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Questions posted in the
Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Question Title: 26 yr old, diagnosed with 2 types arrythmia, Need Help!!Forum: The Heart Forum
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Hello. I am 26 yrs old, and for about 6 mos. I have been experiencing chest pain, heart skipping, and fluttering in my chest. I finally went to my doctor after 4 mos of this, (mostly all at night) to get it checked out. She said it was probably due to my thyroid being out of whack,(underactive), and checked my levels for 2 mos. All bloodwork came back good, all levels within normal ranges. So she suggested a 24 hr monitor. True to my word, I started with my weird chest pains that night, and got to hit the event button probably about 30 times. Finally about 2 wks later, I got tenative results. My doc called and said that is was called svt, and meds would control it. Well I started the meds, and went on vacation. It actually got worse.2 wks later I called my doc and told her, and she said she was trying to get ahold of me, she got the final report, and it was a bit more serious than she thought. I have a copy of the report, and would like some help interpreting it. She is sending me to a cardiologist at u of m, and I am getting in rather soon. And truthfully I am really scared. I am only 26. I have 4 childre, one who has many medical problems, due to my pregnancy with him. Which they think is the cause of my heart problem. During the pregnancy in 97, I had sepsis, pneumonia, and preterm labor. An echo cardiogram showed my heart beating too fast to get a clear picture, but everything looked normal, other than tachycardic, with a slight regurgitation. So if anyone can help me with the following comments, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank You! In a 25 hr monitoring period, I had 1 hr 44 mins of tachycardia, and 3 hrs 37 mins of bradycardia. Supraventricular ectopic activity consisted of 164 beats, of which 118 were pac's and remaining 46 were in atrial couplets. Of course I could not include the whole report, but these I thought were the most important. Sorry so lengthy, but any help would be greatly appreciated! I am constantly worried, and sleep is rare to me anyway, but anything to ease my mind, so I know something of what is happening to me, would help. Thank You.
Dear Becky, thank you for your question. I don't know how your physician determined that you were having supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) from your Holter Monitor report. Tachycardia refers to any heart rate > 100 beats per minute. Your report lists normal sinus rhythm during the entire monitoring period so you did not have an episode of SVT. You did have ectopic beats that are probably causing you to experience palpitations, but most likely, these ectopic beats are benign and will not harm you. Everyone has ectopic heart beats, but some people just notice them more than others. Common precipitants of ectopic beats that should be avoided are alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine. The echocardiogram that was done during your illness indicated that your heart was responding in the normal fashion to a severe illness. You still need to see the cardiologist to whom you were referred, but I suspect he/she will inform you that everything is o.k. and that you have nothing to worry about. 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. Good luck. 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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