supraventricular tachycardia

[jeana2009]

Hello,
I've had SVT for 12 years now.. My first eposiode happend when I was 6.. I'm 18 now. I was on medication until I was 10, My parents and I decieded that I didnt need to take it anymore because I didnt experience any more eposides, maybe twice a year if anything that lasted for less than 5 sec. But last year they started accuring again, very frequently. I went to go get it checked out and I was put on a heart monitor and the doctor said that things were normal, or atleast as normal as it can be with someone with SVT. Now my question is, what is the average, or est guess LIFE SPAN of someone who has this? I probably have a small eposide that last for no more than 10 sec once every 2-4 weeks or so. Please, if someone can help me out in someway i'd really appricieate it, I've been having really bad anxioty because of this.
thank you,
jeana

[CNickels77]

Hi Jeana,

Not sure what the life span of someone is with SVT but I have been told that it is not life threatening.  I just had an ablation done to correct the SVT.  The question you need to ask yourself is can I live with the anxiety of SVT for the rest of your life.  I got the ablation done not because of the SVT but because of always worrying about having an attack of SVT even though it only happened every couple of months for me.  I'm relatively young, 27, and just got sick of worrying that it would happen when I was out with my friends, flying, etc.  

I would be interested though if anyone know if living with SVT shortens your life expectency at all...

[770shelia]

I used to have SVT I would have episodes about every 4 weeks that lasted about 5 mins or so. I had an ablation six weeks ago and have not had an episode since.
SVT is NOT life threatening, but it becomes a quality of life issue. If you ever plan to have children when you get pregnat the episodes will get more frequent. I had a baby last year and the episodes started right after his birth. I saw a doc and he said that I had to have an baltion before I could get pregnant again. He also said as you get older they can get worse.
My suggestion ask about an ablation, very easy procedure and now I am cured. There is only a 3% chance that the SVT will come back. I feel better than I have in years

[lagoya]

hey

yeah like the above said
in a normal healthy person ,who lives a normal healthy life,svt is more a nuisance and anxiety bringer than anything else.their are some me included where svt became a nuisance in the quality a life everyone should expect and some of us may exp more runs than others so thats what makes us good candidates for ablation or meds to control it.i know my svt was affecting me everyday and so i got ablated it has worked 90% i still get the odd hit but no where near as it was--u are young and if the svt is not affecting u too much at the moment maybe u can wait on the ablation -but at least be assured the option is there for most and has a very high cure rate-

best of luck

[mabebesc]

SVT is NOT life threatening according to everything I have read and heard.  I had SVT episodes for 36 years. It started when I was 16 and I dealt with episodes until last month when I decided to have an ablation.  I am now 52 and was not harmed by having SVT. SVT became a quality of life issue for me.  I also got the ablation, not because of SVT itself. It was because of the anxiety it caused me.  I never knew when it would start up and when I'd have to deal with it.
There is a procedure  called an ablation which can cure this in most cases. If you become too anxious over this, you can always consider this procedure. You don't have to be anxious that the SVT is going to hurt you or shorten your life span.

[mattpp]

I'm on waiting list for ablation, just wondered if you guys had any side effects after op?
palpitations etc?
cheers.
matt

[mabebesc]

Hi,  

After the ablation,  I was very tired for about 3 weeks.  Some people have no fatigue  or very little- everyone is different. I also had some very mild chest discomfort ( like a mild burning) which was no big deal.
Most people, including myself, feel some weird skips and thumps as the heart is healing.  All in all, these are no big deal compared to the anxiety of constantly dealing with the AVNRT. Being cured of the SVT is so worth it!!
When is your ablation scheduled?
Betty