I was in hospital 3 days the oher week, with abnormal ecg, basically suffering this problem, they thought my heart was inflamed. I was monitored for three days and my heart rate would be up to 105 laying down, at one point it went to 120, just walking on the ward. They didnt think there was anything wrong, I had echo, stress test which when i stepped on they hesitated to do as my heart rate was 110 befor even starting, it got up to 200 by the end which is way too high for me, im usually very fit, afterward i was nearly sick and went into a cold sweat. Anyway they are going to monitor me for 2 weeks, on the 22nd, but ive found my heart is skipping beats at least 6 times in a row and beats fast straight after, it also hurting my chest, Im getting dizzy aswell at times I certainly cant walk around my heart rate just shoots up. Not sure what to do. Coz im scared of something bad happening. its not normal surely.
When you say skipping beats six times in a row are you saying it beats and then flutters than beats than flutters six times or just a flutter for six times?
Hi Josh-Ive been thru the monitoring several times, and SVT ablation, but I stil have problems, though not extremely fast svt, bpm around 120, to 140. There is no simple answer, as everyones's heart is very different. Main thing is you're doint the right thing with having it monitored, and tested. Only time will tell whats going on. You may be experiencing panic attacks as you arent sure happening. Been there done that. I would ask for something for the nerves, so you can relax as much as you can, given the "not fun" situation you're in. My sincere sympathies. and best of luck
Charlie
ok well, its not straight after but the flutters are quite close together, maybe beats fast again for 10 seconds then flutters again.
Hi thanks charlie, yeh its frustrating when you are not sure what is happening,
Maybe longer sometimes, like a minute or 2 after, and then sometimes it quiets down a fair bit. But especially when i move around it shoots up and makes me dizzy. even just walking to the toilet.
Everyone's heart journey is different some svts or pvcs are benign and some end up being a problem let an electrophysiologist (more specialized cardiologist) figure out and monitor you. Getting an appt on the 22nd is fairly early some have a two month waiting list stay educated read up on the tests you are having before you have them so you know the right questions to ask I was having 40k + PVCs in a 24 hour period now when I went back post cardiac ablation I'm only having 219 in 24 period (still pretty annoying) which the mayo Dr stated this was not worrisome so just take yours step by step you may have to try meds you may not, some might work some might not. Monitor your food intake you may find things that trigger like chocolate caffeine and msg are mine 8 min after eating my heart start tripping over itself. This could be a life long problem I was very young when I had my ablation its been 12 years and I still have pretty bad days...best of luck to you I really hope things turn out good for you.
hey thanks for the thoughtful reply. 40,000 Pvcs that is a heck of a lot!, They are scary! I been to a and e a few times where my heart rate was 140 - 160, its just debilitating and hard to explain to family members, the dizziness is really annoying, I also get chest pain or like a hollow feeling and just palpitations. Im not sure im under an electrophysiologist, I do know that the hospital i stayed in has an excellent reputation for cardiology, they said they didnt want to give me any meds as of yet because they werent sure what was wrong, they said my stress test was normal which i find hard to believe, as per my reasons above.
It would be nice to get a name and diagnosis for this.
I too have chest pain and have been assured over and over I'm not having a heart attack my stress test I did ( had to do the gxt way was too sick to even walk at that point) was also negative so was cxr, cardiac cath lab, CT heart studies, was only the nuclear medicine test showed positive. Hopefully this isn't the same for you ( as I was told by coworker doctor before doing this test " if this one is positive your screwed" went right to ablation after this test so I guess just cuz one test shows neg doesn't mean much just that you don't have "that" there are tons of tests that they can do and we just kept working test after test until they figure it out and then again maybe you just have a nonimpressive case (I don't mean that lightly to us its very annoying and yes very debilitating I had to stop taking xrays and find a quieter job) keep in touch if you want and let me know how your appt goes
I will do that! im sure we will get to the bottom of it.
Hello Josh, My svt was typical AVNRT and I had a successful ablation last December, however my symptons were different to yours. I can only repeat the advice in one of these replies, that you consult an expert physiologist who will no doubt tell you exactly what your problem is after he has studied an ecg capturing the fast rate, plus perhaps an echocardiogram showing the structure of your heart.
