PVC's/Irregular Rhythm

I have a question that I hope someone can relate to or answer for me. I was having a problem with my rate response. During exercise, yard work, basically anything that you would expect a chage in HR mine was pretty much at 95 for most everything tops. At times I might get my rate up to just over 100. My EP adjusted my rate response a bit. Ever since that I have had a lot and I mean a lot of what felt to me like Afib but I have it document and the EP said it is simply APC's and PVC's. The rhythm is always the same - either 1 pvc then a regular beat or 2 pvc's then a regular beat. I have this every day. Starts first thing in the morning and is an off and on thing throughout the day. Oddly enough I do not have this rhythm during excercise - biking or brisk walking. 

I find it odd that I never had the very pronounced beats like this (and I have had a lot of strange rhythm issues) before the rate response change. 

So my question is could the adjustment she made have caused all this? Has anyone else had this happen? This has destroyed my quality of life. I feel awful when in this rhythm - it has led to anxiety and just overall depressed to a certain extent. My doctor tells me it's caused from anxiety. No way. I think I am going to ask my doctor to shut the PM off except pace out of the ventricle so my rate doesn't drop so low and I don't have the pauses. I can hardly stand this any longer.  Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. 

3 Comments

probably not

by Tracey_E - 2018-07-20 14:44:39

PAC and PVC are extra little half beats the heart does on its own. If you think the rate response is causing it, it's easy enough to have it turned off. 

?????

by IAN MC - 2018-07-20 15:27:43

If you're not having the problem when you exercise I don't see how RR could be causing it     As you know RR only kicks in when you exercise and need extra heart beats

As a starting point I would ask for the settings to be returned to the way they were before your EP adjusted them and see how you feel.  It is possible that it is set to respond to a MINIMAL  level of exercise so you could persuade your EP to experiment with the sensitivity settings.

But your development of PVCs may be a co-incidence and may not be related at all to RR.

As you know PVCs can often be exercise-induced but this doesn't seem to be the case with you.

Hope you solve it

Ian

I've had PVCs--lots of them

by Gotrhythm - 2018-07-20 17:27:43

I'm not a doctor, just a person with lots of experience with PVCs and PACs. This is all just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

While it's true that the pacemaker doesn't cause PVCs, some hearts are more sensitive to being paced. If your heart tends to do funkiy rhythms anyway, in my experience, it can react in unpredictable ways to pacemaker adjustments. I've had adjustments after which PVCs were more frequent, and adjustments after which they occured less often. 

PVCs every other beat is called bigeminy. PVCs are condsidered "normal" heartbeats, but they  happen before the ventricles have had time to fill completely, which makes them inefficient. A PVC or two every now and then isn't going to hurt anything, but a long period of a PVC every other beat is the functional equivalent to having your heartrate cut by a third to a half.

Can it be any wonder that you've lost your zest for life, and don't feel very cheerful?

Why the PVCs seem to go away when you exercise, I can't guess. I do know that since my latest adjustment when the EP made my RR more sensitive, bigeminy episodes seem to have gone away. Who knows why? But it seem to me, if bigeminy could become less frequent for one person, it could conceivably become more frequent for someone else.

What to do? It's worth a try to put your settings back to what they were before this latest adjustment.

Anxiety will make PVCs worse--no doubt about it. But in my experience "your problem is anxiety" is doctor-speak for " I've tried everything I know and I don't know what else to do."

It's your life that's on the line. If your doctor doesn't know what to do, can't or won't help you, go to someone else.

Finding treament for a heart that doesn't react in ordinary ways to being paced can be a challenge. You must advocate for yourself. Even if you have to travel, go to a major teaching hospital where they have more experience with unusual problems.

You know you're wired when...

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