EP Study surprise

I'm a 48 year old male. I went in for a wellness exam with no health issues. When I got to full heart rate on a treadmill, the ECG showed that I was in VTach, though I didn't feel it. I had many tests after that, MRI, Stress Echo, Angiogram. Nothing showed any issues, no structural damage, no heart disease. I wore a heart monitor day and night for a month also with no issues. A follow up treadmill after being on half of the lowest dose of Toprol showed no vTach. So the doctor said I could either stay on the medication or get an EP study and see if they could do an ablation. They weren't really sure if they would be able to induce anything in the EP study since I had so few signs. I didn't like the idea of being on meds for life, so I went for the EP study.  Well... while in the EP study, my heart rate jumped to 300 bps, technically vfib. I passed out and they had to bring me back. The reaction was far stronger than anyone had imagined. They could not complete the study or do an ablation. As a result, I now have an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Difibrillator). The ICD has never fired or even shown any abnormal beats. But on my last checkup, on the treadmill, the vtach showed up again when I pushed to my target heart rate.This was while I was still on the Toprol. Again, I didn't feel it. I don't think I'm typical in this, but I thought my experience might help others. On the one hand, my EP study went badly. On the other hand, it revealed a very real risk that I didn't know about and no one really expected. My heart could have gone into that state when I was out running on a trail somewhere instead of in the operating room. That would have been it for me. Now if anything happens, I have the ICD to help me out. It isn't all I would have hoped for, but it sure beats the alternative.


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