r/PVCs

I had a holter monitor last year and then found ~200 in a 24 hour period. These started after I started taking Sertraline for panic attacks.

I kind of accepted it because I understood they were mostly benign, and the sertraline basically fixed my panic attacks and they had a bigger impact on my life.

I had a couple of occasions where I’ve felt my heart so something more than just ectopics- one where I woke up in the night and my heart was pounding, I ended up calling an ambulance because I was home alone and afraid that I would die. After this I had the holter monitor. That was about a year ago.

Last week I was at work and I felt my heart going fast but it was also irregular. This lasted approximately 15 seconds and then returned to normal, I was no longer aware of my heartbeat. I stayed calm but it has thrown me again.

The trouble is that I have health anxiety, and I feel that my GP (NHS/UK) surgery don’t take me seriously, and I don’t trust them. This is somewhat well founded as over the years they have missed me having sleep apnoea (treated with a MAD), coeliac disease and now a basal cell carcinoma.

Are there any devices I can wear to record these events to validate what I am experiencing? hopefully on the upper arm as I work in healthcare and have to be bare below the elbows. Thanks for your help.

Any one on here have PVCs and take Reta? I want to start it but worried it might make them worse? I know it can sometimes cause an increase in heart rate but just wanted to see anyone’s experience in taking this med and also suffers from PVCs.

Been on 12.5 mg metop for about 5 years for benign PVC’s. I seem to get PVC’s only at rest. If I exercise or keep moving they stop. I take the metop at night and lately I wake up to a heart rate 42-49 and PVC’s. As the day goes on the PVC’s dissipate and heart rate returns to my baseline which is now 62-67. I want off this metop. I once asked cardio and she said just stop it but other reports suggest weaning off. How do you wean off 12.5 mg? Break in half? I’ve had multiple zip patches and echos and they tell me heart is fine. Really frustrating but I think the metop is now making PVC’s worse not better. Any thoughts from you smart folks.

Últimamente tengo una sensación de cuando están a punto de venir las extrasistoles, y es una sensación muy molesta, incluso más que las propias extrasistoles, es como sentir una inestabilidad, como que sé que en cualquier momento vendrán.

It’s been months of having 10-40 PACs a day, with a few PVCs, and I feel every single one. I’ve stopped working out and honestly feel afraid to do anything. Even something as simple as moving from my bed to the couch can trigger a flare of PACs every other beat. Yesterday while biking, I had two PACs and had to immediately stop biking. Today, just while lightly cleaning, I’m throwing PACs. And while I was biking the other night, I had two ectopics back to back.

My quality of life has declined significantly. I have no idea what’s causing them, but my cardiologist insists I’m fine. My last stress test was two years ago, and since my recent labs and Holter came back normal, they don’t see a need for further testing. My latest echo was in April 2025 and came back normal, too. I just miss living my life—PACs have taken that from me.

In 2022, I had a 36 hour long episode of PVCs with the Holter recording one 4 beat run of NSVT - cardiologist wasn’t worried at all. In February 2025, I had a 24 hour episode of PACs with roughly 4-6 PACs every 30 seconds. The holter from the 2025 episode: Patient had a min HR of 53 bpm, max HR of 155 bpm, and avg HR of 79 bpm. Predominant underlying rhythm was Sinus Rhythm. Isolated SVEs were rare (<1.0%) Isolated VEs were rare (<1.0%), VE Couplets were rare (<1.0%), and no VE Triplets were present. Patient had 91 symptomatic triggered events, with multiple episodes a day and all of those correlated with sinus rhythm with and without rare isolated PACs/PVCs Overall normal sinus rhythm with rare PACs and PVCs with no clear symptom correlation Overall burden of ectopy is low less than 1%

Cardiologist and EP doesn’t think I need another stress test despite it being two years. My EP and PCP allowed me an EKG this week for peace of mind before I travel internationally, and it was clear, too. But I had a huge PAC while toweling off after the shower last night and now I'm considering canceling my entire trip because I'm afraid I'll have an episode on the plane. I don’t know how to live life like this.

