Bad multiple PVCs/ectopic beats

[blondinou]

I was just lying on the sofa and had a nasty load of palpitations - one run was about 30 seconds' worth of ectopic beats with only a couple of normal beats in between each one... Then I had a horrible long few seconds of fluttering where my heart was not beating normally at all for what seemed like ages, which was scary... Then a minute or so later I had another run of several ectopic beats mixed in with normal beats.

Can you really get PVCs/ectopics this bad and is it normal/not dangerous?! I feel like I might spend the whole evening waiting like a hawk for more fluttery ectopic feelings, and I'm scared of going to bed later because I don't want to experience them when I lie down again...

[pacer]

When you go to bed lie on your right side.
I've had as many as you in the past, some days are bad and others i don't get any.

[blondinou]

It's the fluttering that has really scared me - I'm quite used to normal ectopic beats where you get a pause then a thud, but what if the fluttering is ventricular tachycardia (VT)?! I know I'm probably worrying myself into this but I am feeling scared now... Please it would be really good to know if anyone else has had this and been told it's perfectly fine

---------- Post added at 19:40 ---------- Previous post was at 19:38 ----------

Thank you pacer, have you had fluttering feelings as well? My pulse was doing the same thing as I felt in my chest - rapid fluttering. Yeah I think it was to do with the way I was lying, I was kind of a bit crunched up. Thanks

[countrygirl]

YOu are not alone in experiencing the prolonged flutters and multiple ectopics there are quite a few of us on here who get the same. I have had single ectopics like you for over 20 years and at their worst were occuring every 3rd beat for weeks on end. I would also like you get occasional flutter lasting a few seconds as well BUT a year ago I got exactly what you have described that my heart felt as if it was fluttering wildly and I get a weird feeling in my head like when you hold your breath ( great pressure) and I thought i was going to keel over. It lasted about 10 seconds with me and I ended up in A&E but by then all was fine. I have had loads of 24 hr ecgs over the years and echo of heart as well and always told ectopics are harmless just horrible.

I have another 24 hr ecg which said I have runs of multiple ectopics which would make me feel as if I was going to faint but they are still hamrless. I saw a cardio who was not concerned unless I actually did pass out!

I still get these attacks of sudden mad flutters ( If I take my pulse at same time it is fluttering erratically) I find that taking a deep breath and coughing hard usually stops them but I hate the pressure in head feeling with them.

Once thing for certain neither of us has VT as this is an arrythmia that you don't survive, its what kills heart attack patients and why they defib people with it.

I worry that its atrial flutter but unless it was caught on ecg no one knows. My cardio thought it was runs of ectopics but whatever it is I agree it is seriously scary, my first one was in a cafe and very nerve racking out in public. I have times where I get it two or three times a week but can go months only with normal single ectopics.

Message me if you want to chat more.

[blondinou]

Ah thank you for your reply, yeah cardiologists never seem too bothered about all these haha, like you said it seems only bothered if you actually passed out!! They are very erratic I can go days without normal ectopics then have several over a couple of hours. I have had 24 hour tape and been to A&E before as well, and had an echo, all normal.

You know when you get a completely new symptom or sensation and it throws you off balance and you think goodness what on earth could this be?! I'm not scared of normal ectopics any more but anxiety always has new and unfamiliar challenges to throw at us :-)

[JazPBS]

I get pvcs/ectopic beats from time to time, but yesterday I got a really bad run like you described which seemed to straighten itself out when I coughed, but when I checked my pulse it was pounding far too fast, maybe over 150bpm, which terrified me. I'm so scared that it was v-tach. I'm pretty much just waiting for it to happen again and I'm terrified that it will kill me if it does. I'm seeing my dr tomorrow anyway so I will mention it then but I know he'll just dismiss it anyway!

[Itsallinmyhead416]

I get these all the time and it does scare the crap out of me...I've actually been having these for the past couple of weeks now and if it wasn't for my wife reassuring me that I'm fine I probably would have gone to the doctor again. Deep down inside I know that this is my anxiety talking but sometimes it's hard to believe it. I've never had a 24 hr test done but I've done everything else. I'm 25 yo and I'm just hoping that I won't be feeling this my whole life. Life was so much simpler as a kid, no worries about anything! Lol