Hit with mason jar; then PVC's!!!

I am 77 and was dealing with lone afib, dx'd about 20 yrs. ago. It seemed to diminish somewhat, even leave. Then in Dec. of 2020 by a freak accident of soapy hands, I was struck in the sternum with a mason jar which cracked the sternum at the top....forget the name right now, a small fracture which hurt like heck for a while then eventually healed. I took nsaids for 3 weeks to make pain tolerable.

I cannot get it outa my head that either this blow or possibly the nsaids did something to my heart because shortly after or even then (just not yet noticed) I began having pvc's, sometimes very frequent with bpm of between 40 and 80 or even 100. I wore a holter monitor in Feb. for 2 days and only pvc's were seen. I am scheduled for a second holter soon.

I do not get good treatment from the cardiology dept. largely because they are strictly mainstream and rarely ask anything re. your vitamins and supps. You just know the ones who are savvy. I was told these pvc's were harmless. Intuition and what I read on the Mayo Clinic site tells me that is only true some of the time. I do have some gut issues btw, which are fairly under control, not 100%...No wheat for me. I realize that gut contributes to heart.

I take diltiazem 30mgs strictly as a pill in the pocket. I rarely have an issue in the daytime, but I would guess I just do not notice until I lie down.
I do not have a whole lot of support, so I feel like sharing with this forum may help me, and who knows? Some one of you may have some valuable input or encouragement. I would be grateful for any help. Thank you all!

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Jaydee212
I rarely have an issue in the daytime, but I would guess I just do not notice until I lie down.

Wonder how long before you lie down, do you eat?

Good question George
Or even slouching on the couch after a meal could trigger it.

Jay are you wearing a holter in the hope that during that 24 hours you can get an ARR. to show them that.......in the hope of you getting an Ablation...is that your purpose of wearing the holter belt cause thats exactly why i got a 24 hour holter + i knew i was only going to get some progress toward an Ablation if my heart went in to ARR. during that 24 hour time so i made sure i had all my triggers aka food + drink together that i know would set me off 100% waiting for me soon after i left the hosp. all hooked up with all the stickies on my chest....up to that point i had around 300 ARR. so whats 1 more + it turned out about 10 months later that SELF TRIGGERED ARR. put me on the path to Ablation Bliss i am in right now......so that was the most important Afib attack i had.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2021 10:16PM by vanlith.

I do not usually eat any meal after 7 ish although I take a number of supplements before bed; a couple are a little hard to swallow without yogurt or applesauce, so I may have a few small bites of one of those around 8 ish. I go to bed around 9:30. That may be enough anyway to cause trouble...right? Still, I do not notice this after other meals as a rule...of course, not lying down. I am not a sloucher either on couch or otherwise.

That is kinda true. I am sick of now knowing what is wrong, and I guess I am hoping something will show up that did not previously. Yes, if it could lead to ablation, that might be ok also, but I had rather hoped I would find a way to allay this problem with diet and exercise and supplements. Honestly, the feeling at night is as if the heart were fibrillating; maybe that is tachycardia.

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Jaydee212
I do not usually eat any meal after 7 ish although I take a number of supplements before bed; a couple are a little hard to swallow without yogurt or applesauce, so I may have a few small bites of one of those around 8 ish. I go to bed around 9:30. That may be enough anyway to cause trouble...right? Still, I do not notice this after other meals as a rule...of course, not lying down. I am not a sloucher either on couch or otherwise.

You might experiment to finish everything way early, say 5 or 6 and see if anything changes. If things change, you could experiment to find out the amount of time you need not to have these issues.

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Jaydee212
That is kinda true. I am sick of now knowing what is wrong, and I guess I am hoping something will show up that did not previously. Yes, if it could lead to ablation, that might be ok also, but I had rather hoped I would find a way to allay this problem with diet and exercise and supplements. Honestly, the feeling at night is as if the heart were fibrillating; maybe that is tachycardia.

There really should not be much guess work here Jay....just take your pulse when your not feeling right...we are all familiar with the reg. thump thump of nsr.....well if its not that a second or so apart....well we know what that is then....before my ablation i must have spent around a half hour a day in total a few seconds at a time in and out of bed during the 24 hour period in or out of afib with my thumb on my wrist...we all have our own mini ekg machines on our wrist or other places on our body...put them to good use to take the guess work out if for nothing else peace of mind.

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Jaydee
I was struck in the sternum with a mason jar which cracked the sternum

Have you had any bone density scans lately? Perhaps your bones are fragile?
I also broke my Sternum, but at the bottom. It was sore for 5 years, but didn't hurt that much.

Yes, my heart beats range from 44 to 102 bpm.

Yes, u make a good point there, George. I can try it. I am almost certain now that sodium is the big trigger for me. I had thought so and then I used lidocaine cream for back pain one night...lidocaine is a sodium channel blocker...and I slept very peacefully thru the night. That just confirmed my suspicions re. sodium. And, yes, apparently a topical lidocaine can calm pvc's. Seems like we should be shouting and dancing at that small revelation!!! Think of it, People, a solution as simple as lidocaine cream. I did not even put it on the heart. I used it on my back (behind the heart) for back pain. I did not see this coming. God is good....that's all I can say.