Ectopic beats

[Yvonne]

Last days I have had a lot of extra heartbeats. It felt like my heart was racing sometimes without a reason. I did't feel well during an episode of this, I felt 'hyper', a bit nauseous, sometimes dizzy and really uncomfortable. I didn't have other heartfailure symptoms. No fluidretention at all. Today I went to my GP and an ECG showed a lot of ectopic beats, but not worrisome. He did a bloodtest to check my potassiumlevel but I will get the results on monday.
Does anyone knows what it mean to have these ectopic beats? I know I do have them more often, but not as bad as the last days. Can over-fatigueness trigger this?
Are ectopic beats the same as pvc's?

[SusanD]

Could possibly be some PVC's which aren't particular worrisome UNLESS the patient is symptomatic with dizziness, shortness of breath,etc. Most docs will do the routine EKG like he did in the office AND put you on a 24 hr monitor to see what is going on for a long period of time.

[tabs]

I echo Susan's point about the 24 hour holter. Ectopic beats can be either in the atria (PACs, atrial fib, atrial flutter) or in the ventricles (PVCs, ventricular fib, etc.). What is most concerning is that you were symptomatic. It is worth getting a 24 hour holter or an event monitor to find out what is causing the symptoms.
Twilah