tachycardia

[kasey]

I have a couple questions regarding AV Nodal reentry tachycardia.

1) When does this become a life threatening situation? How long can a healthy heart stand beating @ 250bpm?

2) My cardiologist recommended an ablation.  Im currently taking Atenolol, which works good.  Would it hurt to wait till I got older, perhaps 40, to get the ablation since the meds are working?

3)I want to get pregnant soon.  does this put me at high risk?
    

4) I've had many EKG's that were normal, and also an attack of SVT was caught on the EKG.  None of them showed WPW.  Is there still a chance it could be WPW, and not the AV nodal reentry?


thanks alot for your time.  this is a great forum!

[Guru Tek]

I had an ablation also on 6/24/2000.  It was great.  I had PSVT.  My heart was beating 250 BPM.  I feel real good now.  Let's see if I can start running soon too. Anyhow, my ablation went great and it was very painful.  I would give it an 5 from 1-10.  But I would recommend it to anyone, who wants a cure.

Good day

[neebie1000]

I started having tachycardia after the birth of my second child. My cardiologist said it was ok to get pregnant again, which I did. I had just a couple of bouts while pregnant which didn't last too long and converted with the valsalva. My older son also has tachycardia, and I am afraid my 6 year old may also have this. Yuck. I get so panicky when my heart is going like a freight train, and I hate to think that they will have to deal with this at such young ages! Anyway, my pregnancy went fine with no meds, just monitoring by my cariologist, but then I get sporatic bouts that are usually fairly easily converted. Good luck!

[stevebu]

Michelle

  My understanding is that a tape would show the difference between PSVT and WPW.  That is what I have read in this forum before anyway.  I have also read on this forum that a healthy heart could beat that fast for several days before it may weaken, but I sure wouldn't want it to go on that long.  I also so info from a doctor here that stated pregnancy could cause increase in SVT episodes.
  I will tell you I had RF ablation on 06/26 and life without meds has been great.  I was 33 years old at the time.  If I had to rate the pain and anxiety I experience with the RF ablation on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 2.  And I am a big chicken.  My doctor is very confident he cured my PSVT.  I run long distance and have had no problems to date.  You may want to consider this option.  Good luck to you.  

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

1) When does this become a life threatening situation? How long can a healthy heart stand beating @ 250bpm?
A: It depends on the health of the heart to start with.  Marathoners regularlly maintain high heart rates for long periods.  Someone with severe heart disease may only last a few minutes.  

2) My cardiologist recommended an ablation. Im currently taking Atenolol, which works good. Would it hurt to wait till I got older, perhaps 40, to get the ablation since the meds are working?
A: I would recommend the ablation.  AVNRT is one of the easier rhythms to cure with an ablation.  There are some risks involved but I feel the benefits outweigh the risks. That being said it is also OK to take medication to control it, and would probably not 'hurt' anything to get the ablation later.


3)I want to get pregnant soon. does this put me at high risk?
A: I would discuss this with your OB.


4) I've had many EKG's that were normal, and also an attack of SVT was caught on the EKG. None of them showed WPW. Is there still a chance it could be WPW, and not the AV nodal reentry?
A: It could be  concealed WPW with an accessory pathway very close to the AV node.  In either case it would be found on EP study and ablated.

[kasey]

The responses have been very helpful.  I really would like to get the ablation done, but I'm nervous about it.  Like I said, the meds work great for me.  I now only have an episode maybe once a year and it only lasts a few minutes.  But then again I know if I did heavy exercise the attacks would come more frequently even with the meds.  It's alot to think about, I'm sure eventually I'll go for the ablation, just don't know when.  Good Luck to everyone!

[Caroline(from UK)but now living in State]

Michelle,I dont know much about your condition,but I have inappropriate sinus tachycardia and since moving to the States I have had an increasesd number of attacks. This bothers me too as I am soon going to try for a family. My father has SVT and my brother had WPW . They are both doing fine and my Father is stable on medication. He did have an ablation a couple of years back,but it didnt seem to make much difference,however the tablets he is on now (fleconide)(UK brand) make him feel much better and he rareley gets episodes. He can get heartbeats up to 250 and it can last hours but the doctors seem to think this is not life threatening and will not tire the heart unless it goes on for about 3 days!! I am going to be seeing a heart specialist in a few weeks to see what to do about different drugs as the ones im on are no good and I wish to get pregnant. Good luck to you.

[Loretta]

I had the ablation done when I was 40. I didn't know I had other problems not detected and they showed up. I now have a pace maker. That's because I had a birth defect we didn't know about and it didn't show up until later. I am not trying to scare you. The ablation is the way to go if you have frequent attacks of SVT or reentry. (By the way, both can go hand in hand as mine did).  If you want children, I wouldn't take the drugs no matter if it claims safety or not. Out of everyone I interviewed who had the ablation, only three of us had problems and they weren't because of the ablation itself.  Make sure your doctor is a specialist in this. I would say go for it. From what you said, I don't think it's WPW. My heart had many extra pathways and one in particular would cause my heart to beat 230 beats a minute. The doctor said it took off like a race car.If you want to talk any more, you can e-mail me at ***@****
Loretta