Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rosekay]

    Been putting up with ectopic beats for so many years, finally caught them on implanted monitor and was told they are ventricular/supraventricular ectopics and are harmless.  I stopped my Bisoprolol in April as they didn't make the problem any less.  And the info in the packet actually says they can cause irregular heartbeat!!  Since then I had a long time of no problems.  Tomorrow I am due at hospital to have the monitor read and for the last week or so the ectopics have got worse and worse.  When the beat is regular, it feels like a drum banging away and is so forceful I am aware of it all the time.  It's really getting me down.  Night time is worse.  I really thought the worst was over and I was able to cope with odd skips here and there, but this is just too much and is really spoiling life - I'm aware of it all the time and it's just taking over.  Sorry, just had to let off a bit of steam!
On the plus side, 14 months with no periods!  Yay!

[CLKD]

Make a list to take with you of your concerns.  I've never been aware of my heart beating …….

[jgr]

Hi Rosekay, i have been getting these dam things for a few years now, just off and on at the start. When i started the menopause and went onto hrt (patches) they got worse for a while. They have settled now, but when they come on i can have them for up to 3 weeks and experience up to 10+ a minute.
I have had all the tests, ecg, ecocardiographs and 24 hr monitors and they have all come back normal. I try not to worry about them which is difficult i know, but hope they will go away for good once i am through this phase of my life. x

[Jane44]

I get these mainly when my periods are playing up so sure it's hormonal am sure they are innocent just disconcerting positive thinking that they are going to stop soon good luck

[rosekay]

Thanks guys.  Sometimes it just gets to me and I have to have a little flip-out.... My head knows that I've had tests etc and they see them on the monitor at the hospital and have told me what they are, but when it's bad my feelings take over and my head goes on strike!
It helps to talk! xx

[CLKD]

Physicality can over-role what we have been told! 

[countrybumpkin]

I have had them for over 20 years every single day and at their worst times I was getting every 3rd beat as an ectopic   I totally understand how awful you feel having to put up with them.
Have you totally cut out all caffeine including chocolate and diet drinks with it in? I am incredibly sensitive to it and if I had one coffee a day in two days I would be getting constant ectopics.  They are also worse the slower your heartbeat is so thats why they get you at nighttime when you are relaxing.  A fast heartbeat stops the ectopics.
I have had endless 24hr ecg's that always pick them up, I even get multiple ectopics one after the other.
In a healthy heart they are totally harmless.   I was told they are HH - horrible but harmless and only anxious people feel them
To add to mine when I was going through meno ( now two years post) I also got attacks of paroximal atrial tachycardia and this is way worse than ectopcis. My heart will beat so fast its just a flutter for 10 seconds and I feel very faint but learnt that if I take a deep breath and cough or hold my nose and blow this stops it.  these same techniques can stop ectopics as well.
I have never found out what is the trigger othe than caffeine as I also get them when I am caffeine free

[Trey]

Country bumpkin, I could have written your post.  I'm way post meno but still on estrogen patch and cream and I've had them since I was thirty.  Mine last for weeks at a time and then I'll have good periods. I get visual migraines the same way, though they, thankfully, are infrequent.

[toffeecushion]

Do you also get episodes when your heart beats really fast?

[Trey]

You bet I get fast episodes.  Sometimes, I think it's due to taking thyroid meds.

[toffeecushion]

You bet I get fast episodes.  Sometimes, I think it's due to taking thyroid meds.

How long does it beat fast for?

[Trey]

Sometimes on and off for days.  I take propranolol and bring it down.  It's a bad cycle with anxiety equal fast rate equals anxiety. Sometimes I go for a fast walk and seems to bring it down.  I don't get faint, which would be a concern, but I get a bit light headed.  My ekgs read abnormal, infarct, but my cardiologists, all three, have said totally benign.  I had a  a heart catherization, which was benign.  Mine is estrogen and thyroid related.