[Veestarlet]

I'm sitting at the kitchen table checking email. And my heart starts racing. I felt three "skipped" beats in a row! I have PVCs all day . About 200-250 everyday. And I've felt two in a row on occasion. But not three!!!! My BP is 95/66
Pulse 91. Scared and don't know what to think anymore.

[CMoore416]

You will be ok! You probably actually had a PVC in between each of those beats. I know others on here have had a few in a row. Forget what thats called. I have had them where it felt like 4 in a row but if I take my pulse in neck I can feel the faint beat in between. Bit it's pause beat pause beat pause beat pause beat then back to faster normal beats. If you felt 3 thumps Ina row I would assume the
PVCs were in between. Hang in there!!!

Jeff or David - wouldn't you not actually feel the 3 PVCs if you had them in a row? If you are Feeling the thump then wouldn't it be that there is a normal beat in between?

[Jeff]

How do you know they are PVCs?

Was there a regular beat in between?

It may be nothing more than a PAC or three, which are not something that is in any way dangerous.

And for the record, I've had 3 PVCs in a row, caught on my event monitor. Highlighted in the printouts the cardiologist and her assistant saw, and they never made mention of it.

So - take a deep breath. You're nervous, which is normal, but you're fine.

How do you know your BP while you're sitting there at the kitchen table, btw?

[Jeff]

@CMoore - good question, and a tricky one, really. What would anyone feel? Would it be different from person to person?

When I pressed the button on the event monitor to record the flutter in my chest, it felt just like every other flutter in my chest - I mean, they're all snowflakes, no two are exactly alike, but they felt enough like every other multi-beat thing I'd felt that I thought they were all the same - but they weren't. Most were PACs or a short burst of PAT, and that one instance was PVCs.

And until I had seen that on my own ECG, I really thought everyone could discern atrial issues from ventricular ones, and now I don't believe that at all, and I suspect that for a good many people, what they think is a run of PVCs is actually a run of PACs.

[DaniRae]

I agree with you Jeff. When I felt the flutter I really think it was PACs but who knows. I am not sure if I feel PVCs all the time or PACs and I am not sure I can always tell the difference. I can feel a super hard thump sometimes ( I know the intensity can depend on how much blood has or has not had a chance to fill in the heart) that I am almost sure is a PVC but who really knows....

When I had my run of PVCs I didn't feel a thing, I just felt a big thump at the reset.

[Veestarlet]

I have a BP machine on my table. So I just slapped the cuff on. My BP machine is always out on the table. I wore a holter not that long ago and te doc said I get PVCs. Almost 200 recorded in the 24 hours. He didn't say anything about PACs, unless that's something new I'm getting? Idk. What I feel is this...
Heart goes Boom. Boom. Boom.........(long pause) then BOOM! (that beat afterwards is a thump., like when a baby kicks you in your belly).
So I got three in a row like this....
Boom. Boom. Boom.......(pause) BOOM!.....(pause).....BOOM.....(pause).....BOOM!! .... and then heart beating really fast for a few minutes....

[jkfrench]

I have been getting those severeal times for a few minutes. Then nothing for hours, then again, several times in a few minutes.
Mine go like this normalbeat..beatbeat..normal beat. No pause, no thud just two quick beats together. Feels like a flutter in my chest and I always notice it. I think they are PAC couplets. There are always just 2 quick beats. It could be anything but typically my doctor said that once everything checks out benign, that most likely any new sensations or feelings are as well. PVC's and PACs,a have all kind of different feelings depending on the timing of the early beat.

[Alex]

I agree, they are probably runs of PAC's. I usually get the PAC couplets like Jody but sometimes, like this morning, I got a run of four "beatbeatbeatbeat"...it almost happened simultaneously as I was swallowing my last gulp of coffee (decaf too)...Probably vagus nerve or reflux triggered it...I know its very scary when it happens...I was able to break it by bearing down...

[Veestarlet]

Originally Posted by Alex

I agree, they are probably runs of PAC's. I usually get the PAC couplets like Jody but sometimes, like this morning, I got a run of four "beatbeatbeatbeat"...it almost happened simultaneously as I was swallowing my last gulp of coffee (decaf too)...Probably vagus nerve or reflux triggered it...I know its very scary when it happens...I was able to break it by bearing down...

Vagus nerve? What's that? This affects the heart? Where is it located?

[dr461]

PAC couplets are scary, but completely harmless in a healthy heart that has passed all the tests. I know that "pregnant pause" is frightening--that split second when you wonder if your heart will beat again. However, doctors really don't take it seriously. Just another ectopic variation to a cardio doc.