have never killed me or hurt me," then we will allow them to control our lives (fear and anxiety) and what we do or do not do.

I read many posts here that are what I used to think 30-40 years ago before I finally quit rushing to the ER or calling the EMS or going from doctor to doctor (to doctor). My time and money was much better off spent with counseling to learn how to be less anxious, and in practicing techniques to relax when I got PVC's or when I was anxious. I also have not had any "stimulants" in 30 years, and I am sure that helps.

I hope all of you can accept and go with solid medical knowledge here and other places, and learn to ignore or distract yourself when you start getting these sometimes uncomfortable, but not dangerous with a healthy heart, symptoms. It takes time and self control and outside help sometimes. Consider this: If one cardiologist or doctor you trust tests you you are fine and you will not die or be harmed from PVC's, you could ignore them. But when 3-4-5+ of them tell you the same thing and you read it here, maybe it is time to stop and take their advice, and learn to live with these sensations, versus trying to prove somehow that they are deadly or dangerous. We are all made a bit differently. But all of us have the same basic physiology when it comes to our hearts and how they work!   

I will continue to come here off and on to read and share anything I can to help others. I am thankful we have a doctor who also has many, many years of experience in this, who is willing to give his time to calm people's fears and to help in any way he can. Life and the world are tough enough these days. None of us needs to make it tougher by adding unnecessary fears into our lives about our health. do we?  

Peace and health to all,

circawdm

To skipabeat....happens to me very frequently.

I don't have it the way you do, but my palps are certainly most often connected to eating and drinking.
RLR has many times expained how "GI-events" can influence on the heart via the by now so famous vagus nerve

The problem many of us here have, is that doctors quite easily can test our hearts and see wether something's wrong or not.
If not (thanks God ...) the doctors are not so sure and specific:
It MIGHT be due to GI-events, it MIGHT be caused by anxiety, but I don't think there exists any way to measure this.
So if the heart's fine, I guess the only way forward is using a bit trial-and-error technique to see if you can reduce palps (the way you eat - how you can relaxe and get out of anxiety) - and also - maybe most important - realize that you to a certain extend have to live with them.

This were I am now.

Enjoy the day!