PSVT or Panic Attacks

[bythebaytoday]

My history would dictate panic attacks, and they may very well be.  I am  a 38 year old female, normal weight/height.  In 2000 I gave birth to my son who was a preemie.  Very difficult road, he weighed one pound twelve ounces and was in the hospital for 3 mos.  He suffers from epilepsy and cerebral palsy.  I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety shortly after and was put on zoloft.  In 2002 I experienced my first "flutter".  I had ekgs,echo, holter monitor and an event monitor over the next couple years and everything was normal.  So I just deal with them. January of this year my brother passed away unexpectedly.  I have never experienced anything like this before in my life.  I am now my elderly parents only living child.  So now I have my special needs son, my elderly parents and have to help with my brothers kids .  I thought I was handling everything okay, but upon one of my many 3 hour trips to go help my parents go through my brothers house/belongings I had to pull over because my heart was racing so unbelievably fast I didn't want to die behind the wheel.  It took about 20 min to calm down, I then went to am urgent care and the doc did am ultra sound and blood work, everything was normal.  When I told him what was going on and with my history he prescribed me ativan.  Since then I have had about 2_3 a week.  Oh, also I was not taking my zoloft amy longer.  I had just weened myself off about weight months prior to my brothers death.  I am back on it and have been now for about two weeks.  I am dealing better but these rapid hear beats come out of no where and last for about 5 minutes.  It feels like it going to pound right out of my chest.  It is scary.  It happens randomly, even when I think I am doin okay.  So amy opinions would be helpful, I have to be strong and healthy.... I have too many people depending on me now.  Does it sounds like PSVT?

[Red_Star]

"It has been found that 4 out of 5 people in the US (or 80%) are deficient in magnesium. If you are experiencing 2 or 3 of the following symptoms, you probably are one of them.

- heart palpitations, heart arrythmias
- chest tightness
- urinary spasms
- constipation
- menstrual cramps, premenstrual irritability
- difficulty swallowing, a feeling of a lump in the throat
- insomnia
- light sensitivity, loud noise sensitivity
- high blood pressure
- numbness, tingling, zips, zaps and other vibratory sensations
- being uptight or prone to temper
- muscle twitches, soreness, cramps, spasms, tension, tightness
- back aches, neck pain
- headaches, migraines
- jaw joint problems
- needing to sigh a lot, unable to take a deep breath
- hiccups
- leg spasms, charlie horses, restless leg syndrome
- anxiety, panic attacks
- hyperactivity
- angina"

Excerpt from - Best Magnesium Citrate - How to Fix Heart Palpitations or Irregular Heart Beat article

[jeanbean55]

Thank you. :-)

[itdood]

Can't tell without catching it on a holter monitor.  Can you go to a doc to get an event monitor?

I would recommend a 14 day event style monitor.  Te 24 hour loop recorder may not catch it.  The 14 day event is most likely to to catch.  They should be able to tell from there.

In the mean, can you research Valsalva Maneuvers?  These are done during an SVT episode to arrest the attack.  Are you familiar with these?  There are several types: Coughing, plunge face into cold water, drink a glass of ice cold water.  My favorite is to hold my breath then bear down hard, like when you are trying to pop your ears.  You have to do this as long as you can, then breath out slowly.  Keep trying until it works.  It's really amazing when it activates.

[jeanbean55]

Thank you. <3