I'm new as this is my first post. I am 63 yr. old male in excellent physical shape who exercises everyday. All my blood readings are good and no history of heart problems. For as long as I remember, I would notice occasional skipped heartbeat. There would be a delay before the next beat. Anyways over the last couple of years I have periods of 1-3 weeks where I get them 24/7. Currently I have them 24/7 for 6 straight weeks. Had a stress test 1 yr ago and echo and holter and all normal. Just recently my cardiologist did a holter and it showed 13% of heartbeats in 24 hours were mostly supraventricular pac's, single beats, no long runs. He said these are very common and prescribed toprol xl 25mg (the generic) but I got off it in 1 week because it made me very tired and pulse slowed to mid 40's on occasion. Usually it is 60-65. Had a nuclear stress test this week and have not heard results yet but think it will be normal since they shut the machine off at 10 minutes and I could have done several more. Pulse was +85% of max so they said this is all they needed. Anyway I am stessed out with these things and they make me nervous exercising because I can feel all the skips. My GP just did my annual exam and he suggested 5mg of Bystolic might be better for these pac's than Toprol XL but to talk to Cardiologist before taking. Does anyone else out there have these things and can you offer any advice. Anyone use Bystolic for these. I would prefer to use nothing but these are really changing my lifestyle. Thanks.
I have PAC's and just got done running through all the tests including an angiogram, which they put me through due to what turned out to be a false positive on the nuclear stress test.
Now that they've ruled out blockage, my cardiologist is comfortable saying that there is no chance of something bad happening, so I'm getting off the beta blocker that I was on.
Lifestyle wise, everything I read suggests that cutting out caffeine and alcohol as well as reducing stress are the big things. I'm doing that instead of the meds.
It's weird how they will tell you that these things are harmless and then prescribe drugs to stop them. I'll tell you, though, that those beta blockers are not good with me. For some maybe, but not me. I'm okay with the thumps now that I'm sure they are harmless, and will happily take them in trade for the side effects of the BB's.
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Coming to grips with this happening to ME
I have PAC's and just got done running through all the tests including an angiogram, which they put me through due to what turned out to be a false positive on the nuclear stress test.
Now that they've ruled out blockage, my cardiologist is comfortable saying that there is no chance of something bad happening, so I'm getting off the beta blocker that I was on.
Lifestyle wise, everything I read suggests that cutting out caffeine and alcohol as well as reducing stress are the big things. I'm doing that instead of the meds.
It's weird how they will tell you that these things are harmless and then prescribe drugs to stop them. I'll tell you, though, that those beta blockers are not good with me. For some maybe, but not me. I'm okay with the thumps now that I'm sure they are harmless, and will happily take them in trade for the side effects of the BB's.
Thanks for the reply. My nuclear stress test was excellent, everything great. I started Bystolic and stopped after 2 days. I am not taking anythying for these and hopefully they will calm down 1 of these days. I am continuing to exercise through them. I do think stress is a big reason we get so many.
Good news on your nuc test. I think that in general most doctors would agree that if you don't need the meds, don't take them. Me, I'm going to give up coffee and limit my alcohol to a couple glasses per week of wine. I don't have many vices other than those, so I'll miss them, but it's better than taking meds. I'm also going to return to some stress management that I had let go (exercise, meditation...).
Good luck with your efforts.
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Coming to grips with this happening to ME
