Unbeknownst to most people I know I have had a constant heart condition for the last ten years. Even the people that know I have something not right do not understand what it is.
The demon in my days has a short name, PVC, and a long name : premature ventricular contraction.
Put simply, the lower chambers of the heart fire before they are suppose to, and the heart rhythm has to reset itself.
In my case, this happens around once every 1-2 minutes, but on a bad day I can have a couple a minute. Worst times are when I get a run of two or three, straight after each other.
To be honest, the less I worry about them, the less I feel them. There are no real symptoms from them. No dizziness or anything else. It just 'feels' wrong - like a small lump in your chest every couple of minutes. If I am feeling my pulse at the time it feels like a skipped beat. When your heart is not behaving properly, it is hard to ignore.
I really have been through the wringer with this condition. And even though it has been diagnosed as benign, it is really hard to ignore. I have had some episodes of anxiety over it, enough to call an ambulance because I have convinced myself I am about to die.
The best way I have found to deal with this when times are bad is to read. I have collected a brace of forum posts, articles and Facebook group posts about people that have lived with them for decades and there is nothing to worry about.
Even though PVCs are what I live with on a daily basis, I did late last year have something more serious happen, but that is for another post.
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