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1913934 tn?1322264031

Irregular Heart beating symptoms, whats wrong??

Hi guys,

i had an episode with my heart today that was triggered while i was at the gym. I felt a fluttering sensation in my chest and when i felt my pulse it felt like it was beating very fast but not hard, (there were no palpations). The rhythm was a steady beat but it felt like my heart chambres were not contracting at the correct time. This lasted for somewhere between 5 to 10 minutes. i splashed some cold water on my face and held my breathe, and it seemed to snap out of it. I am 23 years old.

i have had one other episode like this in the past at 21 that lasted for 20-30 minutes, it was also triggered by physical activity ..............please let me know if you know what this might be or if you have had something like this
Best Answer
1124887 tn?1313754891
If you splashed your face with ice water and held your breath, and this terminated your arrhythmia (instantly, I assume, when you say snap out of it) this is very likely to be a supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), probably the specific one "AVNRT" (AV nodal reentry tachycardia). It's common and in most cases not dangerous, but something your doctor should investigate.

You should tell this to your doctor, preferrably one specialized in internal medicine or heart medicine. Do NOT forget to say that you terminated it by splashing ice cold water in your face and holding your breath, this is really useful info and may make it unnecessary to capture it with EKG.

If your heart rate was regular, you probably (likely) didn't have atrial fibrillation. The fact that your heart beats were "weak" is caused by the sudden increase in heart rate without similar backflow of blood to the heart, so the heart has less workload for each beat.

Treatment can be to live with it, take meds or ablation to get rid of the extra pathway once and for all.

See your doctor! Good luck :)

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1124887 tn?1313754891
Sorry for a late answer.

The skipped beats will in some cases help, but probably not in your case. If you suffer from PACs rather than PVCs, chance of a supraventricular tachycardia is higher, but in your case you've already proven that you have a supraventricular tachycardia (and almost all young people have supraventricular tachycardias rather than ventricular).

I assume your resting EKG is normal. If you can terminate the arrhythmia by holding your breath and splashing ice cold water in your face, there is in fact just two possibilities (unless it terminated with a coincidence while you held your breath), AVNRT and AVRT. The first one is common and caused by impulses running through two pathways between the atrium (upper heart chamber) and the AV node (the gate between atria and ventricles). The last one is somewhat more rare and caused by an extra pathway between atria and ventricles. This is usually (though not always) seen on a resting EKG while you don't have symptoms. If your cardiologist suspects you have this condition, he can do some tests to reveal the extra pathway. Chance of you having this is statistically low, however, but it must be investigated because this condition is, in some cases, more serious than the first one.

Maybe an EP study is required to reveal what arrhythmia you suffer from, but this is maybe not necessary, you should discuss that with your cardiologist.

Take care :)

Helpful - 0
1807132 tn?1318743597
To be honest I don't know.  I went 40 years thinking I was hyperventilating so I was really ignorant to what what was going on for most of my life and when I did finally look it up on line I found I was never able to convert mine on my own but they always stopped on their own so I never once went to the ER for it.  But be sure to ask the doctor that when you go see them.  Also let them know that you work remotely.  I thought I read somewhere that they can give you medicine that you can take only when you are having an episode to help it stop.   Since you have only had 2 episodes years apart this may be your best bet at this time but consult with your doctor to devise the best plan for you.
Helpful - 0
1913934 tn?1322264031
Michelle: i really appreciate you taking time to respond, very informative. Its great to hear from someone who has gone through the same thing it puts me slightly more at ease!. I will schedule an appointment with my doctor.

From the fact that i can stop them now, does that necessarily mean i will be able to stop them 20 or 30 years from now?

Tom: I looked up those terms,thanks. i was reading up on psvt which seems to be the old name for the terms you posted.
Helpful - 0
1423357 tn?1511085442
If you're into reading up on this stuff, check out the terms, AVNRT, AVRT, Supra Ventricular Tachycardia.

