pac's pvc's

Hi everyone,
Can someone tell me about pac's etc.
I often get irregular skipped beats ? (I think), makes me want to take a deep breath. Is this pac's?
Especially when playing sport.
It is 5 weeks since my pm & the Dr was very happy with it.
He was in such a hurry (running 2 hours late) that I forgot to ask about this.
thanks in advanvce,
Lizzie

3 Comments

thanks etc

by Lizzie - 2009-08-05 11:08:04

thanks for the prompt replies.
My PM id set at 70 & top 120. When I was playing croquet yesterday, lots of skipped beats. Pulse around 80. So is it only happening when I am active and therefore I'm pacing naurally & not the Pacemaker.?
I guess so.
I thought the pacemaker would have stopped this as well.
thanks again,
Lizzie

PACs & PVCs

by SMITTY - 2009-08-05 11:08:43

Hi Lizzie,

I've been having a fun(?) time with PAC/PVC and skip beats. The skip beats I can identify but whether the skimpy beat I feel is a PAC or a PVC I don't know. From what I have been told PACs do not cause any symptoms at all. However, some individuals can experience mild palpitations associated with PACs. So what we are feeling may be PACs or PVCs. Below is part of an article from Mayo Clinic on this subject.

"Your heart is made up of four chambers — two upper chambers (atria) and two lower chambers (ventricles). The rhythm of your heart is normally controlled by the sinoatrial node (SA node) — or sinus node — an area of specialized cells located in the right atrium. This natural pacemaker produces the electrical impulses that trigger the normal heartbeat. From the sinus node, electrical impulses travel across the atria to the ventricles causing them to contract and pump blood out to your lungs and body.

Premature ventricular contractions are abnormal contractions that begin in the ventricles. These extra contractions usually beat sooner than the next regular heartbeat. And they often interrupt the normal order of pumping, which is atria first, then ventricles. As a result, the extra, out-of-sync beats are usually less effective in pumping blood throughout the body.

Why do extra beats occur?
The reasons aren't always clear. Certain triggers, heart diseases or changes in the body can make cells in the ventricles electrically unstable. Underlying heart disease or scarring may also cause electrical impulses to be misrouted. Premature ventricular contractions may be associated with:

Chemical changes or imbalances in the body
Certain medications, including common asthma medications
Alcohol or illegal drugs
Increased levels of adrenaline in the body, caused by caffeine, exercise or anxiety
Injury to the heart muscle from coronary artery disease, congenital heart disease, high blood pressure or infections (myocarditis)"
There are times I'll "stack" two or three skips on top of one another and like you I find myself taking a quick deep breath. Also, I am learning that my irregular heart beats are more pronounced when I do anything physical. I been though lots of problems with this for 2 1/5 years and just last week got some relief. If you can, read my posting from yesterday titled Good News and I try to give an explanation, as I understand, on what has gone on and what has changed for me. Some of it may be applicable to what you are feeling.

Good luck

Smitty

possible a-fib

by ShadowWeaver - 2009-08-06 03:08:47

Well, my first thought is that you might be going into a minor a-fib. If you burst in and out quick enough, it makes you feel like crud and you feel a lot of skipped beats while at the same time seemingly having a regular number of beats per minute. When it happens to me, I get a little short of breathe, may get light-headed and will have chest pain. It just happened to me a couple weeks ago.

I know that they say the PAC's don't cause any symptoms so you don't normally feel them, but I can feel them very clearly (maybe because of being in martial arts for so long, not sure why else I would be able to feel it so clearly). To me a PVC feels like a tightening in the chest while a PAC feels like...well...I guess I would say like an empty space in my chest. After awhile, my chest will start to hurt if I have had a lot of them in a short duration of time. They tried at the ER a couple weeks ago to pump my PM up to 80 for the low to see if that would stop the PAC's because they stated that sometimes that will help the heart get ahead of them but it didn't work. Mine are bad enough that I am seeing the doc again tomorrow and he will probably want to do a cardiac ablation on me at this point to try to control them and to get my a-fib under control.

You know you're wired when...

You can feel your fingers and toes again.

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