Narrow Complex Tachycardia/Supraventricular tachycardia or Atrial fibrillation?

Hi,

I am a 21 year old female from the UK, with a chronic pain problem and now a heart problem. I do not drink, I do not take recreational drugs, I rarely have caffeine, roughly 1 cup of very milky tea a day. I take codeine for my pain problem, and sadly due to this I cannot exercise much as just walking to the car can put me out for days.

I have been having heart problems for roughly the last two years, with these problems being alot worse in the last 6 months. I get palpitations, a heart rate of ~160 when walking & ~125 at rest, I also occasionally pre-faint (muffled hearing, having to lie down, nausia etc) Around the time of me feeling ill I have noticed 1/2 of the time my blood pressure also drops very low, I naturally have low blood pressure but it drops lower than this and I have to lie down & elevate my feet. I always have cold arms & legs and 80% of the time I have purple finger & toe nails. It generally feels like a car engine that is trying to start but wont. Episodes last roughly 4-6 hours with the longest being about 72 hours, sometimes the episodes make me so tired I sometimes sleep up to 72 hours only getting up to go to the toilet!!!! I am a very very motivated person, I once discharged myself from hospital to attend a lecture, so for me to spend 72 hours in bed, there has to be something wrong haha. Another notable point is when I have a really bad episode, my heart rate along with my blood pressure DROPS... which is very very odd! When my heart feels at its worst my pulse is generally 80bpm!! and having an average heart rate of 125bpm, this is very odd, could this be a clue to what is wrong?

I have seen a cardiologist & had 1x 24 hour monitor which showed tachycardia, and a 7 day loop recorder. Both of these tests showed tachycardia but not much else. Subsequently I went for a follow up appointment with cardiologist and he diagosed me with Inapropriate Sinus Tachycardia and blamed it on my gender and age he discharged me.

My mum has Paroxismal Atrial Fibrillation so I took her along to the afformentioned cardiologist appointment with me, she managed to convince the cardiologist to give me another 48 hour heart tape and a 24hr blood pressure monitor despite him discharging me.

Out of the blue 4 weeks later, I recieved a letter... the 48hour monitor FOUND something, which the cardiologist called some(so I am presuming more than one) episodes of narrow complex tachycardia and he wants to bring me back to their clinic.

This appointment is in a months time, so rather than spend a month researching this and worrying myself I thought I would post on here and get advice.

Firstly, does this sound like narrow complex tachycardia... with my mum having Atrial Fibrillation, could this be what I have and is it genetic? I know there are a number of conditions which are described as NCT do my symptoms give any indication to what this could be?

Could the initial diagnosis of Inapropriate Sinus Tachycardia be correct, or now they have picked up something else is this no longer the diagnosis?

Could this diagnosis of narrow complex tachycardia be a mistake as one of the electrodes fell off on the 24 hour monitor?

What is the likelyhood of my life returning back to normal and no longer feeling ill?

Sorry to be a bore,
Thanks,
Hannah

[Jerry_NJ]

You are not "a bore" , you a person with a complex heart problem.

First I will be of little help other than bumping your post back to the top on this Sunday morning in the USA.

As for AFib, that's my problem, it is rather common (way less than 50% but common) among seniors, but not common in those younger, even if they are "prone" to that problem, as for genetic, I have never seen or read about such a link.  

The only path forward it to have a clear and concise description of your felt symptoms, maybe a bullet point listing to be sure you can explain clearly and quickly to all doctors studying your case.

Good luck,  

[michellepetkus]

I am not certain but I think most supraventricular tachycardias are narrow complex I don't think it is an indication of afib.  My avnrt was narrow complex. The difference with my tachycardia is that it would start and stop on a beat lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.  Your type Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia is generally caused by some other issue outside the heart. I know I read somewhere of a condition that can cause a person to start to turn blue though I can't remember what that is.  Your low bp may be the main cause of the problem.  Adding a high sodium diet with tons of water and wearing compression socks may help.  You should probably check in the condition Dysautonomia and definitely go see your general doctor for a full work up to check your blood to make sure you don't have any issues like hyperthyroidism. or even lung issues.  The thing with afib is it is very distinct in how it looks so you would have been told already that you have it and it is usually caused by some sort of heart disease so it is generally found in older individuals or very extreme athletes.  It is not a congenital thing.  Most tachycardias, even though my avnrt was congenital, I was born with it, are not considered hereditary.  It doesn't run in families it just happens.  But it is common for small woman to have low bp so until you can get a proper diagnosis make sure you are eating well and drinking lots of water.  Hang in there.  I do hope you can get to the bottom of this soon and feel better.  Take care and keep us posted on how you are doing.