Hello doctor,Since approximately eight months, I experience premature ventricular contractions (feeling of heartbeat skipping). I never had shortness of breath, severe chest pain, heavy sweating/dizziness, or like I will pass out. It also never goes on for several minutes, just around 10 to 20 a day. I went to see a cardiologist, who did an ECG and echo - said there is nothing to worry and this is normal. He said to call him when more per minute (so a lot of PVC each minute). He also said it is not stress related, but I have highly stressful work. I am still little worried. Will it never go away and can it, in the long run, hurt me?
Hello. I passed carefully through your question and would explain that some PVC or ectopic heartbeats are quite normal in every healthy individual during emotional stress or physical activity. Anyway, a cardiac arrhythmia cannot be excluded either. Coming to this point, I would recommend performing an ambulatory 24 to 48 hours ECG monitoring (Holter) to examine your heart rhythm trends for a prolonged time and investigate for possible cardiac arrhythmia. Some blood lab tests are needed to exclude some metabolic disorders which may trigger this clinical scenario: If all these tests result normal, you should consider anxiety as a possible cause of your complaints. In such case, consulting with a specialist in this field (physiotherapist, psychiatrist) would be needed. If the situation persists, a low dose of beta-blockers (Metoprolol) could help reduce the ectopic heartbeats. For more information consult a cardiologist online -->