I have PVCs and get them when exercising, bending over or when stressed and the cardiologist told me they’re completely benign. How? It’s the one thing keeping you alive.
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The main function of your heart is to pump oxygenated blood towards the body for cellular work. As long as an arrhythmia doesn’t affect that work, then it’s benign.
Your ejection fraction (amount of oxygenated blood pumped out / total amount of oxygenated blood that enters the heart) is what’s important. If an arrhythmia affects the coordination of the pumping mechanism enough then that goes down and you’ll get symptoms of heart failure.
Another way an arrhythmia can fuck you up is by introducing changes to the hemodynamics of the blood inside your heart. Blood can never stop moving otherwise clotting mechanisms are kick started. If any amount of blood in your heart becomes the least bit non dynamic then you have a higher change of blood clot formation which could lead to strokes. As long as the arrhythmia is small enough that it doesn’t interfere with that fluid flow then it’s benign.
Lastly, another danger of arrhythmias is the possibility that they’ll propagate through the heart muscle and interfere with the main electrical current that powers the heart from the sinus node. As long as the abnormal electrical current is relatively isolated from that main circuitry then it’s benign.
Usually, arrhythmias don’t actually interfere with your heart’s ability to pump blood. The only time they are dangerous is if (1) your heart is “fluttering” (like ventricular fibrillation), or (2) the arrhythmia is caused by another underlying problem. I’ll explain both cases.
**1. Fibrillation —** there are two types of chambers in your heart, atria (the upper chambers) and ventricles (the lower chambers). The right atrium collects de-oxygenated blood and sends it down to the right ventricle, which sends the blood to your lungs so it can be filled with oxygen. The oxygenated blood then flows back into the left atrium, which pumps it into the left ventricle. This chamber – the left ventricle – is what pumps the oxygenated blood to the rest of your body.
When either your heart’s chambers start pumping weakly and erratically (kind of like a “quiver”) this is called *fibrillation.* If it’s the upper chambers it’s called *atrial* fibrillation (A-Fib) and if it’s the lower chambers it’s called *ventricular* fibrillation (V-Fib).
> A-Fib: Since your atria only have to pump the blood a very short way (just into the next chamber), A-Fib is less dangerous in the short term. Even if they are pumping weakly, enough blood can still get into your ventricles to keep circulation going. The problem here is that they don’t always contract strongly enough to send *all* of the blood to the next ventricle. This allows blood to pool in the atrium, which can easily lead to blood clots. So while A-Fib itself won’t kill you, and directly causes clots that can lead to a heart attack.
> V-Fib: This one is *super* dangerous, and is usually a sign that a heart attack is underway. Ventricles need to pump a lot harder to get blood to your lungs or all the way through your body. When they can’t pump effectively, that means your blood cannot carry oxygen to the rest of your body, which is obviously very bad. V-Fib is an emergency that requires immediate treatment, usually including the use of a defibrillator to “shock” your ventricles back into a strong rhythm.
**2. Other Arrhythmias caused by underlying problems —** This is pretty straightforward. Arrhythmias can be a sign that your heart is damaged and covered with scar tissue, or that your arteries are clogged. In these cases, an arrhythmia is a red flag that your heart or arteries might be in serious trouble, since it means that there is enough damage to your cardiovascular system that it’s actively affecting how well your heart beats. (Note, A-Fib and V-Fib are both often caused by underlying problems, but heart conditions can cause other arrhythmias as well).
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Aside from those, an arrhythmia is usually benign. Your heart might speed up or slow down a little, or there might be a few extra beats every so often (like with PVCs). In all of these cases, however, there is no underlying damage and your heart is still effectively sending oxygenated blood through your body. Some people worry that a benign arrhythmia still puts extra strain on your heart, but it really doesn’t. It’s as much of a strain as watching something scary or exercising – so, not a big deal at all.
First off, i would hope that the bloodflow isn’t being affected too too much if you doctor is saying it’s benign, but I have no clue about arrhythmias. You can also think about it on a cellular level. Cells can survive a little while without constantly moving blood. You can chop a finger off and retach it sometimes. So the cells will need blood somewhat quickly, but they have a bit of time before things start really going south. Some organs will be more sensitive of course. Also, I believe some blood movement, especially in the extremities of the limbs, is aided by muscle contractions to some extent (for example, if you lose circulation in an area, and you purposely move your muscles around, it will move the blood more quickly and you can feel it tingling more quickly than if you choose not to contract the muscles). So the arrythmia would have to prevent blood flow quite substantially before it would slow down blood flow long enough to start actually killing cells. Even if your heart totally stops functioning, you won’t die instantly. Cells have some level of resiliency to this kind of thing, they can tolerate changes to all sorts of variables. I have no idea how much a benign arrythmia would affect blood flow, but maybe someone knows about this. Cells need oxygen to produce ATP to power cellular activities, but they store a certain amount of ATP up inside the cell so they have kinda a “reserve” they can use to some extent I believe. Also, if your blood stops moving, the excess CO2 your cells produce will start building up in the bloodstream and make your blood more acidic (the acidity buildup is the most important reason why it’s hard to hold your breath and you will be forced to breath eventually, it’s the not the lack of oxygen that triggers the forced breathing – the co2 buildup and blood acidity is what triggers feelings of ‘not enough air’, not lack of oxygen, which is a common misconception). This blood acidity increase from the lack of bloodflow will start causing problems with cellular processes, but this process of rising acidity takes place over time, and cells can tolerate small variations in pH, or larger variations in pH for a short period of time. Eventually, if the cells don’t receive oxygen and the co2 is not being recycled away, they will start to die.
It’s just one irregular rhythm, it won’t kill you. Your heart is still pumping during an arrhythmia just not as effectively and it usually only happens once or twice. In order for you to actually die, your heart would have to completely stop beating for about 5 minutes, starving your organs, most importantly your brain of Oxygen. One irregular heart rhythm would have close to no affect on your blood Oxygen level, so there is close to no chance it could kill you.
Ever tried to bounce a basketball? You have to keep a rythym.. if you don’t the bounce eventually messes up and stops working. The heart is the same it needs to keep a certain rythym or it stops being able to do its job.
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