Svt and planning pregnancy

[Cd79]

Hi
I have a 7 month old daughter and very early in my pregnancy I was diagnosed with an 'unusual' atrial tachycardia. As I was in some form of tachycardia most of the time, I took metoprolol from 12 weeks - I was to stop the day before delivery (induction) but my hr skyrocketed so much during labour that I needed to take it. Bub was on the smaller side and took 2 minutes to respirate - her bgl's were tested for a couple of days but all turned out ok and bub is healthy.
I know I had issues before pregnancy during periods of anxiety/stress and exercise. I returned a hr monitor watch thinking it was faulty because I'd be at 120 on a non strenuous walk. I was always coughing to relieve the feeling that I couldn't get enough air into my lungs.
This week I had a 24 hr holter to see how things have been going now I'm not pregnant. I've felt flutters in the 2 weeks I've been off meds - I can't feel palps but I walked for 5 minutes on the treadmill at the gym and hr was over 130.
I know I need to see the results before I can really decide, but I know that when I see the cardiologist next week he'll ask what I want to do before my next pregnancy. I'm anxious that I won't be able to cope for the first trimester without meds if it comes back at the rate it did last time. The cardiologist has suggested ablation before and part of me feels that it's a big thing to undertake when the tachycardia doesn't cause major issues outside of pregnancy. The other part doesn't want to risk my next baby's health and wonders whether I would notice a big change to my exercise tolerance and energy levels, which have never been great but I've just put them down to 'normality'. I'm so confused and could use your thoughts! Tia!

[Cd79]

Thanks Bromley - I'll have a look!

[Bromley]

Atrial tachycardia is where a point on the atria is hyperactive and causes beats to occur faster than normal or with inconsistant periodicity. To get a nice tutorial, I highly recommend the online video of dr patrick chou on youtube. I had watched his videos before, and easily found it again by going to yahoo and searching on "cleveland clinic patrick chou video".

[Cd79]

Thanks so much for your response Michelle - it's taken me a while to respond as bub won't nap for very long at the moment!
Unfortunately I don't know too many details about my arrhythmia, other than the broad brush 'Atrial Tachycardia'. I may get a better answer when I see the cardiologist in a week's time - fxd!
I don't seem to encounter discrete episodes but rather my heart rate remains high for a long period of time - I can definitely feel the thumping when it does. Since stopping Metoprolol a few weeks ago I haven't experienced anything unusual though - perhaps for me it is mainly a pregnancy and anxiety related issue. If this is the case, whilst I'm not a fan of taking Beta Blockers in pregnancy, I may be best to take this approach again - eek!

[MichelleP_3811]

What type of tachycardia were you diagnosed with?  If it is an accessory pathway version they are fairly easy to fix so long as the doctor can induce one while you are in the EP study.  But the rates you mention seem rather normal to me.  If you have a normally high resting heart rate then going to 120 while walking doesn't seem out of the ordinary.  Mine is that rate.  And after 5 minutes on a treadmill my heart rate would be near 150.   Can I ask do you notice that if it feels like your heart skips and jumps around?  The feeling the need to cough may be related to ectopic beats and not necessarily tachycardia so there could be a few issue going on.  What was your rate when you said it skyrocketed during pregnancy?  Is this the only time that happened?  Do you sense episodes or just a generally faster than it should be rate?   I did have an svt that was correctable.  But even when I wasn't in tachycardia my heart was higher than most people.  Do you work out?  Working out helped to lower my rate in general.  

In any event pregnancy puts a lot of stress on the body and heart.  It is possible your heart just needs a bit more time to recover and you will feel better though it may take a while considering you are probably over worked and stressed from dealing with a baby but the heart is very resilient and can recover given time.  As for whether or not it is safe to have another baby I think you should ask your cardiologist if the meds you are on are safe.  Find out all you can about the type of tachycardia you have so you can make an educated decision on how to treat it.  In general I think most babies are just fine even when the mother has tachycardia but I would make sure the meds you are on are safe.  I hope I answered your question.  Congratulations on the baby and glad to hear they are happy and healthy.  Take care.