My possible Tachycardia?? What type can it be?

Question

So I am a 13 year old boy who is rather bright for his age and I have done my own research on tachycardia after it happened to me a couple of days ago. The tachycardia happened when I was watching T.V and lying down on the couch. I wasn't anxious or in any state of panic at that time, my feelings were normal. I was about to drift off when my heart started pounding. It was going really fast, maybe 150 bpm (not sure). I stood up and walked to the kitchen to get a drink of water. I felt a little dizzy but not a lot. After taking a sip of water I decided to quickly run to my dad. He took out the heart rate monitor, where you strap a arm band around your arm to measure your how fast your heart beats and your blood pressure, and did a test on me quickly. By that time he put the strap on thought the tachycardia died down and the reading was inaccurate as we believe. The reading was 158/93 (I believe so). My normal reading is 128/79. This whole thing lasted only about a minute and a half. Im just wondering if this is tachycardia or could it be something else and if it is tachycardia what type is it. I've had this before only lasting 30 seconds every year or more. (maybe 3 times before) Please reply soon!

DavidGeller · Answer

Yeah, I  know its hard to just tell from a description without doing tests but i just figured somebody might roughly know what it is. But I decided to start eating healthier after that little episode and I've been feeling better. But me and my mom are still planing to go to the doctors and get some tests done like the EKG and maybe a blood test. I don't think it is a big deal since it rarely every happens and lasts less then 90 seconds.

DavidGeller · Answer

I know that but it was going faster then 100 beats so it could be tachycardia!

Bromley · Answer

Well, it could be tachycardia, but this experience could also have been caused by something else, or it might also be explained by something relatively normal or benign.  Fact is, it is hard to tell if you have a tachycardia just by the heart rate. It will be hard for the doc to know without more testing.

I recall only as far back as 17 years old when I know for sure of a time when I experienced my first episode of tachycardia, but I am told I was born with it.  I may have experienced something like you at first--- fast heart rate and weakness --- for several years. I cant say for certain. Several doctors visits and testing though failed to find out what was going on: I just didn't have my symptoms when I was in the doctors office, so the doctor didn't know what was happening, whether anything was happening, and so it went on for a long time like that.

Finally, when I was 44 a new device was given to me (a heart card) and one day I successfully recorded my tachycardia, then took it into the doctor and let him play it back on his computer. Mind you, when I was 17, we didn't have computers, or heart cards, and the field of electrophysiology (a heart rhytmn medical speciality) wasn't even invented yet.  At age 44, after so many years, having recorded my tachycardia with this newly invented device, the doctor (an electrophysiologist) could find out roughly what type of tachycardia I had. With that knowledge we were able to take additional steps, eventually permanently eliminating my tachycardia using a simple medical procedure (about as painful or difficult as getting a tooth filled). I had an almost half way good doctor and consider myself pretty lucky. Compared to others here who have really had it bad.

kenkeith · Answer

Tachycardia would be fast heartrate arrhythmia. An arrhythmia is a fast heart rate (over 100 at rest), slow heart rate (less than 60 at rest) or irregular heart rate or any combination of heartrate. There is a sinus node in the right atrium that is the heart's pacemaker, and sometimes there is disorder with that node.