Hi,
Well I'm back again
, thanks for the responses and I hope it did help a little.
On the subject of monitors I think everyone that has had
PVC's/
PAC's etc has had that lingering thought ... what if the monitor doesn't record the one's I'm really scared by ? what if they don't happen ... after all if they don't see it they can't diagnose it ?
Truth is a holter or a loop recorder provide an awful lot of information. Every point along the
ECG line provide's information from strength, origin and also a tiny bit of information about how healthy the muscle of the heart is amongst other gems of information.
Dangerous arrhythmia's have many clues especially the ones that are caused by heart disease and congenital conditions. (Its isn't ALWAYS necessary for you to have the arrhythmia whilst having the recorder on; tell tale signs may already be present on the
ECG this is worth bearing in mind ... although capturing the arrhythmia that worries you is absolute peace of mind) Accessory pathways and mitrochondrio/foci that conduct abnormally are easily picked up via
ECG this wasn't always the case in the 80's through to the early 90's as the sensitivity and accompanying software wasn't as accurate as it is nowadays. Even back then misdiagnosis of an arrhythmia was a very rare event. Fast forward to today if you search and look at the devices provided by manufactures such as Philips, GEC and other well known medical appliance producers the machines are guaranteed to pick up all electrical activity not some not 99.9% all as in an 'absolute' sense.
It's always going to be a worry and a cause of stress and anxiety and I am as sure as I can be that all of us present on this board has felt the relief of wearing a monitor and the thoughts of ah caught one uhm no hang on that wasn't one of the dangerous ones was it .... or was it ? Hmmmm another few days on the monitor. I can convince myself that I never experienced or caught one of the ones that scare me and as soon as the monitor goes back in I start the thought process of well that won't have done any good I never had a bad one that I caught ... all the days I wore the monitor were good. In the 9 years I have had these things the multiple monitors (and there have been many and I mean MANY !!) I have never managed to capture that scary beat. My friend who has had them for 34 years is exactly the same never caught the scary one. Here's the kicker though it maybe a day or two after and you get the one yep the real scary one and 'boom' panic city here we come !
Why do we never capture them ? My thoughts on this are that each and every skip, jump, thump, flutter, zap, winder, stomach twister, anal clenching, sphincter shrivelling beat is unique and always feels different ... sure they are the same as in the sense that all trees are the same (but different) all leaves are the same (but different) all snowflakes are the same (but different) okay okay I got carried away there but I hope you know what I mean
I totally understand the sensation of feeling every beat and trying to compare one sensation with another but to be honest in moments of lucidity and calm I see how futile it is to do this ... but I still do after all this time.
I have lived the deathwatch of the night with myself and the doomwatch of the day and lived to tell the tale ... but have I truly lived.
The above is a grim sentence but holds a lot of truth especially when you are first diagnosed with these beasts!
Don't be disheartened if you never think you capture that arrhythmia that scares you. Easier said than done but with holter's, loop recorders, possibly stress tests
echo and possibly even nuclear testing we will in almost all likelihood still not be satisfied that we have caught that which plagues us.
It is highly ... no ... not highly nope nope not even extremely unlikely it is .... as near as certain what you are experiencing is benign.
If I am being honest when these things come thick and fast for me that still isn't a good enough guarantee for me
The bottom line is that people that do not undergo this testing are far more likely to keel over than you !
Okay I have ranted enough and at the end of this am not totally sure I have reassured you any !?! You are (because you have/are being tested) in safer hands than most people on the planet sure doesn't feel like it(I know) It's the people that don't feel these oddly enough that are at far greater risk (This I have been told numerous times from ward nurses, GP's and Specialists). I've been in an observation ward next to a guy totally oblivious to
ANY sensation but kept passing out during the day turns out he had had a silent MI and was experiencing torsade du point. I saw him get wheeled in to the observation ward hooked up to the
ECG ... the nurse called for a Dr immediately and the guy was whisked off to the cardiac unit there and then. The nurse and the Dr where like “why the @!@*£; didn't you call and ambulance !” rather than the total indifference that we usually get ... which is ah
PVC's go home and oooh lots of
PVC's ... go home or even ahhh yep
PVC's every third beat ... would you like to go home now ? Your fine. (It's usually at this point or has been in the past that I want to scream at them 'you can't send me home I'm about to die !!!' ... but am still here)
At some point we have to accept what we are being told, some of us deal with it and others don't I bounce back between the two for varying lengths and various frequency.
All I can do is wish you a skip free day/week/month/year and as ever ...
All the best
Richard.