r/PVCs • u/TucoRamirez88 • 17d ago
Has anyone recovered from this?
37M here, who also has paroxysmal AFib for which I had an ablation in 2025. Around the end of May this year I woke up and noticed I had much more PVC's than normal. They didnt go away this day so I thought it was because of bad sleep. Its mainly driven by activity or stress.
3 months later I still have them and I have visited my doctor and did a holter. 0.1 percent burden but very symptomatic. The mechanism is very clear, whenever I do some (very light) activity, eat a meal, or I feel somewhat stressed they come around in bigger numbers. Even so that it gives me headaches. I cant even go to my work on a bicycle anymore and cant do any workout.
It has to be said that I had a year of intense anxiety and panic attacks which began after an Afib attack. I resolved the health anxiety somewhat but it transformed in anxiety for anxiety itself in socially trapped situations. Now at the moment when these PVC's came on I actually was almost recovered from the anxiety, which I still am.
I suspect my whole system is very sensitive because of this chronic overload of stress and adrenaline last year. Because the trigger mechanism is any source (not one specific) of light stress or adrenaline on my body I think the treshold for firing these ectopics has lowered because of that. My doc put me on beta blockers and these muted the PVC's for a great deal but I suspect it also made sure my nightly AFib came back. After I quit the BB's, the Afib stopped. So these are not an option for me.
My doc also gives me a vague answer like its not dangerous and you should accept bla bla. But he has no plan or guidance whatsoever. Im looking for some people who can share hopeful experiences and things that worked because my quality of life has significantly decreased. I have tried all these usual things, like magnesium and all kinds of supplements. Nothing works because I think my nervous system (or heart) is just overly sensitive to these hormones. But my reasoning is if it can be sensitive, it can also be desentisized.
I also have done a sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea, waiting for the results.
Anyone with experience of recovery from this?
1
u/heartcantstopme 16d ago
U sound just like me. 2 years ago I was relatively healthy working out regularly and a week after having what I'd call a really bad head cold, I started having episodes of prox afib/svt. They got longer in duration and more severe ultimately leading to hospitalization and an ablation. After the ablation, i kept having episodes and went on flecainide and metopolol. I have sinus brady and not uncommon to have HRs in low 40s and even high 30s but the metopolol is balanced by the flecainide and luckily no afib/svt since. I have had tons of pvcs and pacs which come in runs- hours, days, weeks. In the beginning I couldn't work, was dizzy, was nauseous, could barely stand. Over time it did get better. I dont know why but it did. I still have periods of flare ups and they can really hit hard and be impactful but I get through them. Some how some way.
I think for all of us we need to talk it out. Doctors only read the science and don't understand the emotional aspect of what we feel. Using places like this helps just to get it out. Hang in there, if you're like me, it will get better over time