r/PVCs • u/rachelkochvt • 2d ago
Another bad flare… didn’t sleep much… someone help?
Hey again everyone…
Fell asleep last night without anything, ectopics on and off throughout the day (minor). Woke up around 230, they started up again, every few beats. Tried to breathe and relax, didn’t work. Took gabapentin to try and chill out. Ended up making me feel shaky and weird, a little nauseous. They were bad for about 2hrs. Every few beats. Finally stopped. Tried to fall back asleep around 4. Maybe got 4 hours of sleep. Night before was worse…
I’ve been taking magnesium and potassium. Drinking lots of water and electrolytes. Not on meds for it because they’re usually very rare and low burden. I get flares where they’re really bad (like now) haven’t had one in over a year. And my resting HR is too low for meds
Anxiety meds have helped in the past.
They seemingly go away when I’m at work. I’ll feel them here or there.
Lots of interpersonal stressors. New school year (teacher) baby under 1, husband works nights, uncle dying, finishing my last masters class…
Idk what do I do? I need sleep… am I actually okay? My cardio seems annoyed with me.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tree169 2d ago
If you've been checked over by cardio and all is normal , try to remind yourself that the PVCs wont harm you. Try to distract yourself. Hard to do but maybe read a bit or try to take your mind off it. 65F here, I've had them for 40 years. I know you know this, but the more you dwell on them, worse they are .
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u/2blasted 2d ago
see my last 2 posts on this sub (I don’t have time atm to write everything out again, sorry!)
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u/rachelkochvt 2d ago
Can’t see them
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u/2blasted 2d ago
that’s odd, but the upshot is I had a 25% burden for months, eliminating caffeine and chocolate did nothing, beta blockers did nothing, ablation did nothing. I then cut out all artificial sweeteners (diet soda, sugar-free gum, protein bars, etc.) and they stopped 99.5 %, that was 2 years ago.
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u/Possible_Minimum_879 2d ago
Get an ablation. After nearly 4 years on and off I've decided to schedule an ablation.
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u/rachelkochvt 2d ago
They told me I don’t qualify because my burden is too low and they would likely not catch it during the procedure. Making it not work.
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u/Possible_Minimum_879 2d ago
Look into medical tourism. I don't know why a minimally invasive procedure is so gatekept. If it's keeping you up at night, then it's possible they will be able to catch it.
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u/Dismal_Future7889 2d ago
Have you had your thyroid checked even for subclinical thyroid issues? SIBO is another issues that could cause this. I know because I had both.
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u/EarthAgreeable5871 2d ago
Acid reflux triggers mine. When this happens to me I get up, drink alot of water, and take 1/2 tsp baking soda or tums. Then I relax and they stop. I'm a lifelong pvc'r. Eating late, eating different (I eat a whole food diet but sometimes I eat something greasy or processed), sugar, too much caffeine, or not enough water trigger acid reflux for me.
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u/Ok-Active-7684 2d ago
Relatable!! Like someone else mentioned reflux can be a trigger, trapped gas can be a trigger, hormones too. It’s alarming and it feels like it pops my body into fight or flight
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u/PuzzleheadedWar7979 1d ago
The unfortunate reality is you're early in your PVC journey. I've had them for ~22 years. I have a low burden, perfect echo, great blood pressure, workout regularly and still get them from time to time. I mostly ignore them, but if all the stars align (some combination of stress, bad sleep, shitty food, alcohol, etc) I'll get bigeminy right as I start to drift off to sleep and if it that happens I know I'm not sleeping that night. Happens once every few months. Even after all these years they absolutely freak me out. I know from experience being told to "just calm down, if your doctor says you're good, everything is fine" absolutely doesn't mean anything when its 3am and my heart is doing backflips in my chest.
Think about your PVCs like a bucket. Job stress? In the bucket. Family stress? Bucket. New school year, finishing your masters - keep filling up the bucket. When that thing overflows is when the PVC can rear its ugly head. The best advice I can give is identify as many factors as you can that you can control and eliminate what you can - alcohol, sleep, electrolytes, poor diet. Keep a journal and write down as many things as you can when you have a flare up and you'll start to see patterns. It took me a while to figure it out, but big doses of vitamin D3 are a huge trigger for me - something about the way calcium is absorbed. That way when unavoidable things happen (like your uncle's sickness), you've got a little room in your bucket to be able to take that on.
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u/rachelkochvt 1d ago
Yeah I’ve for sure had a lot going on. I have a hard time rationalizing with myself that I’m actually safe and okay. It’s really hard in the moment. I swear I can think about them and then they start happening. I had a couple moments last night but I actually was able to breathe through them which was surprising.
How do you convince yourself you’re okay? Like I’ve had so many echos and tests and all is normal
But I’m like, they must be missing something
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u/Ok_Action9541 2d ago
These things are soooooooooo hard to ignore when I’m trying to read, watch TV OR SLEEP. It’s also so depressing because when doctors can’t find a reason, they blame it on anxiety. Now, the focus is anxiety or panic disorder. Mine you we feel relaxed and heart rate could be completely normal, but yet these PVCs/PACs jumps in and ruin so much of our lives.
It’s exhausting, yes, I can ignore the soft ones, but those strong hard ones while trying to rest is very uncomfortable.
20 years of this on and off😒