SOB etc...

i cant quite figure this out--when i'm at rest i have an underlying SOB and what i assume are PAC/PAV (a quivering sensation followed by a longish pause) usually I get 2-4 in a row then back to normal rhythm. but when i exercise i feel good (for the most part) i'm in normal rhythm and little or no SOB--so whats happening here? maybe i just need to be in perpetual motion for the rest of my life :)
i have 3rd degree HB and also on meds (propafenone and atenolol)

7 Comments

i meant to say PVC/PAC

by karma - 2008-09-16 05:09:14

.

PVC

by ElectricFrank - 2008-09-17 01:09:42

Sounds a lot like PVC's. They rarely happen during exercise. They are sometime brought on by a large meal or by emotions. They can take on a lot characteristics, such as the quivering you mention, skipped beats, heavy thump, etc.

You didn't mention whether you have a pacemaker or not. If so most of them record the number of PVC events since the last interrogation. Be sure and ask for a copy of the pre and post printouts.

frank

thanks

by karma - 2008-09-17 03:09:59

i have a pacemaker and am paced 100% in the ventricles , can PVC's be corrected with a PM setting or is it something one just has to live with.

Correcting PVC's

by ElectricFrank - 2008-09-17 08:09:55

The pacer can't correct PVC's, but under some conditions it can make them worse. I found that if the pacing voltage on mine is set too high I have more PVC's. The cardiologist insists this can't be true, but my take is that the high pacing voltage is irritating to the heart tissue, which causes increased PVC's.
Otherwise, it helps to know that PVC's aren't an indication of anything serious. Actually, even young healthy athletes have them. There is a lot of information on the internet if you Google cardiac PVC. If you leave cardiac out you will get a bunch of information on PVC pipe.

franl

pvc's

by karma - 2008-09-17 10:09:08

i've been looking up PVC, and reading quite alot about them--kind of interesting really
one article suggested supplements- ie calcium / magnesium. Is this something that might help? As for the voltage what would you consider to be to high and where should i look for it on my print out. Thanks

Voltage

by ElectricFrank - 2008-09-19 01:09:01

On my printout it is shown as Amplitude/Pulse Width and a reading is shown for atruim and ventricular. The ventricular is the important one. Mine is normally in the 2.0V range with a 0.52 ms pulse width. Last Nov I had a virus or something that was causing my heart to skip several beats in a row. It wasn't responding to the pacer as an emergency measure they turned it up to 5.0V and 1.0 ms. This solved the problem, but after about a week the PVC's got real bad like 2500/day. By this time I was over the virus so I insisted on having the Medtronics rep run another test to see what my threshold was. It was back down to around 2.0V again, but he wanted to be safe so he set it to 3.0V and .68ms. After about a week the PVC's were back down to around 300/day, which is normal for me. At the next checkup I insisted we go back to my original settings to increase battery life. All has been fine since then.
So in answer to your question, somewhere between 3-5 V is where it starts affecting me. It will be different though for each individual, and if you need it higher to stay alive....

frank

re: voltage

by karma - 2008-09-19 12:09:24

thanks for the info. my amplitude is currently at 2.5, it was just turned down on my last visit from 3.0 and the pulse width is 0.4 ms which remains unchanged.
also where would it indicate the PVC count on the printout

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