Advice for PVC newbies...
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I am going to start with a summary of what Premature Ventricular Contractions are to educate the newbie and to re-iterate the condition for those who have already suffered with it for a while.
One thing I have personally become aware of is we all pretty much go through the same process. We immediately start researching it on the web to learn as much as possible. We establish so much information that we virtually become better specialists on the subject than our doctors! I mean, how many of you have gone to Accident and Emergency ward telling the doctor something like:
"I'm having multiple flutters and thuds in my chest, my heart rate is high and I'm short of breath, bla bla bla." Well (the Doctor smiles) thanks for saving me the time to diagnose you!
In a nutshell here's a series of events that some probably have already experienced or are going through right now...
1 - The first experience....
Watching television, out and about walking, working or whatever… You feel a thump in your chest. Or perhaps a small flutter then a thump. You really don't sweat over it the first time. But then a while later, you have another, perhaps a series of them. You have an episode of ectopic heartbeats followed by shortness of breath, nervousness, etc. You decide to go to see your doctor.
2 - The alarming three letter abbreviation!!
Your doctor prescribes a well-man check, stress test, heart monitor etc etc then tells you "I think you are experiencing PVCs"! Oh my goodness, what the heck are they? Now if the doctor was to immediately confirm you are having Premature Ventricular Contractions and explained the condition, it would not be so bad. But the truth of the matter is, they don't know that much about the condition themselves and therefore add further panic by not being able to provide specifics, instead they only offer cryptic information.
4 - Your doctor wasn't much help so time for research…
At this point that three letter abbreviation is driving you crazy. You discover there is loads of information and that this abbreviation is actually nothing to do with plastic! You actually find out that its stands for "Premature Ventricular Contractions". You then use a search engine to investigate further, read article upon article in the subject and develop so much knowledge that you could eventually diagnose others and possibly get a doctorate!! The problem is, no one seems to experience exactly the same symptoms which makes it difficult to decide the best course of action.
5 - Time to go nuts again!!
By now, you have learnt so much about the condition and you are so aware of your own heart rhythms and frequency of the condition that there's little point in going to see the doctor because you know they will not be able to help other than patronize you with loads of stuff you already know or scribble their signature on yet another prescription.
6 – Options
Option 1 - Learn to live with it...
Once you have realised that these things are not going to kill you, maybe it's time to learn how to live with them. As mentioned previously in this article, the vast majority of people experience some form of ectopic heartbeats, the majority of those are simply unaware of them. The problem is, there are so many issues in daily life which aggravate this problem to no end. The result is, you have the condition the same as everyone else, except they are much more powerful and noticeable.
Option 2 - Try to stop them...
Learning to live with it as mentioned above is more of a first step rather than an option. This is important, because you need to realize that the Premature Ventricular Contractions are probably not anywhere near as serious as they feel. So once you are more relaxed over the issue, the next step is to look at the options available to eradicate the condition. But if your still in a state of panic over it, then no cure will really help you because since Premature Ventricular Contractions can be brought on through panic alone, you might not even know if you have isolated the problem that originally triggered it.