anyone else with "extra electrical pathways" in the heart!?

hi! i am a 25 yr-old female and recently went to the dr. because i thought i was diabetic or anemic, because i'm always dizzy and tired.  it is so extreme that after i work a full day i just sit on the couch all night and i never want to do anything on weekends.  the dr. said my heart sounded abnormal so he ran an EKG and i had a chest x-ray done.  he then referred me to the cardiologist and i had an echocardiogram done.  the echo showed extra beats so i wore a holter monitor for 24 hours. results: my heart had over a thousand EXTRA beats in one day, and my pulse would go from 60, to 160, in one second without any physical activity.  he put me on atenalol (a beta blocker) to hopefully "fix" the abnormal heartbeat.  my blood pressure has been running 90/60 on average and i have been on atenalol for 4 days.  i still don't feel right though.  if this medication does not work in one month he said i will need some operation to have some of the electrical pathways in my heart "burned."  i guess i was born with too many of them...anyway, if any of you are experiencing any symptoms like i was/am, go in and see your doctor; the last thing i had ever imagined was that i would have any heart problems, especially since i am a healthy, thin, 25-yr old!  oh, and all of my bloodwork was completely normal (at first they thought it might just be my thyroid or something).

[Jerry_NJ]

Yes, an ablation could be the cure.  

Most people who post on the community/form have some "electrical" problems, usually extra signals.  

You are young and a cure would be better than taking medication the rest of your life.  I think you should explore the possibility of Ablation Surgery to effect a cure.

[tom_h]

There are many folks here on the forum with "accessory pathways" who've had ablations to cure them (me included).  If you reach a point where you're considering it, we would all be glad to tell you of our experiences.  Basically, it's not a big deal, perhaps 3 days of rest afterwards, and most walk out of the hospital the same day or the day after.  I cronicled my experience in my journals whcih are available under my user name.  BTW, a bp of 90/60 is pretty low for most people.  You might consider contacting your physician for a possible modification to your dosage.

[cindy707]

Like Tom and Jerry (OMG LMAO on that one!!!) said its pretty common with people on this forum having extra pathways.  I too had an ablation and think the doc said that i had 5 when he did my ablation.  Believe it or not it really is fairly common and easily treatable in most cases unless you are one of the unlucky ones that has a stubborn heart and makes you fight for every success........

[kozlosap]

Actually, 1000 PVC's in a 24 hour period are not usually high enough for most EP's to consider an ablation.  My (now) 26 year old daughter developed idiopathic PVC's when she was 25 - 30,000 a day!  After 8 weeks of failed drug therapy, she underwent an 8 hour ablation which was not successful.  4 weeks after the first ablation, she had a second one, with no anathesia!  What an ordeal, but it was successful.  She did develop pericarditis which is now chronic, and this morning (16 months post ablation), she was told that she has sinus tachy and is back on Atenonal.  Good luck, and try whatever meds they advise you to take.

[Mom2four85]

Cindy I LOL at Tom & Jerry hehehe

SLP777 - ablation would be my last resort not just after trying one med; if you have no structural heart problems or not very symptomatic.  I'm shocked your doctor will so readily do an ablation with just 1000 pvc's, when most dr;s go by 6,000-8,000 pvc's they treat with meds and anything over 15% of your total daily HB's they would look at ablation.

I had over 50,000 pvc's for quite awhile; at least 2 years that I know of; but have had arrhythmia's since I was 9 so for almost 35 years.  I took meds, but the ones I took had adverse reactions until I found Inderal - which works pretty well when I take it.  Ablation for me didn't work and I'm in no hurry to repeat the process since I had major complications.

If you haven't; you should get an appt with an EP (electrophysiologist) and talk to one to see their opinion since they're the mac daddy of dr's for electrical problems.  

Keep a journal of symptoms, times dates etc and see if you can find a pattern or trigger and eliminate anything you can that could be causing them environmentally (foods, stress, anxiety, electrolytes etc).

[cindy707]

I loved your post...that was great advise you gave SLP about the journal...makes alot of sense.

[Mom2four85]

Cindy, that's one of the first things they told me to do at the dr's office back in June 2009 and I still keep one =)
I bought a spiral bound notebook and keep it with me in case I'm out and have any symptoms...I tried the heart rhythm tracker here but I just can't keep up with it :(

for example: 2/22/2011 - 1:35pm CP, SoB, pvc's, dizziness, fatigue - felt like NSVT runs

[spike_millions]

Hi, I was told while in hospital years ago that I have an extra electrical pathway in my heart and would need to have a small procedure done to remove it. I can not remember the specific name of it. NEver had the procedure due to moving and a time delay as I was pregnant at the time. I was just wondering if anyone else experiences lots of electric shocks??? I get them from touching all kinds of things including concrete! No joke.

[tom_h]

The procedure is referred to as an "Electrophysiology Study with Ablation".  The ablation involves small pinpoint bursts of high frequency RF energy, or cryogenic freezing.  There are many of us here whom have had the procedure performed on them.

I doubt that your propensity for attracting static electricity is related to your problem!