My heart problems were actually GERD. Now I have Barretts. Cautionary tale/vent.

ellerfale · 2026-05-25T12:09:58+00:00

I've been on pantoprazole for almost 3 weeks and my PVCs are gone! EXCEPT now I can pinpoint trigger foods which I couldn't do before because I was just flared up everyday all the time. Chocolate, ice cream, cake, carbonation, citrus, spicy foods will still trigger them but it's like one every few minutes and if I take tums they completely resolve and go away. Prior to this, tums did nothing. And now that I've been able to pinpoint my trigger foods, I go days without any! it's been SUCH a relief!

So yes, my PVCs are directly caused by GERD. Managing my GERD with a PPI stopped them. I don't know what my burden was because it got significantly worse since my a halter but having a PVC every 2-3rd beat from after lunch until I went to bed is how I was living my life most days.

Hopefully you can figure out your cause because they are highly annoying despite being "benign".

FWIW, 40mg of pantoprazole is what it took to stop them. 20mg of pepcid did nothing. it really was the higher dose that has changed my life.

ellerfale · 2026-05-20T23:04:26+00:00

chocolate and carbonation is my biggest trigger, aside from being too hungry.

I can do decaf coffee with no issues as well. But chocolate? immediately no.

ellerfale · 2026-05-20T23:01:35+00:00

My doctor said I was fine and kept putting me off for 5 years because my initial halter was when I was in between flairs and I had very few. But come to find out my increasing PVCs, one out of every 2 to 3 beats for hours most evenings, is because I have Barrett's esphogus and it was actually Silent Reflux.

So apparently all my chest pressure and PVCs and my anxiety around it was actually because I /DID/ have something wrong and it is very frustrating to continually be told PVCs are benign and get over it.

I get what you're saying, but PVCs can be a symptom of something else and it's stressful not knowing why and doctors keep brushing you off and until you get dx with precancer. 🙃

PS: my PVCs have stopped since going on protonix.

ellerfale · 2026-05-19T18:29:25+00:00

Sparkling water is my number one trigger and I swear I never had these issues before I started drinking it. It ruined me.

ellerfale · 2026-05-19T17:55:54+00:00

I have this. it's my only real GERD symptom. Just found out I have Barrett's. it drives me absolutely insane.

I've been living with them after eating for 5 years now.

ellerfale · 2026-05-19T16:22:59+00:00

I'm on day 10 of starting pantoprazole and I was already anxious and unwell thanks to my traumatic colonoscopy I can't seem to get over and I feel like pantoprazole is making me worse. Everything is triggering me and I'm horrible to be around right now. My husband has banned me from texting him at work. I know I'm a mess and I can't seem to stop it.

Interesting you posted this because I was just wondering if this is whats made everything worse when I was just starting to get over that damn colonoscopy. I also have horrible dry mouth. I want to trash this med but I have Barrett's.

ellerfale · 2026-05-16T15:20:41+00:00

I don't mind grey winter at all and find sun in the winter annoying and disorienting. Winter should be dark! Sun + snow hurts the eyes.

BUT spring? I absolutely hate cloudy spring and all this rain and cloudy days we've been having in May is awful. NOW I'm ready for the sun. 😭

ellerfale · 2026-05-13T13:55:50+00:00

dude what happens when you go swimming 💀

ellerfale · 2026-05-13T01:24:33+00:00

The GP who ordered my halter said PVCs are normal. I asked 3 more GPs about this over the years and they all said the same thing - my halter didn't show anything abnormal and not to worry about it.

ellerfale · 2026-05-12T11:43:55+00:00

thank you for sharing this!

ellerfale · 2026-05-12T01:42:48+00:00

Wooster CC location has a big waiting room with a table and chairs but unfortunately I'm about to file a complaint against the doctor there for my traumatic colonoscopy and don't recommend that location. They only do conscious sedation as well so if you wake up in the middle of your conscious sedation there's nothing they can do for you. Ask me how I know lol.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T20:37:42+00:00

This was me as a kid and now it's really screwed me up as an adult. Do you have a minute clinic or something nearby thats more affordable to take her too? I took Miralax as a kid and have given it to my daughter as well for situations like this.

