overcoming benign premature ventricular contractions(PVC)
Having your first dose of PVCs can be a stressful and worrisome experience. RELAX! They are called benign for a reason! Believe your doctor if he/she tells you that your heart is in 100% healthy working condition! Don’t worry yourself like me.
My first episode of premature ventricular contractions happened simply because I did not sleep enough the night before. Feeling my heart was beating irregular, I decided to use my wife’s stethoscope(she is a nurse) to do some self investigating. When I first heard the brief pause or skip, I became greatly worried. I scheduled a doctors appointment the next day for the day of to get examined.
At the doctor’s office, he examined my heart using a electrocardiogram. After 5 minutes, he diagnosed me with benign PVCs. Well since I am a paranoid idiot, I decided to research more information about irregular heart beats. Well guess what? The PVCs worsened and a few days later, I am driving myself to the ER thinking my heart was going into failure mode.
To make a long story short, after the stress test, echocardiogram, ultrasound, x-ray, and all night telemetry heart monitoring, all the results were normal. This goes to show how worry can do some funny things mentally and physically. Here are some things I did that made my premature ventricular contractions go away.
Posted by: koloa on October 01 2008 | Category: health_and_exercise | Comments: 4 |
step 1: quit coffee and any caffeinated drinks
Quiting caffeinated drinks, especially if your custom to having your morning joe, can be challenging. In my case, the headaches only lasted 3 days. Afterwards, the withdrawal symptoms disappeared .
step 2: get your sleep right
Very important thing to do as you get older, is to take your sleep seriously! Everyone is different when it comes to the amount of time needed for getting a good nights rest. For me, 8-9 hours of sleep gives me proper rest. Other people I know, are fully rested after 5-6 hours of sleep.
Avoid drinking plenty of fluids in the evening to minimize trips to the bathroom.
Sleep in a cool dark quiet room.
step 3: exercise during the day to get relax
Exercise helps release stress hormones and relaxes the body. There are many benefits of exercise which I am sure you are aware of. Wear out the body before bed time so falling a sleep is easy peasy.
step 4: ignore the PVCs
When you get that funny heart flutter feeling, just keep on about your business. PVCs are harmless so why worry? Just keep on what you are doing!
step 5: stop reading and searching for heart related things on the internet!
STOP! If your Doc tells you, you are fine, YOU ARE FINE! Now stop searching for counter productive reasons!
Comments | Leave Comment?
10.03.10 - Mark: Very good points!
10.21.10 - Jake: I'm new to PVCs. This is great stuff Step 5 is absolutely perfect.
09.08.09 - Dave: Thank you for this. It is exactly what I needed to read.
09.11.09 - jason: thanks for the post. i think the last step is the best step to take.
