SVT or Not

[ajayscafe]

In October of 2000 while at work I remember looking up and all of a sudden my heart started racing, this happened at about 4pm, my heart continued to race, I drove home and laid down with my heart still racing. My wife called our neighbor who is a Doctor at 6:30pm, she explained that I was tachacardic and should go to the hospital by the time the ambulance arrived my heart had suddenly stopped racing, no one was able to find a reason for this.  In August of 2008 while reading the newspaper again my heart started to race only for about 20 minutes I again went to the hospital.  The hospitals diagnosis was SVT my cardiologist agreed, however he did not recommend any invasive proceedures.  I have been on 25mg of Atenolol since without anymore episodes.  Recently I have been experiencing flutters without rapid heart rate, during this time I have had a cold (I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the flutters). I was wondering does this sound like anxiety or does SVT seem correct.

[tom_h]

I've had 54 years of SVT.  I can get them at any time, anywhere.  I was watching TV last night, when bam, off it went.  Once started, my SVT episodes almost never convert on their own, but required intervention on my part in the way of Valsalva.  I also get SVT while under heavy physical stress.  I was a short track speed skater until several years ago, and there it happened quite often.  It eventually led to my retirement from the sport as it was extremely hard to convert under high respiration rates.  I also have episodes where the tachycardia will start, but I can feel my normal sinus rhythm underneath of it.  Sometimes a quick, forceful cough (a form of Valsalva) will convert these to normal rhythm.  At times, I've let these episodes build and I can feel my heart begin to be overwhealmed by the tachycardia until it's in full tachycardia.  My resting SVT rate is around 190 and can go as high as 225 under high stress.  Tomorrow, I hope to start the beginning of the end to this as I am scheduled to see an EP to discuss my situation.  I would recommend to you to wear a long term monitor as a holter may not catch any episodes in only a 24 hour period.  I wore my long term for 2 weeks until I got a really good SVT event.  This was followed by several more in the next couple of weeks.  I wish you well in managing yours.

[is_something_wrong]

If it "suddenly" stopped racing (like from one moment to the next), and your cardiologist said it was SVT, the diagnosis is close to 100% certain. If your EKGs at rest don't discover any abnormalities, it's possibly/probably the "AVNRT" variant of SVT. It usually occurs without the setting of heart disease.

You can read more about this here (good article):

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/160215-overview

[cindy707]

Could be if you had a cold and took cold meds that they set this off....especially if anything in the cold meds ended with a "phrene" or "phrin" in the ingredients of the cold medicine.  I think both of the above posts are on the money to me too....it may not be anxiety which is causing the fluttering but what you are putting into your body.....glad the antenolol is working for you tho....i am also on a very low dose as a safety net and so far so good....

[ireneo]

I agree, sounds very much like the PSVT I've had all my life. Did they mention using vagal maneuvers like valsalva to stop the tachy? I used that for years before I finally had the RF ablations done.

You can google PSVT and valsalva for more information if you want.

[chuparosa]

Sure sounds like psvt to me.