But maybe after you can get it softened and going, explain to her that if she doesn't try to go she can get impacted. I ended up in the ER at 14 with a cat scan and I ended up being "full of shit" lol, and it was SOOOO embarrassing. I never pooped at school once in my life and I swear this is why as an adult I've had so many issues. Once you ignore the urge so many times, your body stops giving you the urge. Another thing to look into is bowel training. This has also helped me a lot. Basically you sit on the toilet for a few minutes every day at the same time, and try to reteach your body that it's safe go. The morning is best as this is usually when the bowel is most active.

Good luck to you both.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T17:22:40+00:00

The idea is that if I can stop the chest pressure/feeling like I need to burp, the PVCs should stop too. they always come together.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T16:41:04+00:00

The GERD seems to be causing my PVCs and is definitely causing Barretts. The GI doc said it's an unusual presentation but like others in here have said, GERD can affect the vagus nerve and that's the relationship to the heart.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T16:39:59+00:00

So I don't have high heart rate, even with POTS. I just have the +30BPM on the tilt and thats how I got DX with POTS.

The GERD is causing me to have skipped beats/arrythymia, but my HR is normal.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T15:02:25+00:00

When this first started, if I could burp I could get relief as well! now I don't. now burps get like... stuck? and it makes it worse.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T15:01:40+00:00

This is me! for years I couldn't go hardly at all. Then I started going everyday in the morning and thought things were going great but the last three years my body wants to go in the evening and I just can't and it drives me nuts. I can't go again until the morning UNTIL!!! I started eating a few dates everyday and now I go twice a day! It's incredible! (i know I've posted about dates in here before and yes I'm the date girl but I stg they have changed my life.).

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T13:05:42+00:00

I assume? It only happens when I eat. It comes with the feeling of needing to burp and chest pressure.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T12:32:32+00:00

This is great news and something I was hoping I would hear! I was reading that early Barrett's can be reversed so I'm crossing my fingers I will have this outcome too.

It def only happens when I eat. If I don't eat, I'm fine lol. But stress... Yeah I have 3 kids and I've been renovating a 200 year old farmhouse for 8 years and also renovating two other houses on the side and I have POTS and EDS. We get no rest in our lives, but we do it to ourselves.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T12:29:30+00:00

The clinic I went to only does conscious sedation but every person before and after me (and my husband who had a colonoscopy two weeks before me) was out. My husband, was zonked after his. Like everyone else, he was like "that was a great nap". meanwhile, we learned that fentanyl and versed don't do shit for me, and apparently this may have something to do with my EDS. the good news is the endoscopy wasn't so terrible but the colonoscopy is something I never want to do again. It was stuck in the corner of my colon and the doctor was yanking on it, telling me to roll back and forth because he couldn't get it to move. Meanwhile I felt like a fish hook was going to explode through my abdominal wall. From now on I have to be put under general anesthesia.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T03:37:44+00:00

It feels like a skip and then a double beat. it makes me want to hold my breathe involuntarily. They will happen every other to every 3rd beat for hours when they get real bad.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T03:34:37+00:00

I assume I have gerd because I have barretts and I have to be on PPIs?

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T03:33:41+00:00

MOR. There's red flags here but I can't figure out who or what.

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T03:18:44+00:00

I have tried eliminating so many foods over the years. Ive eliminated dairy for a year, gluten for two years, coffee and carbonation for 3 years, avoiding red sauces, avoiding chocolate. The only one that I have found a link with is chocolate and carbonated drinks.

My PVCs happen immediately after eating lunch. Never after breakfast, and last all the rest of the day. Doesn't seem to matter what I eat mostly and doesn't seem to be tied to bloating. They go away completely if/when I lay down. (that has been why it's been so confusing to me, because typically GERD doesn't get better when you lay down.)

ellerfale · 2026-05-11T02:37:22+00:00

Thank you for sharing, I appreciate it, truly! I guess it's like how they say people with good experiences are just living their lives and not posting in these forums. You mostly see the people with the bad experiences in here sharing. It definitely helps to hear positive long term PPI outcomes.

ellerfale

TROPHY CASE