Questions posted in the
Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
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Subject: Re: Ventricular Tachycardia Two years ago at age 38 I was training for the the Canadian Ironman Competition (Swim 2.4 miles/Bike 112 miles/run 26 miles), my fitness level was at it's peak. During a 100 mile bike ride my heart rate jumped up, and I was not able to finish my ride. Hours later I finally went to emergency and after unsuccesfully attempting drugs to reduce my 200 plus heart rate I was cardioverted back to normal. Now two years later I have been through scads of tests, had two failed ablasion attempts, many, many episodes of sustained ventricula tachycardia. Through all this I have continued to try to exercise, it seems as though my metabolism has changed or something and I keep gaining weight (now up 25 lbs). They have tried several types of drugs that did not control the vtach the latest efforts have me taking sotalol three times a day (80 mg.) to reduce my heart rate way way down and then they put in a pacemaker to raise my heart rate to a normal level. Now when under any type of exertion I am gasping in oxygen debt. Note that my heart is in otherwise excellent condition two seperate MRI's and a biobsy show my heart muscle is fine. Venous and arteriol E.P. studies are good. Any suggestions, any new studies, anyone having the same problems so that I can attain some type of regular quality of life? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your question. There are new techniques being developed for ablations every day. I would suspect that your tachycardia will someday be able to be successfully ablated. Until then drug therapy is probably your only alternative. Good luck. I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions. If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
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