I'm a 27-year-old male. I've been experiencing PVCs along with a resting heart rate(normally 75-85 now 55-65) that is lower than my usual baseline. My heart rate increases appropriately during exercise, but it drops back down very quickly once I stop. I also feel weakness in my arms and legs, occasional dizziness when standing up, and a strong awareness of my heartbeat, especially at rest or when trying to fall asleep. A previous Holter monitor recorded about 231 PVCs out of around 81,000 heartbeats, and I was told there was nothing dangerous, but the symptoms feel much worse than the numbers suggest. Has anyone experienced something similar where the PVC burden was relatively low but the symptoms were very noticeable? Did you ever find an underlying cause or something that helped?

So a month ago I had my first episode of prolonged PVCs. To be fair, I have horrible health anxiety and this year has been pretty difficult. I started having migraines with Aura out of nowhere in January. I have an MRI scheduled July 13th to make sure it’s nothing else.

I ended up with Covid the end of May, this particular time was pretty brutal. While I was getting better, I started having a few heart palpitations while watching TV, they kept increasing and soon I was in an hour long episode and my heart was skipping every other beat. I was not dizzy and did not feel like I was going to pass out, I didn’t go to the ER because I chalked it up to being dehydrated after recovering from Covid. A month passed and I didn’t have any PVCs. After this, my aunt died of cancer 2 weeks later, which added even more stress.

Now it’s July and last Friday, I had another episode. They started out slow and then increased to every other beat for an hour. I had my husband call the EMTs just to do an EKG and make sure I wasn’t in afib or anything else dangerous. The EMTs said it was PVCs and that I could go to the hospital but it didn’t look like I was in eminent danger, and to make an appointment with my doctor. I would like to note, I did get dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out but my anxiety and adrenaline was through the roof.

I did see my doctor and he did some blood work (he didn’t check my potassium or sodium, which I thought was odd) thyroid and iron came back all good. He did an EKG and said my heart rate seemed normal but it did have a pause every now and then but he said that “could be normal” whatever tf that means. He sent me home with anxiety meds and I have a heart monitor on the way. He told me he didn’t think it was anxiety causing my PVCs but I’m not certain.

I’ve been miserable now, not knowing for sure what’s going on with me and it’s feeding the anxiety. I’m terrified something is wrong with my heart and I’m just going to drop dead or my heart rate is going to skyrocket and not come down. I’m waking up at night with my heart racing and the only thing that helps is splashing water on my face and putting an ice pack on my neck. It comes down and then I start getting the adrenaline shakes.

I’m so scared and I’ve had 3 panic attacks, just today. On top of crying randomly because I don’t wanna die.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I just needed to vent. Please share any advice you may have or if you have similar episodes.

Hello, I’m sharing my experience in the hope of finding people who can relate because I feel completely alone in this.

I’ve been experiencing ectopics beats for six years now. They started as a single thump or bang in the chest. Although there were times when they were really uncomfortable and scary and when I would have one almost every minute for several days, they eventually subsided and became less frequent.

But in 2023, I had the first episode of something that terrifies me. I was sitting and felt like my heart suddenly went into a chaotic/quivering/turning on itself rhythm for maybe 5 seconds, but it felt like an eternity. It didn’t feel fast or slow but out of rhythm and I remember thinking "this is it" and then it stopped. Since then, it has happened about 10 times, leaving me shaken each time. I can’t get used to it, can’t ignore it, as it literally makes me jump out of my seat and fear it won’t stop and go back to normal rhythm. I have experienced ectopics beats and what I think is run of them but this feels different.

I’ve been to the cardiologist multiple times, had echos, ECG’s, holters and a nuclear stress test and have been told my heart is fine. I saw my cardiologist again yesterday and will wear a holter again soon but I worry it will never be caught as it happens infrequently. He also recommended that I wear a smartwatch to try to record it.

Has anyone experienced this, had it recorded and figured out what it was? I live in fear of it happening again and it’s exhausting. I’m even scared of going out. Pretty much the only peace I get is when I sleep.

Thank you to anyone who read that.

68 years old. 50+ years of recreational endurance training on bike, rowing, running & Precor AMT. No more running because hip replacement 3 years ago.

