PVC runs

I am confused about the significance of PVC runs on pacemakers, and if separate, in reality. From what I read a PVC run with a hr of over 100 is considered V-tach, and that has always seemed serious to me.

My pacemaker reports always show numerous PVC runs -- 175 in a 3 month period, for example. Doesn't seem to worry the cardio types.

Then, I am in pulmonary rehab, they noted a strange heartbeat and hooked me up to a monitor and caught a PVC run of 10. They suspended me from rehab. The cardio doesn't seem particularly concerned except from a liability problem for the hospital. He thinks it great if I go out and exercise, just I shouldn't do it in the hospital.

Does anyone know why V-tach is to be ignored. Sometimes I think these guys just don't care.

Thanks!

Judy

3 Comments

Big...

by donr - 2011-10-26 07:10:32

..stinking deal!

Judy - I've had a PVC rate of about 33%. FINALLY my cardio got excited! PVC's, to quote him, "Will not kill you." But they will surely make you feel like crap! That last is my addition to human knowledge.

Unfortunately, most cardios don't really discuss PVC's w/ us. 175 in 3 months is NOTHING. That is such a fractional % of your heart beats, it doesn't count. At 60 BPM, you have about 3 MILLION beats in a month. So you had 175 out of 9 MILLION. Dunno why they suspend you from rehab for a measley run of 10. That's nothing. According to discussions I've had w/ my cardio, the average person has PVC's all the time, just doesn't notice it & can function normally.

Please don't get excited over that. I'll bet you never even noticed them. Till you get strings in the hundreds, you peobably won't notice them. If you do, they will scare the daylights out of you. But your cardio will be ho hum about it.

Now, true V Tach is another colored horse. That can kill you. They get excited aboutr that. PVC's come at ABOUT your normak heart rate. V Tach is a wildly beating lower half of the heart - two different things, but excessive PVC's can lead to V Tach. They have to draw the line somewhere to define V Tach, so I guess an hour at a HR of 100 is as good as any.

You are not yet to the point that anyone will get excited - other than you! (Well, maybe the Rehab folks, but they are liability cowards.)

Don

runs vs pvcs

by judy13 - 2011-10-26 09:10:04

Hi Don,

Thanks for your input, and I am about ready to decide the rehab people have made me nervous for no good reason.

To clarify 175 is PVC runs, not just PVCs. PVCs are counted separately. From what I read runs are worse than just straight PVCs.

I do think they are dead wrong that we can't feel them, though. I do feel something uncomfortable, and when the pulse ox doesn't show much, I listen to the heart. The beat is definitely irregular when I listen. At some point in my mind, there has to be a recognition about quality of life. I seem to get very exercise intolerant with arrhythmia -- I did with the afib, and now it appears that I am pretty sensitive to whatever is happening now. If you can't take walks in the park, sail boats, do good things like that -- what is life all about?

Judy

How...

by donr - 2011-10-27 09:10:56

...long have you been having PVC's?

I can recall my very first PVC. At 9:20 PM, 15 March, 1977. It was a SINGLE PVC! Very dramatic, trust me. I thought my heart had stopped.

After all these yrs, I rarely feel the PVC's - I know they are there, but they just no longer come up on my radar screen.

Pls re-read my comment - I used several words that I can waffle around - like "Probably." And, I stand by my comment about % of PVC's. Even if your 175 strings were 100 each, the % out of 9 million is insignificant. I have a history of PVC's going back several yrs. Until I reached a 33% level, and became essentially incapable of functioning, I rarely noticed them. I'd look at my quarterly download & say "Hmmm, how about that!". Now, the first time I saw a download strip, with its list of PVC's, I about had a cow. My cardio was sitting there & was not the least bit excited. Being the connsumate engineer, I quickly figured out that the huge (apparently) number was but a fraction of 1% of my heart beats in the period covered. He looked at me & calmly said "PVC's won't kill you." A rather cavalier attitude I thought at the time. But, the fact that I am still walking around after some 8 yrs is evidence that he was/is correct.

Pls don't get me wrong - PVC's, if you sense them, & you apparently can - make life miserable. I told you what effect my first one had. It scared me to death (figuratively, of course). They must be put into proper perspective. It took me a while - several quarterly downloads - to become as cavalier as my cardio was/is about them. He commented to me early on that getting rid of PVC's was messy - required drugs to slow down the heart & using my PM to keep it going at a decent rate. ALl of it messy; drugs were powerful & had some unpleasant side effects. Something to not take lightly. Well, Judy, my PVC's got to the point where they HAD to be fixed. He was correct - in spades!

The two drugs I take, Acebutolol & Flecainide, at the doses we worked up to to get rid of all PVC's, left me like a zombie. We mutually agreed that I could cut back on them. So I have & I live w/ some % PVC's now, but can function almost like a normal human being. What %? Dunno yet, haven't done a download since he agreed w/ me to cut back the meds.

I just want to help you put PVC's in proper perspective.

Your last para is right on! What IS life about if you cannot enjoy it. Once upon a time, one of Napoleon's marshalls said "In war, the mental is to the physical as three is to one." (Or words to that effect.) The same is true in our battles w/ heart problems, especially those issues that we can sense. Some of them are really bad & dangerous. Others are not life threatening, but can cause terrible anxiety. Now, cardios will tell you "It's all in your head." They are right, but ignore the fact that being in the head does not keep the problem from being very REAL. They need to help us treat our collective, reasonable, frequent anxiety issues w/ some "Treatment of the head." In other words, help us understand what is happening & put it all in perspective as to seriousness.

You'll find a lot of folks here will say the same things w/ less verbosity.

BTW: your first para is correct & is your FIRST STEP toward putting PVC's in perspective.

Good luck to you.

Don

You know you're wired when...

You can shop longer than the Energizer Bunny.

Member Quotes

It may be the first time we've felt a normal heart rhythm in a long time, so of course it seems too fast and too strong.