daily ectopics

[ectopicsufferer]

Hi

Just a quickie here, can anyone let me know if they get ectopic heartbeats episodic flutters etc every day????

I used to get them from day to day and sometimes i could go 2 weeks without any, now i get them every day - not all day long but enough for me to be thinking this just cannot be normal.

Ended up in hospital 2 weeks ago cos of this, they tested my enzymes, did an ecg and did a blood test and everything is fine, ecg is same as it was 2 years ago - need to change lifestyle etc which i am trying to do.

I take 40 mg of citalopram daily i cant have beta blockers cos i have asthma - im just finding it so hard to cope with them and need some reassurance.

Thanks

[countrygirl]

I have had ectopics every single day for past 20 odd years. On good days I will only notice them 2-3 times a day but if I go through a bad spell then I get one at least every 5-7 beats and this can go on for up to two weeks at a time. About 12 yrs ago I had years where I was bad all the time and even got monitered in hospital in a heart unit for 4 days and they said they were harmless just horrible.

I have just seen a cardiologist because my ectopics have changed and he said that ectopics are classed as a normal variation in heartbeat and cardiologist only treat people because alot of people find them not nice and they worry so they treat the symptom but not for your hearts benefit just you.

I have never ever found a common trigger for mine - I can avoid all caffeine chocolate and I never drink alcohol anyway and they can be terrible. I once was told that a potassium level of 4 or less can trigger them in some people and mine was less than 4 at time so i started to eat bananas but again I have had potassium level of 5 and had them badly???

I do seem to get them when I have a full stomach and they seem to be affected by position and also occur when you breathe out but not on the in breath?? The vagus nerve runs across top of your stomach and affects the heatbeat so maybe its my stomach that affects them most but who knows.

Remember they are horribe BUT harmless.