Been wearing a Polar H10 chest strap with ECG app designed for Polar H10. PACs (burden ~1-3% w/couplets); PVCs burden <1% but with a few 1 to 8 second runs if NSVT.

Atrial flutter (not afib) ablation 9 years ago.

Zio Patch & Boston Scientific patch over last 9 years similar results.

No documented afib.

SPECT myocardial stress test: 143 bpm (93% predicted max) with PVCs and PACs including couplets.

Echocardiogram: Enlarged left and right atrium (53 "severely" dilated); EF 58% rest & 57% stress. "No significant fixed or reversible defects."

hs-Troponin elevated after workout (38 - 40 -45 - 40 - 35).

EP says CCTA & Cardiac MRI/LGE not necessary. But to give me "piece of mind" regarding fibrosis/scars, he ordered CMR/LGE. No results yet.

EP said I'm cleared to resume long cardiovascular workouts (2+ hours). He said my PREVENT score was 4.1%.

So, I'm still doing the long workouts while wearing a Livenpace ECG monitor which has detected PVCs (burden <1%) including a few runs of 1-8 seconds of NSVT (also on my Zio Patch from 9 years ago); PACs (burden 1-3%) including couplets; SVT (few seconds); no afib, no aflutter.

But, because I know about these arrhythmia, I am experiencing some periodic chest tightness at rest. Trying to determine if it's a result of health anxiety (aka cardiophobia) or something heart related.

EP says: Go for it. No restrictions.

Any thoughts. Any recommendations. Any similar experiences?

Thanks in advance.

​68 and want to keep at it a bit longer. 😀

31m. I've had PVC's and SVT since I was a teen. I've been on metoprolol for about five months and I swear I just felt an episode of SVT get blocked and never start. I felt the sensation in my chest that always starts an episode and braced myself for the racing heart but it never came....

Am I psyching myself out? Did I actually feel an SVT get blocked by my medicine?? What a weird sensation.

My wife has had PVCs since March, 9% burden. Had an ablation at the end of may. Unfortunately they couldn't get the spot they needed to because it was too close to the main artery and the doctor said we could try again at a different time but they would need another cardiac doctor in the room in case the artery slams shut because of the heat.... so he got as close as he could. Says he has performed over 3,300 procedures.

People talk about their pvcs on here and they talk about how bad they are, and they get a dozen an hour and it's so terrible. 12 in an hour?, that would be AMAZING!! She'll go for days and won't have any (confirmed with an ECG apple watch) and some days, like today, they are every other beat, for hours (sometimes 6 hours), and she feels like she is going to die because her heart literally hurts so bad. She will cry in pain for hours. She's cut out all caffeine, never a nicotine user, exercises moderately (which doesn't seem to trigger anything), and eats good (in shape). We have no idea what the triggers are, but that seems pretty normal with PVC.

She's tried all sorts of meds. The doctor says they are just for symptom control and won't actually fix the PVC. They all make her groggy, and moody, and the quality of life on all of the meds suck. The only one she hasn't tried is Flecainide, but the side effects seem so bad (which include accidentally overdose/death) and still carries risk of mood issues which makes every day unbearable. Her body is very temperamental to meds regarding mood due to hashimotos, so we try our best avoid meds with those side effects because the outcome is usually not better than the problem we're trying to solve.

I don't know what I'm looking for here but if anyone has any tips/tricks, that would be great. Not sure if we'll every try the "risky" ablation since the risk is artery closure (essentially a heart attack) and I'm not sure either of us are ready to risk death over this. She does use ice packs on her chest when she's having a real bad episode that seems to help a tad.

I already posted in here today, but my palpitations have been getting worse and I think they’re PVCs.

I went to the hospital today due to my nerves and I am still here now. They’re sending me home with a holter monitor because they want to make sure my PVCs are actually PVCs and nothing else AND learn their frequency.

I have severe health anxiety and just knowing that thing is going to be on me is freaking me out.

Anyway, do you guys have tips or things you wish you knew before getting the monitor on?

