Wellness

[bananacreampie]

Anyone ever diagnosed with "premature atrial contraction"...which is an extra heartbeat in the upper chambers of your heart?  It feels like a skipped beat...

[Nosize]

Yes have heard of it because I have it too !  It scares me thinking it's going to stop. 
it has changed my life as far as activities go, am afraid to do a lot of stuff .

[Happy2BHere]

I have experienced this with palpitations in the past, and had EKGs and echocardiograms, etc., but my cardiologist found no functional problems with my heart. He encouraged reducing stress (like to do some meditation, which I now try to do daily using the "Mindful Meditation" guide on Alexa) and the biggest thing for me was to quit buying a "Big Gulp" cup of soda at the convenience store on my way to work every day. Way, way too much caffeine for me!

I have retired and now have much less stress (and no Big Gulps LOL) and haven't noticed any strange beats in quite a while. Fingers crossed that it stays that way, because it is very disconcerting.

[Marciirene]

@ bananacreampie I have suffered from heart palpitations since I was 17 and I am 68 now. I have extra fastbeats that come and go. Next week I am having an echocardiagram to see if there is anything structurally wrong with my heart. And like happy2bhere wrote there are things that trigger episodes. Good luck to all of us it is scary to experience skipped and rapid heartbeats.

[BluestarFL]

I just diagnosed with PACS - Premature Artrial Contractions - last week. I told my PCP I was having heart palpations and she did an EKG. It was normal, but she sent me to a Cardiologist just to double check.  I'm 63.

They gave me an exam and a Holter Monitor to wear for 48 hours. Results came back as PACS. Honestly, when I first felt them I was stressing big time and it made them worse.

After the dx and spoke to Cardiologist and did some reasearch, I feel much less stress now, and I haven't felt any since. Cardio doctor said it happens sometimes, but is not causing any damage to my heart and to just go about my normal life. No more tests needed at this time.

While wearing the Holter Monitor, they told me to do my normal routine. That involved me exercising - walking, some light jogging and some walking on a treadmill to help with my bone density. I do something different every day as best as I can.

During the times I was exercising - no PACS. Only had them when sitting or resting. Doc said that's normal.  I have a followup visit a year from now, but Doc said to call anytime if I have concerns.

Now that I understand what's going on with me, I feel Much less stress about it! Talk to your Doctor and ask a lot of questions. My Doc is very open about me asking questions or asking if I should have this or that test. It really helped put my mind at ease.  :-)