Hello
No I'm not a heart consultant but I just saw one and interrogated him. Oh and before you think I'm being flippant about ectopics talk to Mrs Inchy about how much they worry me.
First ... and I quote ....
"There are two types of people, those who notice having ectopics and those who don't"
In other words everyone has ectopic heart beats, some more frequent than others, but MOST people just don't notice them or ignore them.
Second. There is a slight relationship between ectopics and stomach complaints, but only in that your heart sits on your stomach, so if it's bouncing up and down with odd beats then it may cause dispepsia and also feel like it is your stomach that has twitched rather than your heart. That explains why a lot of us burp after, or during a bout of ectopics.
Third. A consultant would not normally 'treat' ectopic heartbeats (anymore than they would treat hiccups). I wish I'd asked now, but I got the distinct impression that he considered ectopic heartbeats and hiccups on a par for health risk.
For information purposes I went after having a lot of ectopics (varying from about 1 an hour to ten a minute) over the past three months. I have 'bordeline' blood pressure (130/90) and am taking 20mg propronolol per day (which incidentally he said were a placebo. He wouldn't bother presrcribing less than 80mg per day).
They are going to give me a 24 hour pulse trace. This is purely so he can identify which ventrical the ectopics are originating in so he can pick the best drug if I decide to have treatment. They're also going to scan my heart to see if there is any enlargement from the raised BP (which he doesn't expect) to put my mind at rest that there's nothing wrong with it.
For treatment.... Unless I decide I can't live with the ectopics he won't do anything. If I do then he will either prescribe a targetted beta-blocker, or if there is any risk at all from my BP, which the heart check will show, he will give me something that both lowers BP and stops ectopics.
So, in summary: Ectopic heartbeats are NORMAL! Us hypo's worrying about them is the odd thing.
So now just to get rid of the muscle wasting disease and I'll be ok ......
Inchy
...
/|\
PS. Don't throw away the Propronolol. He recommends taking 10mg for a chill-out tab when you feel stressed.