Hi,
I went for a nuclear stress test yesterday where I walked on the treadmill until my heart rate was up to 168 for 9.5 minutes. I was so concerned I was going to have an SVT. The nurse practitioner said that an SVT doubles your heart rate. Does that mean if I am exercising and my heart rate is 160, a sudden SVT can put my heart rate at 320? That doesn't make sense.
Thanks,
James
Her first statement ("svt doubles your hear rate) isn't accurate so I wouldn't extrapolte from it. My resting HR is in the 60's but I've had SVT as high as 199bpm. That's not double. No idea how it would work if I was working out but in general SVT is not fatal so I wouldn't dwell on it. Also, I assume they have the proper equiptment at the nuclear lab just in case
Jim
Thanks for the reply. I kind of figured that. My resting heart rate is 60 also. I have had it for over 15 years now but that last two years as seen a huge increase. It started out as 1 a year, then eventually around 11 a year. Now I am averaging once a week. They want to put me on a loop monitor and may suggest an ablation because they said my resting heart rate is too slow for beta-blockers. Have you had any medical treatment for it or do you just live with it?
Hi James,
My plan was to try lifestyle intervention, meds and ablation in that order. I am still on the lifestyle stage meaning no meds at all. So far so good and no SVT episodes in almost 70 days while I had 17 episodes in the three months preceding. Not sure exactly what helped but I eliminated caffeine and almost all alcohol, lost 15 pounds and went on a FODMAP diet. Studies suggest that losing 10% of your weight can have a significant effect on arrhythmias.
Should the episodes start coming back at a frequency I can't tolerate then I will try beta blockers and if that doesn't work add an arrythmia drug to the mix like flecanide. I take issue with the fact that your HR is too low for beta blockers. We have a similar resting HR and none of the EPs I spoke to mentioned it was too low for beta blockers. And in any event you would start with a low dose.
Ablation would be my last choice if either the meds didn't work or I couldn't tolerate them.
That said, I have mixed arrythmias -- SVT, afib, aflutter. If I only had pure SVTs, I would be more apt to consider ablation since SVT ablation has close to a 95% success rate and is much shorter and less invasive than an afib ablation.
Jim
Jim
Great reply. Thank you. I am glad your plan is working for you!! I have kicked caffeine two weeks ago and it made no difference. I don't smoke or drink alcohol. My diet is good, although I will have to look up this FODMAP diet. The only major changes is that this all occurred once I gained weight. I spent the first 40 years of my life at 185 pounds. The last 13 years have fluctuated between 220 and 240. I am on the path of getting my weight under 200 and see what happens. According to my diary I keep, I experienced less SVT's when I was below 220. Also, the answers to my questions has been from the nurse practitioner, not the doctor, who I will see next week to review my echo cardiogram and stress test. I actually had all this done 4 years ago at the same office, but since it has been 4 years and my SVT's have increased, they wanted a new base line. I wore a monitor 4 years ago, but of course I didn't have an SVT while I wore it, so they never really recorded exactly what I have although the nurse practitioner believes it is SVT's. Thanks for the advice!
No the Nurse doesn't know what she's talking about at all. SVT is an entirely different rhythm, not a doubling of sinus rhythm.
Besides if you were exercising and you switched to SVT you'd stop exercising.