Hi Josh. I've very little to add to the sound advice you've already been given here.
Unfortunately, you are probably at the worst stage of this - when you have a scary heart condition but cannot take meds to calm things down because the medics aren't yet sure what's causing it and will avoid intervention until they do.
It does sound like your medics have captured some of the jitters and patterns already and that is good (it takes years in some cases). They also seem to have a plan in place to progress the diagnosis that should lead shortly to treatment.
Some of your symptoms/triggers sound quite different to mine so I don't know if SVT is the cause. But if it is, it is generally treatable with meds or, if you are a good candidate, can be eliminated altogether in most cases with an ablation.
An SVT episode is very stressful, and this anxiety can create a vicious circle that makes the heart pound harder, but do remember that it is extremely unlikely that SVT will lead to a heart attack. Infinitely more likely is that the SVT will just stop without apparent reason of its own accord.
In order to help them diagnose and proceed to treatment, please keep a diary of the dates/times/durations of episodes and note anything you guess might have been a trigger.... and do not be reluctant to go straight to A&E if you feel it has been going on too long (e.g. for more than half an hour). That's what they are there for!
I'd also suggest you cut out completely common triggers like caffeine (including decaff with has enough to trigger SVT in some folks), and avoid emotional/mental stress as much as you possibly can.
Hope it works out well....
hey ciaran thanks for the reply, yes that is exactly where im at, nail on the head, like you say im not sure myself this is svt, but something is definitely wrong hopefully they can figure it out, as id be dissappointed if i had to live my life this way
so i ended up going to a and e tonight, my heart rate was 157, i just went to the nearest one, i kept getting ecotpics and my heart was going up nd dow from 110-130. i showed the doc my ectopics and i said i get them constantly throughout the day this was just an a and e doctor, she said they are fine even if i get them all the time, while im sat here now im having 2 at least per minute, my heart rate at rest lying on the bed is 110, consistantly. the ecg said "unknown" she seemed to think it was fine took bloods and let me go. this weird i mean sometimes the ectopics are bigggg and feel like ive stopped breathing
Hey josh, sorry to hear you had to go in but I think those of us that experience this knows when it's time to get checked out. Hopefully you are still keeping your appt next week and they can at least let you know whats going on or if you need medicine. Good luck next week if you are still going
yeh, its scary!, my pvcs are happening every day, nearly all the time, and they are very pronounced, im actually looking forward to the monitor, but the anxiety is killing me.
Hi Josh
Pvc's are certainly diconcerting, to say the least. However, my Sister in law worked
in ER room for years. Years ago they treated anything over 6 pvcs per minute, but in most cases, t hese days, after testing you thoroughly,which I assume they are doing, they are treated as a very minor problem. What they looked for, at least in my case, was whether or not the heart was getting the blood and oxygen, bottom line. The definitive test was a stress test, after which they injected a nuclear dye to see if the heart was indeed getting the proper oxygen. This, in my case ruled out blockage, even though I was having 1000'a if pvcs a day. I have them every evening after meals, just a routine I expect, and have learned to live with them.
I hope they can reassure you, given thourough testing, I wish you well. And am truly empathetic,because of my own experiences.
Take care, Josh
hi chrles thanks for the thoughtful comment it does reassure me somewhat, cate i have got the event monitor, didnt speak with the consultant was told i will get to speak to him eventually, bit different to what i expected with the event monitor to be honest. but was told they are now monitoring for three weeks instead of 2. which i thought was interesting perhaps they reviewed some stuff.
Hey Josh the next 3 weeks will go by fast..what I can tell you now is if you have figured out any triggers that make your heart flutter now is the time to go big. So if its msg that causes it or running or getting up fast after laying down etc etc do that in bulk when I had my event monitor I was always told I didn't document enough so just keep a good record I always thought I did so not sure and I just nuclear medicine test that Charles was talking about was the same one that was positive in my case it didnt show blockage but that I wasnt getting enough oxygen throughout my body..keep in touch
Hey also josh you sound like you are heading iny direction ..if you really feel like you get to a put where you just feel like you need to sleep all the time maybe ask to have the nuclear medicine test done