I appreciate that, cas. I don’t doubt for a second that it *could* be stress. It’s hotter than hell outside, dealing with finances, chronic back pain that’s been worse lately and lastly worrying about loosing my FFL to our rogue/weaponized ATF have all been issues recently.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Stress / anxiety can certainly do it.

I've written two giant walls of text now telling my story and my presumed "brush with mortality", deleted them both.

Long story short, it can be anxiety or stress that you don't even realize you have.

I was stressed out last November (hadn't been that stressed in 5 years) and started having abnormal heart rhythms and racing at night. Sometimes it was in the evening before bed and sometimes it'd wake me up in the middle of the night.

Saw my PCP, he put me on an EKG, and was visibly nervous about what he saw on the screen. He encouraged me to go see a cardiologist, and come back to see him in a week if I couldn't get in a cardiologist by then. Saw the cardiologist 3 days later, he saw the same rhythm, said he wasn't worried about it, and more importantly said I shouldn't be worried about it either. However, he did change all of the dosages for BP meds, and put me on a monitor for 2 weeks. Ultimately, a small dose of metoprolol nipped it in the bud 29 out of 30 days, and on that odd day I take a 2nd pill.

All of y’all’s responses are appreciated. This afternoon & evening has been more of the same palpitations. Really frustrating, benign or not. I’ve looked up the cardiologist’s number that I saw two years ago. I’ll be calling Monday AM.

"It's hotter than hell outside". I read this and will add It's hotter than hell inside as well. Do you have cramps in the calves or shins?. I've almost doubled my intake of Na, Mg, and K. In July.and a lot more water. LMNT is my choice of electrolytes.

Not trying to scare you, dry-fly, but I had zero...ZERO...symptoms of anything cardiac, not even palpitations, with the exception of elevated BP...doc had me on Metoprolol for that. At the behest of my brother (after years of goading), I FINALLY succumbed to a nuclear/treadmill stress test in early 2019. 39 days later, I was rolling into the OR at 10:02AM for a CABG x3...triple bypass.

Again...no REAL symptoms. Tennis player. Cyclist. Hockey ref. Non-smoker. Drink about as much as you've indicated. Was training for a tennis tournament. Had cycled 150 miles on a Precor cycle the month before the stress test.

You never know...

I hope everything turns out to be a big ol' nothing burger!!!

Thanks again guys… y’all’s input and experiences mean a lot.

No cramps, just the normal pain associated with back issues.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
"It's hotter than hell outside". I read this and will add It's hotter than hell inside as well. Do you have cramps in the calves or shins?. I've almost doubled my intake of Na, Mg, and K. In July.and a lot more water. LMNT is my choice of electrolytes.

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
No cramps, just the normal pain associated with back issues.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
"It's hotter than hell outside". I read this and will add It's hotter than hell inside as well. Do you have cramps in the calves or shins?. I've almost doubled my intake of Na, Mg, and K. In July.and a lot more water. LMNT is my choice of electrolytes.

Do you take lots of ibuprofen for your back?

^^ I do take a fair amount of ibuprofen, not what I’d call “a lot” because I have stronger meds.

Ibuprofen and “stronger meds” would be something worth trying to remove from your diet also

PVCs are fairly common once you get over 30. I've had them for a long time. I've only had one run of them that I'm aware of and it only lasted about 3-5 seconds. A long 3-5 seconds, but.

I notice that mine increase depending on my stress level and diet/weight. My heaviest was around 280lbs at 6'2". They were frequent around then. I started a low carb diet and I'm currently around 242. I go on and off the diet at times and they get much less frequent when on the diet. Could be the weight loss or it could be the change in electrolyte balance.

Long story short, they're common and can be caused by a lot of different things. But as others have I'd recommend following up with a cardiologist and have all your blood work and other notes from your PCP forwarded to him/her.

Legal disclaimer: I am not a doctor and don't pretend to be one.

I had SVT's most of my life . They always went away after a few minutes . A few years back I had one that would not subside . After a couple of hours my wife told me to get in the car and shut up . Went to the ER where they ended up giving me two injections of Adenosine to correct my heart rhythm . That was a wild ride ! A few months later I had the same experience and another trip to the ER . My Cardiologist told me " When you get tired of spending the night in the ER , come see me and I'll fix that for you " . I finally took his advice and he did a Catheter Ablation . It worked like a charm . No more SVT's and the procedure was a piece of cake .

Been dealing with something similar for the past few years. The new cardiologist who I started seeing last summer finally gave me some "answers". After all the tests (nuclear stress test, echo, CT angiogram) she said arteries are clean, no blockages no build up at all in my chest, heart is slightly enlarged likely due to my weight (was 310lbs at the start of the year, down to 260lbs as of this morning), leaky mitral valve and extra heartbeats once in a while. She said it's nothing serious and is most likely genetic.

After talking to my father about this stuff he said my grandmother had similar symptoms so I'm chalking it up to genetics right now and stress and anxiety.

Doc said to come back in a couple of years for a check up.

As other's have advised.. see a cardiologist asap. They will probably suggest wearing a monitor. My condition started the same way. I saw the doctor and wore a monitor. Also went through a nuclear stress test and passed easily. Two weeks later I had a heart attack. The only marker I had was a family history and high LDL cholesterol. No stress, no high blood pressure, not overweight or diabetes. 66 years old. Take our advice and see your cardiologist.

Well, the soonest the cardiologist can see me is the 9th. I’m scheduled for that but also asked to be put on their cancellation list. Hopefully something will pop up sooner. I was lying in bed yesterday and I thought to test the ekg function on my Apple Watch. Sure enough, plain as day…. PVC’s.

OK Glad you contacted the cardiologist. If it gets to be more intense go to the ER. If you have insurance will not be a problem.

Either that or contact your GP. Even though they stated they wanted me to go to the ER and wished me luck, a nurse called me back and scheduled me for the day after I called, stating they would fit me in (I was having “pangs” that settled down after a week or so).

You may want to ask the cardiologist’s office if they can order a monitor like a Zeo Patch to wear even before your visit.
If not, just check your Apple Watch EKG for how often the PVC’s occur—batches of one PVC per three or four normal beats? More than one at a time?
In the meantime your PCP could order electrolytes and magnesium level.
You could stop caffeine.
Do NOT start an exercise program!!!
Wait on that until evaluated by cardiologist.
This as far as we can tell from what you said not an emergency. Runs of PVC’s would change that, as would symptoms such as feeling close to passing out.
Your friendly but retired SigForum cardiologist.

Y’all are awesome. Thanks again. I’ve stopped all caffeine as of last Friday.

I started having heart palpitations in October 2020. Saw a cardiologist that was recommended by my doctor. He gave me an EKG and had me wear a heart monitor for 30 days. Gave me a prescription that sort of helped. Some time later I wore a Zeo patch for 3 days. The palpitations were very uncomfortable and I dealt with them for months. Eventually the cardiologist added another prescription to be taken with the first prescription. I have not felt a palpitation for well over a year, almost two years. The good thing about palpitations is that they are not life threatening.

I take my blood pressure twice a day and record them on a spreadsheet that I give to my cardiologist a couple of times a year. Anxiety can be one cause of palpitations. I was unaware that I was suffering from Anxiety, but I was. I started taking CBD oil once a day and the Anxiety went away. I have no underlying conditions, but that is not to say that you might. If it’s just palpitations (they can be extremely uncomfortable at times) rest easy and listen to the cardiologist.