Treatment for Inappropriate sinus tachy,atria tachy

I am 28 years old Female, I have been diagnosed with IST / Atrial Tachy, the past 6 months I have had 2 ablations that seemed successful for about a month. I am intolerant to excercise, It has waken me out of my sleep in a sweat with my heart pounding, the first time it happend I had shovled and later that night i felt like i was having a heart attack, ekg ,echo stress test came back normal. I have worn 2- 14 day cardionet monitors that show heart rates between 113-180, It is really scary when i am at rest and my heart starts pounding out of no where. I have been on atenolol and Dilitazem and they are not working, my Doctor wanted me to start Rhymol today but I am very scared after reading the side effects/warnings I want this fixed and I cant get pregnant until this is treated. He stated if this medicine didnt work he would refer me to cleveland Clinic. My father has had 2 heart attacks at 40 yrs old and my grandparents both died of strokes. The other night my heart started pounding while i was watching TV lasted for about 7 minutes, bp was 145/115, the following day my chest hurt. Please tell me if you know of any other treatment this medication does not control my heart rate and I am very tired on it, I wnat to be able to have a baby and be able to exercise.I am scared to take the rythmol.

Thank you for your time.

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

IST is does not mean you can't have children.  You might have more symptoms while you are pregnant.  There is not a great treatment for IST.  You can modify the sinus node and decrease the heart rate, but the even with a decreased heart rate, many people with IST still have symptoms despite a slower heart.  In IST, the heart rate is often a symptoms of the problem rather than the problem itself.  Many people with IST have issues relating to their autonomic nervous system like fatigue, loose bowel movements or irritable bowel symptoms, and lightheadededness that persist even after the heart rate improves.

They may have some better ideas about how to treat in Cleveland, but in my practice, I try to encourage people to learn to live with it because the sinus node modifications have a relatively low success rate.

People tend to tolerate rythmol pretty well.  It sounds like you have a lot of symptoms so it might be worth a shot if your doctor wants to try it.

I hope this helps.