PSVT not noticed

My name is George, I am a 22-year-old male in good health, 6'0", 148 lbs. About a month ago I felt a burning in my chest, some pains, and had a bit of trouble breathing, and palpitations. I was sent to a cardiologist, who performed ECGs, an echocardiogram, a stress echo, blood tests, and Holter monitoring. Everything was normal except the Holter results; it detected 13 non-consecutive minutes where my heart rate was around 120-130 bpm. I was resting for most of the time I had it on. I was diagnosed with PSVT, given Atenolol, 50mg once a day.
The chest discomfort was never diagnosed, although the cardiologist and my GP said it didn't sound cardiac, and since at one point I had bloody mucus, it was determined to probably be respiratory in nature - some kind of inflammation or something. Also, the discomfort was constant, which wouldn't be PSVT, and didn't go away with Atenolol. The problem did eventually go away, but now I have the PSVT diagnosis.

Anyway, this is my question - I never, at any time during the Holter monitoring or otherwise in my life, felt an abnormal rapid heartbeat. I was a cross-country runner in HS and college, and a pretty good one at that, so I have no problem with exercise. I have fainted twice, once when I was very little, once when I was 17, but it was written off as low blood sugar or something (although it wasn't checked out too thoroughly).

So, how could this be? 120/130 is awful fast, I'm fairly certain I would notice that. Is it possible I wouldn't, or that it's happening during sleep?

[Cleveland Clinic]

zornick,

Thanks for the post.

Its difficult to say what the event was without complete knowlege of the Holter and exaclty what you were foing when your heart rate was elevated. The holter should tell you exaclty what time the events occurred so you should be able to correlate the episodes with your activities of the day/night.

13 minutes out of a day or 2 of holter monitoring might not really be abnormal if the episodes occurred when you were active. Its also not entirely unreasonable that a young otherwise healthy person would not feel an elevated heart rate in that range.

I would discuss the findings with your cardiologist. There are different types of SVT and I would want to know exactly what your rhythm was during these episodes...ie: sinus, reentry, fibrillation, etc...

good luck

[netrox]

For people who are worried about their PVC's (like me), last night really opened my eyes.

I was with a friend. We were having a normal conversation and he just went silent and put his hand on his chest. He looked at me and said, "Feel my heartbeat. I get this once every few months." I put my hand on his chest and I felt his extremely fast pulse - clearly a case of SVT and he doesn't seem to worry. He said, "I just need to lay down and take a deep breath." He sat down and took deep breaths. SVT lasted for about five minutes. Once SVT stopped, he just went back to his normal routine as if it was nothing to be concerned. I was frightened, concerned about his health but he wasn't one bit afraid. He didn't think he was going to die. He did not panic at all. Unfortunately, for me, I worry for him and nearly panicked.

I wish I would not worry about my own PVC's which are never proven to be dangerous in normal hearts. :(

[rhia]

Great post!! That is a very inspirational story! Thank you.