Thanks! 😔

They come like every 3 seconds flutter and a big thumping… so hard.. started very bad yesterday after alcohol

I just went to the cardiologist on the 19th & had testing for my first appt. It just came back & said
Abnormal
Sinus rhythm
Cannot exclude Inferior infarct, old
Abnormal lateral Q waves
When compared with ECG of 19-Feb-2022 19:25:49,
Significant rate decrease

Abnormal q waves happen after a heart attack & they weren’t abnormal in 2022. That PLUS cannot exclude inferior infarct both point to having had a prior heart attack is that right?

It was just read 2 days ago & my docs are closed. It says my docs have not seen the test yet

I've been taking propranolol (Inderal) daily for 13 years because of frequent PVCs and occasional heart fluttering. I've had every test my doctors recommended, including echocardiograms, exercise ECGs, Holter monitors, and other ECGs. The only thing they've found is supraventricular extrasystoles.

When I first started taking propranolol, I was afraid of beta blockers and would only take a tiny piece of a 10 mg tablet. These days I take 10–15 mg per day (5 mg in the morning and 10 mg in the evening).

I exercise daily and eat a normal, healthy diet based on the plate model, but over the past few years I've gradually gained weight and can't seem to lose it. I'm also hungry almost all the time no matter what.

None of my doctors have suggested that propranolol could be the cause, but I'm starting to wonder. I know my dose is quite low, so I'm curious if it's even possible that such a small daily dose of propranolol could be contributing to my weight gain, or if it's more likely that something else is causing it.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

If low ferritin has caused or worsened your arrhytmias (especially PVC's), how low has it been for you?

I'm eating supplements everyday, my ferritin has increased from 29 to 40 but the arrhytmias are still coming every time I exercise

I had an ablation attempt back in 2024 for pvcs and svt. three hours of mapping and they couldn’t induce the right kind of pvcs or the svt so called it quits. recovery still sucked and I got right bundle branch block for about 6 weeks after.

now I’m on the list for a second attempt this august and I’m nervous. I don’t know whether to go through with it? my PVCs suck, svt sucks yes. but I don’t know if it’s worth risking another heart surgery with all the risks involved? And just as much chance they won’t catch it as mine are mostly positional and lying flat doesn’t trigger anything for me.

has anyone gone on to have a second one? Did it work after the first didn’t?

Hi all! I had a major anxiety/panic episode back in April. I doubled my Lexapro from 10 to 20mg and I’ve finally started to feel like myself again after an almost 2-month long spree of daily panic attacks. I was in the hospital, in an intensive outpatient care therapy program, all of the above - because I was suddenly so worried about my health.

I finally feel like I’m getting my sparkle back, but for some reason, the PVCs/palpitations that I used to feel once every week or month are happening much more frequently. They are most common after I drink, but now Im on day 5 where I’ve experienced at least some every day.

The worst of it has been experiencing them all day, at least one every 20 minutes.

I got an ECG done, got bloodwork done, they only thing they said they noticed on the ECG was a *maybe* a partial right bundle branch block that they don’t even think is real. Which can’t cause PVCs anyways.

Either way, has anyone experienced this before? I’m trying so so so hard to stay calm and not fall back into my daily panic attacks based on my health, but this is just so scary to me.

37F, had PVCs forever, and I usually only feel a few per day. Which makes me sound like one of the lucky ones, but every few months I’ll have one of these episodes that completely derail me and my confidence in my poor body.

It all starts with a PVC every few minutes or so, then a gradual increase in frequency until I can feel one every twenty or so heartbeats. Sometimes it will stop there, which is uncomfortable enough, but other times it will get as bad as a PVC every few beats. And nothing so easily identifiable as bigeminy, but rather complete mayhem: long pauses, short pauses, hard thumps, flutters… Last night, I woke in the wee hours to find myself in the middle of an episode. I contemplated going to the ER, but in the end, I succumbed to sheer exhaustion and fell back asleep. Somehow, I’m still here to wonder… Do anyone else’s ectopics follow a similar pattern? Is my heart going to stop? At what point should I consider the ER?

Most of all … can I ever live a normal life, never knowing when my body is going to let me down?