AV Nodal Re-entry

[mis596]

I have been going to a electrophysist cardiologist for a
rhythem problem.  He thinks I might have AV Nodal Re-entry
tachycardia or PAT.  My heart rate was picked up on
a monitor increasing for 7 beats to 150 bpm than back
to normal.  I've had this problem for a few years but
its gotton worse as I age.  I'm 43 now.  A lot of times
when I roll over or make a sudden move might heart will
click on into a fast rythem and I'll have to hold my
breath to get it to go back to normal. I've tried 3 different
medicines and am currently on 25mg Atenolol. A few times while
exercising my heart will go into palpatations and I have to
slow down and take constant deep breaths to make it go back to
normal.  My questions are:
1.  Is it normal for your heart to go into palpatations
when exercising?  It never did it before.  
2.  Since starting the beta blocker I seem to be loosing
a large amount of hair which I've read can be normal with these
medicines.  My electrophysist wants to wait until my next visit
to decide how bad my hair is falling out.  He said if I'm
bald by Christmas I can take the Atenolol as needed instead of
all the time.  Funny.  I don't want to try an ablation yet.
Is it safe to take Atenolol only when I feel my heart racing or
when it goes into palpations?  I'm really sick of taking medicine
for something that doesn't seem to be going to kill me.

[CCF-M.D.-RCJ]

mis596,

(1) No, it's not "normal" for a person to develop palpitations with exercise.  Persons with AVNRT or PAT, however, can certainly have exercise as one of the triggers for their palpitations.

(2) Some people do indeed take atenolol on an as needed basis.  The safety of doing that depends on many factors, including the severity of your past attacks, whether or not you get a warning for your attacks, etc.  An alternative to the atenolol would be to try another beta-blocker, like toprol, to see if it also leads to hair loss.

One last thought: hyperthyroidism can trigger both palpitations and hair loss. Has you thyroid level been checked?

Good luck.

[CrzyMom756]

Try coughing, drinking ice water, sticking your head in the freezer or bearing down (as if having a bowel movement)or massage the carotid artery.  These things usually stopped my tachycardia (AVNRT)  However, 2 wks ago I had a cardiac abaltion which "burned" away the extra pathway (haven't had an episode since)!

Get youself checked out to see if you would be a good candidate for this relatively simple painless procedure!

[mis596]

Were you diagnosed with PAT or AV nodal reentry.
This has been happening to me since my early 30's.
It woke me up one day.  I thought maybe my heart
stopped but I must have rolled over and it went
really fast.  I have to take deep breaths when this
happens and usually in 5 minutes it goes right back
into a normal beat.  Twice though my heart went into
somekind of quivering motion for 5 minutes and no matter
what I did I couldn't get it to go back into a normal beat.
It finally went back in on it's own.  This has been going
on for at least 13 years.  The older I get the more it happens.
They've picked up some things on the monitor but not the
problems I've complained about.  Usually it's just a fluttering
feeling that they pick up.  I've been on Atenenol for the
past 2 months.  It seemed to work at first but not I seem to
be having problems again.  I've tried toprol and cardizem but
neither one worked 100% either.  I'm sick of medicine but am
scared of the ablation.  How do you know it worked?