If you begin to experience additional episodes, a small monitor can be worn for periods of up to 30 days to capture an event.
Helpful - 0
1807132 tn?1318743597
The skipped or missed beats is likely something else besides the svt but rather a trigger for the svt to get going.  There are cells in your ventricles likely that are irritated and firing on their own.  This causes a disruption in the normal beating of your heart so when one of them (a pvc or pac) goes off your heart will have two beats (the normal and then pvc) and then will likely pause as it resets itself.  It is during this pause that you can fall into a tachycardia, especially in the case of avnrt.  You will likely need to be in a state that the avnrt can be induced before an EP cardiologist will be able to perform an ablation to fix your issue so it is likely they will want to at least capture an episode before hand so they can preliminarily diagnose what you have.  If you can catch an episode and note how fast your heart is going it is also a good indication of what type of arrhythmia you have.  Arrhythmias that are over 200bpm tend to be avnrt.  In this type you have an extra pathway leading into your avnode that the signal jumps on and when you have the pause it gives the signal a chance to go back out the other entryway thus creating a loop in the signal.  It is an easy one to fix so long as the extra pathway isn't too close to the main entryway but like I said the doc needs to be able to induce an episode to know where to ablate and if you have them that seldom they may suggest trying to live with the episodes especially since they are so seldom.  The condition itself is not life threatening so long as you don't let the episodes run on unchecked but it sounds like you are able to stop them on your own.  I wasn't and had to wait until they were done on their own.  My doctor told me that they do indeed get worse with age.  He said something about the extra pathway maturing thus becoming more able to be an electrical conduit.  That said, most of us have lived a long time with the condition before having it corrected.  I am 44.  Had sporadic episodes when I was younger.  Started to get them more often in my thirties and they became almost weekly once I got into my 40s.  I had the ablation in September and since I was so active they were able to induce an episode on the first try and the procedure which typically takes a minimum of 3 hours only lasted 2 for me.  But others who are not as induceable were in for 7 or more hours with no success so something you really don't want to take on unless you know it will work.  But you should definitely go see a doctor and get evaluated especially since we are only patients and not doctors.  But I would say I wouldn't worry too much about your profession.  If you are able to stop the episodes on your own you are in pretty good shape compared to some.  But even though I could not stop mine they did stop on their own usually only lasting a minute or two.  I only had a few episodes that lasted hours so if you get an episode just do what you did.  Stop and do what you can do to get it to stop and you should be good to go after that.  Take care and go see your doc.
Helpful - 0
1913934 tn?1322264031
Hey thanks for your feedback guys very helpful. I've literally done nothing all day today besides reading up on heart conditions, im still a little freaked from the episode and keep checking my pulse every hour to make sure its normal. Is this a condition that gets worse with age?

is_something_wrong: yes those are the methods i used to make my heart get back to normal rhythm. Im just not sure how the doctor will diagnose me since he probably wont be able to capture it. I have been prone to single skipped beats or added beats since my teen years, if the doc captures one of these will he be able to make a diagnosis based on this?
Helpful - 0
1423357 tn?1511085442
As I_S_W noted above, you are describing all of the "tools" used to convert SVT to normal rhythm.  Your condition will often reveal itself while doing activities of the nature that you describes.  It's best to have a cardiologist take a look and listen to your description of your event.
Helpful - 0
1913934 tn?1322264031
Im new to all of this, tach arrhythmia's would include things like atrial fibrillation, svt and atrial flutter?

do tach's need to be treated by a physician directly or by meds? I'm just starting a career that requires me to be in remote areas, dont want companies to see me as a walking liability especially since  these things get worse with age
Helpful - 0
1423357 tn?1511085442
Sounds like some kind of tach arrhythmia.  Due to the fleeting nature of these events, they are hard to pinpoint.  Mention this to your physician the next time you see him.  An EKG is often pointless as it will show a perfectly normal waveform.
Helpful - 0
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1807132 tn?1318743597
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