SVT and Pregnancy OK? Other SVT Questions?

[emilycaitlin]

I was diagnosed with SVT 3yrs ago, and decided against the ablation, took Toprol xl for a time but currently take no meds for it. It is much better than when I was first diagnosed though I still have attacks. I am taking fertility treatments and told the re about the svt. He agreed to treat me, but I am wondering if any of you with svt had any trouble with your attacks becoming more frequent or severe during pregnancy? I am concerned that if I become pregnant it will suddenly worsen.

Also, do any of you with svt experience neck problems during an attack? When my hr approaches 200 during one, my neck tightens up on both sides and I can feel the pulse much more prominently than in my chest. It actually feels as if something could burst but I know it wouldn't really happen. I've asked my dr if I might have anxiety as well but he says I do not. I'd appreciate any advice or comments, thanks so much!  em

[tarachellex3]

I'm 18 years old and i just found out im 11 weeks pregnant. i have had tachycardia for numerous years now. i was just wondering if anyone knew if i will be able to have a "normal" birth or if i will have to have a c-section.... thanks ya'll!

Tara

[lulu5566]

hi, my husband is 39 yrs old. he is a smoker, every now in then u hear  & see his heart beating real fast.. this past sunday it happened again, his pulse was 258, then went down to 152. it last for approx 1/2 hr. doesn`t happen that often. does any one know what this can be.. also someone told me that it can be svt. if this goes untreated what can happen.. please help. lulu

[Mom2Bryson]

Hey everyone...I have been searching this site and others on the net and have yet to find the answer I am looking for.  I am currently 32 weeks pregnant.  To give some history I was diagnosed with mild MVP back in March, 2006.  I started excepting that and I also had been diagnosed with malignant hypertension.  I am 24 years old and I am not overweight. I used to excercise regularly but don't at the present time.  Anyway, about my 5th month of pregnancy my PVC's started to get more frequent,before I would only have them when my BP spiked.  Now I get them for no reason at all.  I have wore a 24 hour holter monitor, had 6 EKG's which were all normal.  It showed on the holter that I had 13 PVC's and two episodes of SVT.  I was told it was normal.  Well, now I have long runs of PVC's so my OBGYN referred me to a cardiologist. I had another echo and the results came back normal with no evidence of MVP at all.  Alot of people say they get better during pregnancy but I seem to have gotten worse.  I have a 5 year old son and never had this problem during pregnancy with him.  I seem to be super sensitive to adrenaline and when I am bending, lying, of when I just sit down I get crazy PVC's.  Please someone help me, I am really scared that I am not going to be around to raise my kids.  I am grateful to God that my prayers were answered regarding the MVP but I also want to get rid of these annoying beats.

[anacyde]

To ease your mind, the stress of pregnancy isn't what causes PPCM, they believe it is a combination of autoimmune factors (I have many) and catching the right virus at the right time which in turn triggers this autoimmune response - which in turn weakens the heart muscle.

With regard to SVT, I have no idea why mine all but vanished after cutting caffeine, but it did.  I had a few runs during both pregnancies, but nothing like my original diagnosis was (thank goodness!).  Like you, I think I'd have gone nuts if it had gotten that bad again.  Of course I know much more now, and SVTs are pretty benign in normal hearts...especially with all the successful treatments now.

Good luck with everything :)  Don't let worry over PPCM stop you.  The chances are sooooooooooo slim.

[miche35]

Hi girls,
Today is my 36th birthday, and my present to myself was waking up at 7am with a racing heart of 140!  My Inderal obviously is not working.  I'm on 30mg 3xday, and it is lowering my bp too much (80/55) so I have to try something else.  She wants me to take Lexapro tonight for one week and then next week switch my beta blocker to maybe Atenolol.  So that I won't have to start two drugs at once.  I'm frustrated.  Did you have normal sinus tach ever or just the svt?  This is soo frustrating. Hope your both doing well. Michelle

[emilycaitlin]

Hi Michelle, First of all, Happy Birthday! I hope it got better, what an awful way to start the day. That is a really low bp, glad they are doing something to try and work it out. I remember when I first started my toprol I would have to go all the way to the dr's AND pay my copay, just so they could check my bp! It never got low like that though. As far as the tach goes, whenever I get an svt attack alot of times I will feel the irregular beating first for a few seconds, like really hard thumping and flopping of my heart, and then it immediately will be super fast, usually for a few hours. Once it gets that way there is really nothing but time that will make it slow down, not even laying still. It goes mostly like that for me but sometimes I will just notice the very fast hr without the initial palps. How long are yours lasting? I hate that the meds aren't working out so far. Have they mentioned toprol to you? Alot of people don't like it but it really helped me and never messed with my bp. Well I hope your birthday got better as the day went along, be sure and do something nice for yourself today!

