Ectopic heart beats?

Question

Does anyone else experience this? For anyone who doesn't know - it's when your heart appears to miss a beat and you get an extra hard one. I hate it.

Answer 1

Geeeez, I feel for you. If you read my prior questions you will know what I mean! I had an EMT tell me at my home that I had the highest heart rate in my town and lived. Of course that was after they gave me adenosine (?) twice. I was in the 250's plus. I had the cardiac ablation 4 years ago. Since then my heart feels like this analogy, like a balloon that has been inflated too much and can re-inflate too quickly when I get any anxiety at all. I have erratic heart rythmns a lot. The EMT said, I was great to catch a high heart rate while it is happening, by the time most people get to the hospital they have normalized. He also said most people have anxiety in the ER or Dr's office and it is difficult to know what the problem is. I hope you get a halter monitor or something. I was told I will have skipped beats and palpitations for the rest of my life. Good luck to you. Diana

Answer 2

What are ectopic beats? Extra heartbeats, called 'ectopic beats', are very common. They may be come either from the atria, the upper chambers of the heart, or the ventricle, the lower chambers. Ectopic beats are not in themselves dangerous and do not damage the heart.

Answer 3

I didn't know it was called ectopic, but I get it, and so does my dad. I have had cardiac ultrasound and worn a halter monitor to evaluate if anything was bad, but it's just something that happens. My dad, who is 77 now always called his an irregular irregularity. Years ago, I was studying to work in a hospital and learning how to take a pulse, my dad let me practice on him, without telling me about his irregularity. It was weird counting the beats and all of a sudden a skip.

Answer 4

I went to see my Doctor about 1 year ago now for normal year to year checkup.

My Doctor checked my pulse and said it was very slow and she said it was good sign as it shows your fit , But she said she wanted to do ECG Scan on me .

Anyway i did the scan and she said it didnt look right so sent it to my local hospital .

about 3months later i had to go for check up at Yeovil hospital for ECG Scan again . and also had scan of my Heart .

Anyway go in to this Room and Doctor says , Its hard to explain what you have but its not good , He said my heart could just stop ect. He said i want to do some more Test. so i come back 4 weeks later and do Fitness test and get hooked up to heart Machine .

Anyway after this the Doctor goes ! Your all good , he said my Heart is 98 % the same as anyone else my Age , So it was all abit wieard for me . I have to go back in Dec for Yearly check up now but the Doctor said im ok .

But i dont really notice any side effects as i have always ran around and gone to the Gym ect , so its all wierd.

I think alot people have jump in the heart beat Eg Stress / Drink / Not eating right ect , can be lots of things i think

Answer 5

I have recently had an operation to correct a very irregular heartbeat ,which has proved very successful.
An occasional missed beat is very common and nothing to worry about.
Should your symptoms get worse and you are worried about them , a visit to your doctor will soon put your mind at rest.

Arthur.

Answer 6

yeah, they vary for me from 15+ minute when theyre at their worst to only a few per day. first time i got them they scared the crap out of me, thought i was having a heart attack. dont scare me anymore but theyre very annoying especially when im trying to sleep. cant figure out what causes them either, doc said anxiety but anxiety doesnt seem to correlate with them at all. regular excercise (swimming/jogging) seems to reduce them for me

the heart forum at http://www.medhelp.org has a lot of other PVC suffers that have all kind of tips and tricks to reducing them, some good some bad but most likely youll be stuck with them for life so get used to them and dont let them scare you too much, they only affect as much as you let them.

Answer 7

Yes it can be very frightening, especially when it goes on for any length of time, i find sipping a glass of water helps, as it is a vicious circle, the more you panic the more it happens... i sympathise with you, if you want moral support just e.mail me.

Answer 8

I used to but a change of medication stopped it.
The below site gives a lot of info.

Answer 9

i have this all the time, it is uncomfortable, i was told by doctor that it could be down to caffeine i am waiting for ecg, i cut out caffeine and alcohol, but still get them, i would like to know the cause. and yeah i hate it to.

Answer 10

you have to throw more than 6 a minute to be considered symptomatic, but it is a worry to feel them.