ectopic beats

[gordie1]

Hi there I have had a tough nite lots of ectopics four or five every hour I know it does not seem a lot but I am panicing ran nhs24 and they told me to take my betablocker earlier on and I did that but still getting them but I spoke to a doctor and she was not worried. I hate these ectopics they are so awful I had a bottle of juice today containing sucralose and I am sure that set it off. Are ectopics really not that dangerous then why the heck do they feel so bad?

[countrygirl]

I first got ectopics and I mean ectopics like every 3rd heartbeat was a missed one when I was about 25. I am now 51. I have had 7 24 hr ecgs and an echo of heart- even had then monitered for 4 days on a caridac unit and guess what I have alway always been told by cardios that they horrible but harmless. Did you know that only anxious people notice them - typical!

In a structurally normal heart they are totally harmless and cardios calss them as just a normal variation of your hearbeat. Even having multiple ones in a row which feels really horrible is still classed as normal.

There are loads of things you can try like avoiding all caffeine and alcohol, eating bananas for potassium and taking a magnesium supplement. All or none of these might help. The more you worry the worse they will get.

The cause is having a ultrasensitive vagus nerve, this should have been explained to you. the vagus nerve is largest nerve in body and runs from your head down you torso. It crosses the top of you stomach so eating too much or too quick or bending over or leaning forward after eating or gong too long without food or fizzy drinks can all cause ectopics. Stress hormones irritate this nerve as well in anxious people the list is endless.

[gordie1]

thanks country girl I am having an ecg tomorrow

[thetube82]

to answer your questions...................

'Are ectopics really not that dangerous'......... not dangerous at all

and....

'why the heck do they feel so bad?'......... quite simply because you think they are dangerous!!


thetube82

[anaconda]

The vagus nerve is one of a number of possible causes of ectopics - the hearts electrical system can be set off by mental state, food, exercise, anxiety, chemicals, or apparently even nothing at all.

Get your heart checked out (24hr ecg, echo, stress test) and then try to relax.

[saab]

I hope your ecg went ok. Even 4 or 5 an hour for hours at a time is not many - I have had them every 3rd beat or so for hours, though usual pattern is every 9th beat or so for a few hours at a time. Your heart beats 100,000 times a day so even a few hundred a day is not a significant number. Benign ectopics are apparently easily identifiable on an ecg so you can be reassured if they say they are benign.

[Jezza]

They are awful but usually harmless. I am still working on trying to believe that myself. I have had them every 2nd beat for a good few minutes, every 6th beat for 20 mins, 2 in a row, massive ones, etc etc. They are SCARE me very much. That makes it worse. I once was very worried over my teenager being late home and got a big chain of them which made me realise it is probably anxiety behind mine as I am 'on edge' pretty much all the time. I try to ignore mine now but it still ain't easy.

[lindajane1971]

I had a 24hr holter recently and it picked up I had 608 ectopic beats! They terrify me so much, my doctor said 608 was not too high and didn't need treatment (beta blocker) unless they really really bugged me as they are harmless and the tablets would only slow down my heart a bit and they wouldn't stop the ectopics from happening.

[Emma86]

I first got ectopics and I mean ectopics like every 3rd heartbeat was a missed one when I was about 25. I am now 51. I have had 7 24 hr ecgs and an echo of heart- even had then monitered for 4 days on a caridac unit and guess what I have alway always been told by cardios that they horrible but harmless. Did you know that only anxious people notice them - typical!

In a structurally normal heart they are totally harmless and cardios calss them as just a normal variation of your hearbeat. Even having multiple ones in a row which feels really horrible is still classed as normal.

There are loads of things you can try like avoiding all caffeine and alcohol, eating bananas for potassium and taking a magnesium supplement. All or none of these might help. The more you worry the worse they will get.

The cause is having a ultrasensitive vagus nerve, this should have been explained to you. the vagus nerve is largest nerve in body and runs from your head down you torso. It crosses the top of you stomach so eating too much or too quick or bending over or leaning forward after eating or gong too long without food or fizzy drinks can all cause ectopics. Stress hormones irritate this nerve as well in anxious people the list is endless.

Oh wow. This makes so much sense and explains so much. I can sometimes get a major run of horrible palpitations by bending over too quick. I also get a faster heart rate and sometimes ectopics by eating alot quickly. Thank you so much for this! :D

[johnielov]

It's just like my chest pains. My doc said it has something to do with uric acid. It's really painful but she said it's not health threatening or anything.