[emilycaitlin]

Hi anacyde, thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I'm glad the cardiomyopathy you had has improved. That's one of the things I worry about, that maybe the stress of pregnancy would be too much and cause something like that. My svt was pretty severe when I was first diagnosed and I could not handle if it were to go back that way. It's improved alot, not really sure why except I cut caffeine and stay home now, I used to have alot of job stress so maybe that contributed.

Hopefully this fertility stuff will work out, I did the Clomid already and am on to other things now so I will be hoping. Thanks again for talking with me, best wishes, em

[emilycaitlin]

Hey Michelle, I'm glad you're here! My goodness, 8 miscarriages-that must have been so heartbreaking, I am so sorry you had to go through that. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for you. How have you been doing? Did you get any more tests done or have the drs let you know anymore? That must have been frustrating too, for the drs to tell you so long that it was completely anxiety until they finally caught the svt. Even if you have anxiety attacks sometimes, I bet alot of them were brought on by the svt.

I usually try not to think about the svt, but I'm going to this fertility dr everyone says has amazing success rates, so I think I might actually have a chance to get pregnant. Been trying 7yrs, and I really worry this stuff will get alot worse, and wonder if maybe I'm making a mistake taking these treatments even though the dr said he would treat me. Just have to see how it goes I guess. I like this board, hope you have been feeling better, em

[anacyde]

Hi.  I was diagnosed with PSVT (SVT) 12 years ago.  I've gone through two pregnancies with few issues.  The PSVT did act up from the pregnancy hormones, but predominantly around the 24th through 30th weeks after which it subsided.  I did have a recurrence of frequent PSVT episodes following the birth of my second, but I also developed a pregnancy-related borderline cardiomyopathy...which I believe triggered my recent recurrence.  It is improving since I recovered (I'm normal now).

I am not treated for my PSVT, it usually breaks within a minute or less.

I would say don't let the SVT stop you.  Count on a few extra episodes of it if you're like me, but it should resolve after the baby is born.

Hope everything goes well for you!!  I went through the infertility struggle myself.  I got a positive test the day my Clomid came in - after two years of trying ;)

[miche35]

Hey Em!! It's Michelle from the healthboards, I've been on here awhile, it's great, hopefully you will find some good people who you can talk to.  I've made a lot of friends with SVT and you can even exchange emails here.  I just wanted to say hi, and tell you I hope someone can answer your questions.  I will tell you, I did have SVT during one of my last pregnancies, I lost the baby in my fourth month.  Not due to the SVT!  I've had 8 miscarriages, so it wasn't from the heart.  But, what I was going to say was I did have tachycardia and svt really really bad during my 2nd and 3rd month, then lost it in my 4th.  I thought that I developed the SVT this year, but after sitting down with the Dr.'s and telling them all the times I had my "anxiety attacks" in the past and what they did, we discovered I actually developed this after my first and only son was born 10 years ago, and just never knew what it was until now, since it obviously became much worse.  When I was pregnant, I got really tachy all day long if I stood too, I was seeing a high-risk specialist and he was not concerned about my heart problems (tho all he knew then was I was just sinus tach and pac's/pvcs).  I guess they treat you pretty much the same way if you weren't pregnant, but not positive.  He just told me at the time I was to take it easier, drink more and stay out of the heat.  I also have a mild mvp, and my pac's and pvc's were much worse, but he said that in your second trimester a lot of women notice them less.   Anyways, I didn't know if you wanted to know all that or not, but wanted to share with you.  If you ever want to talk, I'm here.  Also, look up in the search section and type in svt and pregnancy, I think there might be some info there too.  Take care, I hope you get pregnant soon, it is so wonderful!  ***@****