Need answers about cardiac....

[MickeymomRN]

problems that I am personally having....

How many PVCs should someone have til something is done about them? I know that we all have them once in awhile but I seem to have rhythms (bi and tri) sometimes and for a couple of hours or more. Last night went to bed with them and woke up with them this am. Usually get headaches and chest pain with them. Like right now, left shoulder pain.

How does mitral valve insufficiency affect someone? If it does. It was found that I have one but the original cardiologist failed to mention it to me.

I also am having a hard time with the fatigue and pre-sync and sync episodes with my NCS. We're trying meds which have for me severe side effects. I haven't slept well and feel that the exhaustion is from that too.

I also have a family hx of heart problems. My mom with chronic hypertension and my father with 2 massive MI and 2 CABGx4 beginning at the age of 35. Also my grandfathers both died of a stroke.

I had tests done last summer. +stress test, +nuclear scan, the heart cath showed narrowing of the arteries, one ER doc told me that I was having an MI (this was at well respected heart hospital), +TTT. All my blood work came back ok. Just a borderline LDL level.

My new EP doc is great. explains everything. Wants to put a pacer in if I don't want to go thru all the drugs he can try on me for the NCS. (I almost coded in employee health trying to go back to work. They couldn't find a pulse or b/p on me for almost a minute. )

I heard that pacers don't help those with NCS too well. And I also heard that placing pacers if done wrong could damage the heart. Has anyone seen this?

Anyone have any answers for me?

My EP stated that all 3 things going on with my heart are unrelated. I think otherwise but I'm only a "L&D" nurse. I don't know. I just keep thinking about my BLS and ACLS training. And a anesthesiologist that thought I might go into v-fib one night when I was working when he put me on the monitor b/c I wasn't feeling too good. I was having many PVCs.

Sorry, if I'm giving too much info or too much garbage info. I just need some answers. Thanks for helping me!

[wendypants]

Well, after all that it's good to see that you've got some more info and have seen a decent doctor!! At times like these the right support makes all the difference to how we as individuals cope with illness. It's incredible that the system we work for can that let us down when we ourselves need it most... and that appears to be the same the world over.

Presumably the kind of pacer to be used would be a normal pacemaker as opposed to an ICD or bi-ventricular? There is recent research on the bi-ventricular pacemakers (the MUSTIC trial) but the numbers are currently small although the mid-term benefits look positive and are used for heart failure.

Going backwards again to assess your need (and type of) pacemaker further monitoring should be done. Here in the UK we offer 24 hour or 1 week Holter monitoring as well as the event recorder. And it really is useful to take your pulse when feeling unwell as I'm sure you do as the presence of any tachyarrhythmias may indicate a need for an ICD.

Wishing you well xx

:)