pvc's
- by geno
- 2011-03-17 11:03:11
- Complications
- 3067 views
- 10 comments
3 weeks into my first pm...when I lay on my left side, I start with the pvc's instantly. When I turn to the right side, they instantly stop... Dr said, (like in a comedy club), stay off your left side. Anyone have anything like this?
10 Comments
pvcs
by kaym - 2011-03-17 11:03:39
I had afib for many years. Sleeping on the left side is a trigger for many people. Your Dr is correct.....stay off your left side!
KayM
PVC's on left side.
by ElectricFrank - 2011-03-18 02:03:34
Here's another possibility. One of the triggers of PVC's is pressure on the Vagus Nerve. This is one reason why they tend to show up on some of us after a heavy meal. A branch of the Vegas nerve is connected to the stomach.
So laying on the left side causes the internal abdominal contents to shift to the left side and can put pressure on the nerve. Actually it can happen on either side depending on your anatomy.
By the way the intensity of the feeling from a PVC depends on its timing. A PVC that happens early after a normal beat leaves more time for the ventricles to fill before the next normal beat. This give that heavy thump that can jolt the bed. A PVC that happens closer to a normal sequence can be hardly noticeable. I've watched this on my ECG.
For me I would rather experience the PVC's than take meds for them since they aren't a risk. I've run as high as 2500/day at times.
frank
PVCs on left side.
by graham1 - 2011-03-18 08:03:03
I put a lot of stock on what Electricfrank writes.I don't know what PVCs are but for three months I felt a a spasming/regular thumpping whenever I:
1. Eat something.
2. Drank something.
3. Lay on my left side.
After three months of this I went for an annual pacing check to be told that my atrial lead had packed up.( I go for "for "lead revision", whatever that means, on 31.3.2011.)
If I have properly understood Frank it appears that an impulse is "shorting out", posssibly through the insulation and returning via body tissue/fluids. This sounds possible although no doctor/ nurse has agreed with this explanation, possibly because it is early stage diagnosis. For sure that spasming stopped the moment my atrial lead was switched off.
Regards Graham
Ruled out one cause
by donr - 2011-03-18 08:03:35
Geno: You have ruled out the simplest explanation - the old left ear on a pillow caper. Now on to the more complex explanations. I would guess that Frank's is next to rule out.
Frank - I would love to be stabilized at 2500 per day - that's about 100 per hour , or about 2 per minute. I was at 20+ per minute when we took rather drastic action. I am on the max dose of Acebutolol & nearly the max of Flecainide. Between them, they knocked me down to 930 in a three month period - but at a devastating cost - like you said. I was hard-pressed to function.I finally convinced my cardio to allow me to back off on 1/4 of the Flecainide I was taking - absolutely no increase in PVC's. Next will be some of the Acebutolol.
Don
BTW - I feel human again, just knocking off the one drug.
pvc
by geno - 2011-03-18 12:03:12
Donr..When I get a pvc, I can tell by the feeling in my chest..very pronounced, and if I check my pulse there is a miss whenever I get that feeling...definately no mistaken symptom. I would know if I got them, without a doubt, no matter what position I am in.
Stay off your left side!!!
by donr - 2011-03-18 12:03:28
Geno: A long time ago, when I just took my first step down the road leading to a PM, I realized that I had something happen when I laid on my left side - it was PVC's, but I didn't know what they were at the time. I thought my heart was "skipping a beat." The PVC beat was just too weak to sense, but the normal beats I could feel.
Yes, they went away when I flipped over to the right side.
Learned later that The situation really didn't change, just my ability to sense the little buggers.
Not being sarcastic - but how do you know that they actually occur in greater numbers when on the left side?
Do you hear them in your left ear? Feel them in your left ribcage? I could both hear & feel them.
I was in the Army at the time & one day was wandering through the health clinic & saw a small card on a bulletin board.It said "What does it mean when you can hear your heartbeat in your left ear?" The answer was "You are lying on your left side w/ your left ear on a pillow." There were several other reasons listed, even more nonsensical. Went home that night & tried it out - sure enough, I could hear my heart beat when I flopped over on my left side & buried my ear in a pillow!
You are the first (of three, all in this post) who have said that they only get them while lying on the left side.
Right now, I am so heavily drugged up that my PVC rate has been dropped from about 33% PVC's down to about 2 per hour, so I cannot perform this test.
Why don't you take your pulse manually while lying on each side & see if it differs significantly?
If, indeed, you are hearing them, I'd like to know how manual pulse taking turns out.
BTW: I can still feel my heart beat when I lie on my left side, even though my PVC's are essentially gone.
Don
Good idea
by ElectricFrank - 2011-03-19 01:03:04
Don- 20/minute is almost constant PVC's. I've had a few times when I had a run of them like that, but not constantly.
Sounds like the right approach now that you have them under control to start backing off on the meds. Maybe you can hit a compromise between the PVC's and the side effects of the meds.
The timing on mine has changed to the point where I don't feel them often. The little wiggly line of the standard ECG or the one that the pacer stores doesn't have the detail to show it, but on my ECG I'm not sure whether they are actually PVC's or possibly the natural conduction breaking through. There are times when I can see the pacer pulse showing up on the tail end of the hearts wave. The pacemaker calls them a PVC, but I'm not sure if they are.
frank
PVCs
by bustheart - 2011-03-20 03:03:58
I had exactly the same thing for the first 6 weeks after having my PM fitted. I told them at my check up and they simply turned down the voltage setting and they stopped from that moment. I know it sounds too simple but that is how it happened,from that moment I could lay on my left without those annoying PVCs.
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by pacerpaul - 2011-03-17 11:03:14
I have the same thing and during an ecg I turned over to show my doc the PVCs. He seemed more interested that I get so many rather than how I can make them happen. So I too would like to know why it happens more out of curiosity than any ting else.