My visit with the EP

[KLB32]

I had my visit with the EP this morning.  First of all, what killed my little cousin (acute myocarditis) is not the same thing I have according to the EP so he said I should not be concerned about it.  That was a relief.  But he does think my QT intervals are a bit prolonged.  He wants to do a stress test, echo and holter but I can't get back in to do the tests until May 3rd.  I am so scared to wait!  He said it could be I am just one of those people who cannot take certain drugs (like Avelox) and that's all that is needed to control it.  

I suppose if he saw something really concerning on my past EKG's, he wouldn't have let me leave the office without a repeat of the EKG and possibly meds, right??

I am going to be a nervous wreck between now and then.

[kitlyn]

HI i have been at ER for left arm pain,  and a week before that i had a bad tachy spell , I hav eMitral valve prolpase since  i was 29 and it hasn;t been ever like this,  i never had the racing heart , just ehart palps, which i take  75 mg atenonol and then up to 25 mg more lately. MY EKG showed, my QT at 376 ,a dnmy QTc at 423, before that it had read 411 in march 19th of this yr. It also reads abnormal and T wave ..nonspecific findings. I got a copy of the report. I have to go to the cardio tomorrow  which makes me nervous i don;t want him to take me of fmy bb and make things double worse. I feel for you all;. I am so afraid that i have the prolonged QT ,.or am close to it. DOes your QTc etc change on EKG when extra stressed etx.. I have had abnormal ekgs' in the 2005 and before ER and they kept me and stress test was normal. It seems now though this yr that if i exercise to hard like even cleaning house all day that myn pulse stays up more. and longer.. I ahve a beautiful pool.. and wouldn;t dare swim now. TY all K

[stevie_wonder]

You are correct that the machine QTc overcorrects at higher heart rates over around 90 and  under corrects below about 55 or so. At the heart rates you described your QTc would have to around .500 to be considered prolonged. So again don't worry too much. Yours is probably normal. ST abnormalities are very common in healthy people. Machines have trouble detecting T wave abnormalities and can be wrong. The EP would have noticed the tell-tale T wave abnormalities associated with LQTS.

[KLB32]

I am trying not to stress too much but it's so hard!  Then when I got home from work, copies of EKG's I had done in 2003 and 2004 had arrived in the mail (I requested them last week).  There are lots of abnormalities and even one that said I had a prolonged QT at 458ms.  I had one a little higher than that at 462 and it didn't say anything about prolonged QT but on both EKG's, I had a fast heart rate (113 on one and 132 on the other).  My understanding is that EKG's often overcalculate QTc during tachycardia.  I certainly hope that is true.  The weird thing is the QT (before it's corrected for heart rate) is really low (low 300's).  There are also other abnormalities listed like, "Nonspecific ST abnormalities, T wave abnormalities, etc. which are worrying me.  If memory serves, I was taking so QT prologing drugs at the time.

I am so angry that I was told by the ER doctors (and my GP) that these were normal.  I should have been referred to an experienced EP back then.

[tickertock]

I'm not a doctor but i doubt you have long Qt Syndrome, I'm a man and my QTc varies always between .40 to .42, Stevie_wonder is correct that a woman Qtc is usually slightly longer than a mans, if I remember correctly .44 is the upper limit of normal for a man and .46 is the upper limit of normal for a woman.

Qtc will vary and sometimes a person with LQTS can have a normal QTc , on the other hand sometime a person can have a prolonged QTc and NOT have LQTS, It is amazing how often it is missed by even trained cardiologists, I think The EP you seen is taking the right approach, chances are you don't have LQTS, in the maintime try and relax , stop worrying too much , it doesn't help and make matters alot worse, trust me it has taken my 42 years on earth to finally realise this,life is too short, start living.

[stevie_wonder]

Hi,
That is good news to hear that you don't have what your young cousin had. It is not unusual for an EP to not give medications right away for a slightly prolonged QT especially for women. Ours tend to be longer than mens. The stress and holter should give him a better idea if you have Long QT Syndrome. It is also good that he didn't see any of the problem signs on the ECG that would require immediate medications. There is still a good possibility that you are just fine. In the mean time, I wouldn't fret over things. Please keep us posted!
Stevie

[tickertock]

Understandable!! I know how you feel , if the Ep thought you were in danger he/she would have taken test right then and there. Hang tight and keep us posted. Wishing you the best.

[Manhattan]

yes, i believe the only thing you have to do is avoid certain medications like azithromycin etc... i looked this up at one point because i was prescribed this antibiotic and the doctor wanted to do an ekg first to make sure i didn't have long qt interval. you can look this up on google, there is a lot of information about it. i'm sure it will be fine.

[yellowrose]

always good to get a good report and yes if the ekg would of been bad , no he would not let you walk out of office ,plus he would put you right in for test. am saying same thing to myself pvc have been really bad all day long for 16 days i had a 24 hr montor last week but no call from dr , so i called to day and they still have not read it only the ones who download it , but the nurse assured me if while they sownload they look to make sure nothing going on, or they would called me back that day , so feel a sured if something would showed up at office your dr would took care of you than, its the hurry up and wait that gets to us and by the time we do get in we are a nerves wreack and that always makes it worse, so try and relax i know it easy to say when not you but ive been throught a lot with my pvc/pac/flutters and am still here . best of luck barbara