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skipped beats turned into SVT

i've posted many times before i was not sure what i had for many years...my heart would go out of rhythm for a minute...kinda like a prolong skipped beats...anyway two months ago they changed into this feeling like my heart is beating out of my chest...to different rhythms all in about a minute...
it really scares me...so i need people whom have SVT to educate me on this arrmythmia...
what does your SVT feel like? how long does it last for? do u get it in the morning, afternoon, evening? should i go to the hospital when i have a episode?  how do i calm myself that i'm not going to die from this?  what if it prolong too long and my heart fails from these all-over beats?  has anyone been converted back to NSR while in SVT?  please i need answers it's taking over my life?  i'm so afraid.
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183222 tn?1375334552
I started having pac/pvc (??) after the birth of my third child (who is 18 months now) and have also had a few episodes of svt as well. In the beginning i think the biggest thing for me was the FEAR of not knowing what or even why these things happened. My DOOM MONSTER (a little nickname i gave them !!) was always there lurking in the back of my mind that in some way or form these things are going to kill me :{ So after many trips to the ER dep and never really getting any answers to what was happening to me. But to cut a long story short once i got the answers to what was going on i've sent my DOOM MONSTER packing and now have learned that i need to make them apart of my life not to let them rule my life.

I think every one would feel them in different ways ?? My svt always starts with what feels like an overload of pac/pvc some shortness of breath/light headiness then boom a heart hate so fast i have trouble counting my pulse. When i feel the first signs of overload i can sometimes stop it by coughing madly or bearing down. I read on this form once about a person who by chance fond that if she fell then quickly jumped back up this would convert her svt. Sounds weird but the last time i was in svt non of my methods for converting were working so down i go then up i pop and by god it worked !!

They are the pit to live with but as to that saying we all love to hear from cardiologist  "if you have a normal heart" then in them self they are fine. We just need to learn how to live with them (easy said then done sometimes !!)

Take-care
Helpful - 0
110220 tn?1309306861
I have had 2 SVT episodes with the first one being 21 months ago.  Both of the episodes required ER conversion...adenosine.  The adenosine was not painful at all, felt warmth from my head passing through my body to my toes. Heart rate went back under 100 (from being around 220).  

Both times when I had an episode, it starts with a crazy long pause and uncomfortable feeling (not painful, but just a different feeling like a skipped beat and then the race begins.  It is a very regular beat but just really fast....of course the anxiety increases and I'm sure that contributes to the fast heart rate.  Both times I really didn't try any manuevers to convert myself...First time, ambulance to hospital...thought I was going to die, second time, my husband took me to the hospital....knew that I wasn't dying and saved on the ambulance.  If there is a next time I will try to convert myself.  

Ouestion:  do you try to convert when the fast rate begins, or during the very long pause, when things are going haywire.    By the way, I'm 51, and premenopausal.    Currently taking Beta blockers for AVNRT (SVT) in hopes that it will prevent future episodes.

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Avatar universal
PAT and SVT are different terms for the same thing.
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Avatar universal
my heart does the same thing.  I get a PAC with a very long pause then it triggers into PAT.  BUT, my heart is like a jack hammer, then I get a couple of PVC's and it slows down for a second then that jack hammer again. It is truly all over the place.  Maybe more like AFib is supposed to feel like. It just happenned last night.  I just stood up and walked out of the room and by the time I came back in, it had stopped.  Mine has been documented as PAT but I think that is a form of SVT isn't it?  I was only getting an episode 2 or 3 times a year, but this is the second time in a week.  I'm hoping as I'm reaching my menapause years (47) that it isn't going to get worse.  Although it may not be life threatening, it sure can be life altering if it happens while I am out and about.  
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Avatar universal
Well, I wouldn't let myself stay in SVT anymore.  For years I was afraid to go to the hospital because I didn't know what would happen to me there so I'd just panic at home and wait for it to go away.  Some of those episodes lasted many exhausting and horrifying hours.

Then I had a really bad episode and called 911 and since then I always go right away.  I just got back from the ER a couple of hours ago in fact although this time it went away on its own and I needed no treatment.  First time I've been in almost a year!

Adenosine is the drug they use to convert SVT.  It sucks because it feels really bizarre/painful, but it's over within 30 seconds.
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Avatar universal
yes isn't that so weird...my heart beats are so erractic...like it will begin to like flip flop like it's outside of my chest...then race...then flip flop...i can actually feel it getting faster...but not really really fast...i too...at times get a pac and then my heart will start racing for abit...and then another pac and my heart is back to normal rhythm...so i think i get both...a crazy heart episode and just a plain racing episode...
How did you handle being in SVT for hours? what did you do?  why does adensoine suck?  sorry for all the questions
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Avatar universal
My SVT doesn't feel like a racing heart either.  It feels like crazy, erratic beating.  I was shocked the first time it was caught on EKG and they said the beat was regular.  It does NOT feel it.

You should go to the hospital if it occurs IF it doesn't stop by itself.  A non-sustained episode of SVT is NOTHING to be worried about.  I've been in SVT for hours with no ill effects.  I've been converted with Adenosine.  It really sucks but it's quick.

As for how to calm yourself... well.  That's the 64 million dollar question.  If any of us had the secret to overcoming irrational anxiety we'd be rich.  You won't die from SVT but I can't convince you to believe it.  :)
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the response...u said that your SVT feels like your heart just races...mine last for about a minute but it feels all over the place...like flip flops beating out of my chest and then races and then flip flops...very erractic and crazy...is svt more like just a fast heart beat...i don't know if i experience a-fib...because i don't think a-fib comes in short bursts...maybe a combination of the two...
i tried holter monitors but they come so infrequent that they never can catch them
Helpful - 0
88793 tn?1290227177
When and how do you find out?  The change of normal heart to the abnormal heart?  
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61536 tn?1340698163
SVT is not life-threatening, let me begin there.

I was diagnosed with it at 16.  

what does your SVT feel like?

A: It begins with a PAC, always, then my heart just races.  I can only say I know it is SVT because my pulse is rapid immediately, about 180 bpm, and the pulse is "lighter" than NSR.

how long does it last for?

A: Everyone is different.  Me episodes typically last a few seconds, but have lasted up to a few minutes.

do u get it in the morning, afternoon, evening?

A: It doesn't matter.  Mine is triggered by physical activity, stress and hormones...typically a comination of two or all of those.  I've had it at all times of the day.

should i go to the hospital when i have a episode?  

A: I only went once, and was told I didn't need to come back unless it didn't convert on it's own.  My cardiologist confirmed this.   BUT YOU NEED TO BE SURE IT IS SVT YOU HAVE.

how do i calm myself that i'm not going to die from this?

A: SVT is simply not a life-threatening rhythm in a normal heart.  

what if it prolong too long and my heart fails from these all-over beats?

A: Heart failure from arrythmias happens slowly, over time.  You'd catch it because the arrythmia would have to be pretty incessant.  Paroxysmal atrial arrythmias typically don't cause heart failure.  Persistent ventricular ones, rarely, can.

has anyone been converted back to NSR while in SVT?

A: What, like medically cardioverted?  Not personally.  My SVT has always terminated within minutes (or even seconds) on it's own or by my own use of vagal maneuvers (bearing down as if lifting something heavy, coughing hard, etc.).  

You need to know what the arrythmia is you are having.  It may not be SVT.
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