medication for pac/pvc's

[kfay]

How many of you take a beta blocker or some other med for pac/pvc's? Do you find them effective? After my visit yesterday with my cardio, I woke up this morning with so many pac's I thought I would go crazy. For 3 hours, I was having them with every other beat. When I left my cardio yesterday, we left it that if I wanted to try a beta blocker for them I could. I just really haven't wanted to go that route.

I also just heard back from my cardio at the Mayo and she said I may get relief from a beta blocker and she was ok with me taking them. She also said that lasiks was ok for the short term for my edema but that if it continued, they want to see me there. for further evaluation.

Kim

 

[Duff Man]

Yeah, tons of people take beta blockers for PVC's and other arrhythmias.

 

[Eva]

The third day after my surgery my pulse went up to 106 and I had a couple of short palpitations. My surgeon started me twice a day on 25 mg Coreg (Beta blocker) to lower my pulse and it did go down to 88. Cardio asked me to decrease it slowly and I am now (5 weeks post surgery) taking 1/4 of the pill twice a day. My pulse remains in 80s but no palpitations.
In my humble opinion, if beta blocker will help you, I would say take it. If worried, ask the doctor for how long you have to take it, just for your peace of mind. I hate taking many medicines, but I hate more not feeling well. Good luck.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

One cardiologist told me that 100 mg of Toprol (Beta Blocker) was the "Minimum Theraputic Dose".

My current Cardiologist is a Big Believer in the "Minimum Dose necessary to provide relief / control" theory.

For people who have difficulty / issues (typically lethargy) from Beta Blockers, he recommends cutting the dose in half for 2 weeks to see how it works and if the side effects subside. If all OK, then cut it in half again. (Continue until the symptoms return and go back to the next higher dose).

 

[Bina]

I am a small framed person and very sensitive to meds....I take a total of 50 mg of Metoprolol each day to try and keep the ahrrythmias within my level of tolerance. Post op I took 75 mg per day.
Yes, my dream is to be pill free, but I've become thankful that I can help my heart behave with a relatively safe med.

 

[Dina]

I was also on metoprolol 25mg bid, it was given to prevent arrhythmia.
I have been off it for awhile now. I know that it is helpful for some but
not for others.You could try it out to see if you are one that it helps.
I like what your cardio said about the lasix being ok only for the short
term. Too many doctors want to give you meds without finding out
what the cause is,I'm glad yours is not one of these.

My best-Dina

 

[abbanabba]

It seems like several of us members here have recently suffered excessively with these issues..... I was having several thousand every day, as captured with a holter monitor.

Ugh.... am right there with you. My last holter ('06) showed I was getting almost 4,500 a day, but they weren't considered enough to be a problem (it works out to be about 3% of total beats a day). Still - when you're the one living with them, it certainly FEELS like a problem I'm getting them pretty much all the time at the moment, so I don't think things have improved since '06.

Unfortuantely because my general HR and BP are pretty low they won't put me on BBs, so I've just got to put up with it I've been taking magnesium supplements, but I don't know that it's making much of a difference - aside from helping with my achy legs.

I'm just hoping things will settle down after the PVR.


A : )

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Ugh.... am right there with you. My last holter ('06) showed I was getting almost 4,500 a day, but they weren't considered enough to be a problem (it works out to be about 3% of total beats a day). Still - when you're the one living with them, it certainly FEELS like a problem I'm getting them pretty much all the time at the moment, so I don't think things have improved since '06.

Unfortuantely because my general HR and BP are pretty low they won't put me on BBs, so I've just got to put up with it I've been taking magnesium supplements, but I don't know that it's making much of a difference - aside from helping with my achy legs.

I'm just hoping things will settle down after the PVR.


A : )

Have you taken measures to reduce your TRIGGERS?

Some of the Main Triggers are CAFFEINE (including CHOCOLATE, Coffee, Tea, Cola Drinks, some other drinks, etc.) and STRESS. I've forgotten the others.

 

[abbanabba]

Have you taken measures to reduce your TRIGGERS?

Some of the Main Triggers are CAFFEINE (including CHOCOLATE, Coffee, Tea, Cola Drinks, some other drinks, etc.) and STRESS. I've forgotten the others.

Hey Al.... yep, looked at all of these. I don't drink tea or cofee or softdrink, my stress levels have probably never been lower (and I'm not really one that stresses much over stuff anyway), OK, I indulge in a LITTLE bit of chocolate occassionaly, but not enough to be causing the numbers I'm getting (and seriously - there's got to be SOME pleasures in life ).

Othewise I eat very healthily (and not too close to bed time) and until a couple of months ago I was getting as much exercise as I could manage. Sadly though I'm struggling with even the smallest amounts at the moment, so I've had to give up my daily walks. I'm not a smoker, I only very occassionaly have alchohol, so I don't know that there's much else I can be doing.

It's just frustrating that there doesn't seem to be much they can do for them - although they're pretty common in people with my surgical history since RBBB is a common side-effect. As long as they don't start turning into sustained V-Tach I guess they won't kill me (or at least that's what they keep telling me!).

A : )

 

[abbanabba]

If it is bothering you that much, the better option is probably a beta blocker. The cardiologist would likely start out on a relatively low dosage to see how you react. I would at least give it a try. Seeing how you have these frequently, have you had a holter monitor? PVC/PAC's can be dangerous if they occur multiple times before going back to a normal beat. Example: PVC, PVC, PVC beat If they don't, they are pretty much harmless just annoying.

if u try it, report any symptoms of tiredness, dizziness, etc. that came often come with beta blockers as they affect BP.

I asked them about beta blockers a couple of years ago and they wouldn't give them to me because my HR sits around 58bpm and my BP 105/60ish (often lower). They said it would probably just lower things even more which would then create its own set of problems

I've also had a number of 24hr Holters - the last one (2006) reported half of the 4,300+ PVC's were either bigeminy (1,500+) or trigeminy (500+) events, and there were 5 runs of v-tach to a 4 beat duration, 113 couplets and 19 triplets. Only 68 PACs though... although only half of those were single beats.

I asked my cardio about running another Holter at my last appointment (Sept), since I feel they've increased and I'm certainly feeling them much more, but since they're supposed be be doing the PVR next month, he didn't think it was necessary. He was happy to do it if I insisted, but I figured if the surgery was being done and it would resolve them (as is often the case), I would leave it.

Unfortunately though, I can't seem to get a date from my surgeon, so I'm wondering if I should order the Holter to see if things really are going as pear-shaped as they feel to help move things along. It's just frustrating feeling so awful all of the time and feeling like nothing is progressing

 

[abbanabba]

I should be hearing back from the surgeon's office in the next 24 hours - hopefully with a date... but if it doesn't look like happening next month, then I'll definitely order the holter.


(and Kim... sorry for hijacking your thread!! )


A : )