Hi, this forum is really good - I've only recently come across it...
I'm really panicking about Ventricular Premature Ectopics. I've had them on and off for 5/6 years, I'm 28 years old. I've had exercise tests, blood tests, 24 hr monitoring, counselling, normal ECG, echo, etc...
All cardiologists come back with Benign/Anxiety diagnosis... Fair enough I thought.
But my recent bout since December to present day is getting worse every day. I'm really fed up with them now. Normally they'll last for a couple of weeks - this is the longest spell, quite frightening and with more each day.
They tend to be when I'm walking/exercising/eating/stressing... but also now when relaxed in front of the TV and at work. It's whenever, wherever...
Sorry to go on, but I've read some bad things on the internet which concern me:
Cleveland, OH - A new study shows that frequent ventricular ectopy during recovery after exercise is a better predictor of an increased risk of death than ventricular ectopy during exercise. This is the first time this has been shown, and the data illustrate the importance of continuing to monitor patients and their electrocardiograms (ECGs) during the recovery period, says an accompanying editorial.
In 1999, as reported by heartwire, Lauer's group showed that a delay in the decrease of the heart rate after exercise, resulting from inadequate reactivation of vagal tone, quadrupled the risk of death over the next 6 years.2 "So we hypothesized that these people, with a reduced parasympathetic nervous tone, would be vulnerable to developing arrhythmias [during exercise testing], and that this would be a predictor of death."
I take Propranolol and this used to work well, but it's not helped over the last couple of months at all...
Can anyone here put my mind at ease? I can't enjoy life like I used to!!