Psvt & Pvcs - Heart Disorders Message Board

jbuafs · 10-25-2004, 12:24 AM

My boyfriend is 25 years old and has been suffering from psvt for almost a year now. Just last weekend he had another round of it and we went to the ER where they gave him a shot of cardizem (spelling) which slowed down the heartbeat but did not convert the beat back to normal. He continued to have the irregular heartbeats for about 7 hours after. Since then he has started having pvcs. He is taking 25 mg of atenolol twice a day.

A few questions:
Can psvt cause pvcs to occur?
How serious are either of these? (cause heart failure, etc)

He has had many ekg's and all came back normal. This last one did not look normal at all but the doctor basically brushed it off and said "nothing to worry about". I am going to try to get him in soon to get a stress test etc. to make sure there is no heat disease.

Just wondering what others do in order to "live" with these conditions.

Thank you!!

jbuafs · 10-27-2004, 11:16 AM

No one can help me?

jenn.e · 10-27-2004, 11:47 AM

Hi there, Sorry to hear about your bf. PVC's and PSVt are annoying to live with. I can tell you that in most cases they are harmless. They should do an echo on him to rule out any cardiac disease. If that comes back clean and it gets to the point that it is interfering with his everyday life then they can try different meds on him or discuss ablation with him. Goodluck to him.

jbuafs · 10-27-2004, 12:00 PM

Thank you! Yeah, most of the docs say well you're young so I doubt its heart disease. His dad died at age 42 of heart problems so its very worrying. We also don't have insurance so this is very stressful too.

jbuafs · 10-28-2004, 12:57 PM

Thank you Jack! It did seem very strange to us that they let him leave the hospital without the hearts rhythm going back to normal, don't think we want to see that doctor again. Since the psvt has started we have cut out all caffeine, alcohol, and almost all salt. He doesn't smoke or do drugs either.

Would he also need to see about a stress test?