Some good news ( I hope).......

[marcb]

I have not had any Tachycardia or irregular heart beeats in a week now! I quit drinking ground decaf coffee, and switched to Folgers instant decaf crystals, and so far so good.

I still have two leaky valves (trace on both) but feel really good.

a little background: I'm a 55 year old male, and two years ago I experienced an episode of PAT, and ended up in the ER with a pulse of 208 and VTACH. They slowed it down with drugs, and after a full workup by my cardiologist, I was told to stay away from caffiene. So I switched to dring 48 oz of decaf coffee in the mornings, and the irregular heart beats continued, but no where near as bad.

This past october I had an episode that lasted for an hour, and ended up in the ER again with a rate of 201. They slowed it down with the usual drugs, and started me on Toprol XL 25mg, once a day. My cardiologist took me off it, as I didn't like the meds, and I cut my decaf down to 24 oz.

Then in December I had a third episode, and ended up in the ER again with a rate of 193. The gave me a prescription for Cardizem CD, which I took for two weeks, and asked my cardiologist to take me off it, which he did last week.

So since last Thursday, I have felt better than I've felt in a very long time.

I am amazed that I have such a low tolerance to caffiene, but the Folgers instant decaf crystals seem to be working. From the research I did, the Folgers is the only one that tests couldn't detect any caffiene in; the label says it's 99.7% caffiene free.

So we'll see....

Have a great guys!......marc

[sb786]

I hope you continue to feel better and not have another episode again.
i'm a little concerned now, i have SVT and now wory that it may also turn into vt. i am 27 years old and i have a structrually normal heart and all my heart tests are also normal.

[marcb]

And only time will tell with me.
Regards,....marc

[sb786]

Its great that you have found some success. Personally for me i don't think that it would make a major difference. i have quit all caffeine for weeks and still experience pvcs svt etc.
You said you had PAT 2 years ago. Had you suffered from PAT before this? Is PAT the same as SVT?

[sb786]

Thanks Marc, was the tachy that you had for many years SVT or sinus tachy? I read a similar post to yours on another heart forum and a lady was talking about how sensitive she was to caffeine and that by eliminating it totaly she no longer has any tachycardia episodes but her tachycardia was SVT.

[marcb]

I've had tachycardia and irregular heart beats for many years, but nothing that lasted so long that I had to go to the ER. I knew it was caffiene related, but loved my coffee and Coke.

But going to the ER a few times has made me see the light and hope giving it up will continue to show good results.

My cardiologist says I'm sure to have more episodes, so we'll see.

Regards,.....marc

[kitcurious]

Congratulations!! I got the Folgers as well and it doesn't trigger any palps for me so far either. I only have a cup or so  because I figure nothing is 100% caffeine-free (if it ever once had caffeine in it) and if I drink a ton I'll counteract the positive, but so far so good with it :-)

[anacyde]

I'm really glad to hear you're finding some relief :)  I do find I have an extremely low caffeine tolerance myself.  I can't even drink decaf, and I've tried several times with multiple brands.  I'm not pleased about that, I really enjoy coffee, but the symptoms aren't worth it for me.

I hope all continues to go well for you!