How long is too long for Tachycardia?

I had a mini-maze surgery 3 months ago, after being in persistent afib with tachycardia for some 5 years.  The tachy was fairly well controlled until the end of that.  I had complete heart block a couple of weeks following the surgery and a pacemaker put in.  I have no had afib since then (and now I have a spy in my body that can tell us that!).  However, I have trouble exercising still and on my last visit to the cardiologist he had me do a walk test and I went into v-tach.  It ended quickly, so he put me on a beta blocker.

All has been going well, but the other day I had two runs of tachycardia.  The heart beat was incredibly steady in the 179bpm range.  It lasted for 45 minutes both times and was very uncomfortable, with my heart cramping, and the pericarditis type pain after surgery flaring.  

As it went away I did not do anything, but some people think I should.

My real worry is that this was V-tach, not just SVT.  Can that be told without an EKG?  Is it dangerous to let your heart speed at that rate for that long?  Although my tachycardia with afib could reach that high, as it bounced around it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable.

Real question is could it have been V-tach, and if it happens again, should I just ignore it unless it continues on.

(I realize after surgery your heart is "irritated" and you might have a few problems, but this seemed like quite an event to me)

[Mom2four85]

can you call your doctor and tell them so they can interrogate your pm and see what you're having and see what it shows?

[anodyne1940]

They are not set up to do that with me over the phone.  I have an appointment the first week of April which is pretty soon and was just going to wait if nothing else happened.  I just wish I knew whether it was aflutter or vtach and given that the heart felt worse after it happened whether it should be ignored.  I always ignored my afib.

[Mom2four85]

April is pretty close.... but if it is VT runs you probably should let them know what's going on just to be safe.  

I've learned not to ignore what I'm feeling; I'm the best judge of when something is wrong with my body.  I could tell you what my NSVT and Vtach feels like and so could others; but we each feel things a bit differently and it may not be correct in what your is.I would call and at least ask what they want you to do.