Event timeline added by: mmasciana

The first time I ever felt/noticed a PVC was early 2014, after a day of binge drinking. I was probably having them every few beats, but did not think anything of them and did not do any research. The PVCs went away after a couple of hours or by the next day.

Throughout the year, I would get PVCs following days of binge drinking, and just thought "There's that weird feeling I get the day after drinking." I was not really worried and did not Google anything.

About Me - I am a 28 year old male, 165 lbs, 5'9", Caucasian from U.S. I have an office job and work out 3-4 times a week doing weightlifting and some cardio. I am healthy with no other medical issues. Despite mentioning binge drinking above I am not by any means an alcoholic, just drink socially on weekends.

This is really when the problems start and my story begins. During the week of Thanksgiving 2014, and the week following I was on a business trip. Over these two weeks, I was drinking heavily - Holidays open bar at night throughout the business trip. About midway through the trip (Wednesday 12/3), I start feeling the PVCs again in the morning but this time really focus on them. I started feeling my pulse and put it together that my heart was "skipping a beat" every few beats. This is when I started getting nervous, and kept focusing on them, always checking my pulse and counting how many beats until I have one. I would get a PVC as often as every 3 beats to 1 every couple of minutes.

The night I returned back home from the trip (Saturday 12/6), I woke up at 4AM with a very fast heart rate (120 BPM) and constant PVCs. I freak out and go to the ER. They confirm with EKG that the palpitations I am having are PVCs and are probably related to alcohol and having slightly low potassium. They give me potassium pills to take over 5 days. They did blood work and ruled out all of the serious stuff.

Over the next few days, the PVCs calm down - possibly from the potassium and no more drinking. I start to feel normal again, but then things turned around on Tuesday 12/9 after I went to the gym. After a workout of cardio and lifting, the PVCs came back strong, AND the last time I had exercised was on 12/3, the same day I felt the PVCs come on strong during the business trip. Now I start thinking that the PVCs may be related to exercise rather than from the alcohol.

I visit my physician, and am told the potassium was just barely below the ideal range and that it probably wasn't the cause (And I didn't think so, as the pills seemed to do nothing). He sends me to get a 24 hour Holter Monitor, which I had last week.

Where I stand currently on 1/4/15 - I am still getting frequent PVCs, as often as every few beats to one every few minutes, occurring more often when my heart rate is higher (light or heavy exercise). Also oddly enough they seem to occur often n the morning when I wake up, not sure how they are occurring in my sleep. Overall my heart rate is higher than normal. I know this because in the past (before PVCs) I have been trying to achieve a better resting heart rate by doing more cardio (measuring with iPhone App) and had been successful. But now, having these PVCs throws off the reading and my heart rate doesn't get as low as it used to. The PVCs themselves don't bother me terribly. I don't really feel them unless I am at rest, or focusing on them. My bigger concern is if these PVCs are truly "benign". Its kind of hard to accept that an irregular heartbeat is truly harmless, especially in the long run. If the PVCs are messing with my resting heart rate, my heart is working harder than it should, so how can they truly be harmless?

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. I would certainly appreciate any thoughts or comments! I will post an update this week when I get my results from the Holter Monitor.

Received results from the Holter Monitor last week. It revealed <7,000 PVCs and <50 PACs. My doctor said that this isn't enough within a 24 hour period to cause any concern. You need to have around 20,000 or more within a 24 hour period to potentially create a small concern. Everything else about my heartbeat was normal. Doctor was not concerned at all and thinks it may be induced by stress/anxiety or exercise. To further look into the causes, I am following up with a Cardiologist and getting an Echo.

Doctor did offer me a low-dose beta blocker, which I turned down as I think its way too early for medication, plus they don't bother me that much anyways. The past few days despite still having them, I have been noticing them much less, which I'm sure is from the positive reassurance I got from my Doctor that they are harmless which reduced anxiety.

But I still want to get an Echo to fully ensure everything is normal, plus I'd like to hear an opinion from a specialist. I will post an update for Echo/Cardiologist visit.