infrequent rapid heartbeat

Hi...I'm a 46 year old male 6'3" 190 lbs , light smoker/drinker , overall good health . I've had infrequent rapid heartbeats for years ; average of 2-5 per year.  They last from several minutes to 15-20 .  Normal to rapid and rapid to normal  ( no build-up or let-down ) .  Most seem to start after a sudden movement ; like standing up after crouching . I had one this past weekend that lasted 20 minutes ( one of the longest ) . After about 15 minutes it starts to hurt a little in the chest ; but then when it goes back to normal its fine . When it happens I try to relax and regulate my breathing which seems to work. This last one I took an aspirin with water during it since it was long ; don't know if that did anything or not . I had a stress test two years ago ; everything normal . I also had the Holter monitor for a month but didn't have another episode for a while.  I know these are infrequent , but they are very unnerving when they happen.  Is this bad for my heart long term ?  Thanks for all info...

[ireneo]

Oh, this is so familiar to me. It sounds like PSVT - paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. The heart rate will suddenly increase within a heart beat, race for awhile and then drop back to normal just as quickly. Thus "paroxysmal." I've had it all my life (I'm 57 now). Just had a quick one this morning too. Whatever. And yes, the deep ache seems to set in after about 15 minutes.

Any idea what your rate may be? Yours will be hard to catch with a monitor since it happens so infrequently. There are monitors that are used for a month but that still may not work for you.

One thing you can try is the valsalva maneuver. I've used it for years. You take a deep breath and hold it. Then bear down as if you're having a BM. Do that for about 10 seconds and then slowly release your breath. You'll probably feel your heart thump and protest but that's just the heart resetting itself. If you can do that within the first few minutes, it may kick the rhythm back to normal. If you wait too long, it doesn't work as well. You may have to do it twice but usually it works very well.

In a structurally normal heart (have you had an echo) PSVT is not dangerous. It's distracting and uncomfortable. Several years ago I got a new doctor and she told me my PSVT could be fixed. Hmm. I ended up having 3 catheter ablations (usually one does the trick). That's where they go into the heart with tiny catheters, find the spot causing the errant electrical signals and do little burns to stop them. Works pretty well.

My heart is a bit stubborn. I still have PSVT but they're very brief, less than a minute. That's a huge improvement over what I had before. In my mind, I'm pretty much cured.

This is too much rambling but I hope some day you can "catch" one of these on a monitor and find out exactly what's going on and get some peace of mind. I'm just saying it sounds like PSVT. Only a recording can tell for sure. If you know how to trigger it, ask for an event monitor. That's worn for weeks and perhaps you can trigger the tachy and record it. Good luck.