tachycardia

[Donna-lee]

Our son Dylan who is 14  nearly 15 has begun to have very short periods of rapid beating heart (tachycardia) less than 60 seconds. Stu took him to the GP today who first off said he is probably having panic attacks. LOL Have you heard that before. Then he said not much can be done at present. What I want to know is how old were others when tachycardia began and where to from here.
Donna

[Donnaheaps]

Big deep breathes, holding your breath, glass of cold water are all methods that can work unfortuantly not for those who are chronic is my understanding. The vagas nerve is the main nerve from your brain to your heart and runs up the side of your neck

[sunset555]

HiDona-lee

Could you tell me please how to actually perform vagal manipulation???

Many thanks,

Sunset

[Donna-lee]

Thanks for your post. Dylan is not concerned about what is happening to him. He only mentioned the prob when his girlfriends mum rung me because the girlfriend was with him when it happened. I have showed him how to do vagal manipulation.  

[GranRon]

I hope my experience over the years with PVT will be of comfort to you and your son.  I can remember having these episodes beginning with puberty, around 13 or 14 for me.  I was never concerned about them because I learned how to control them when they did occur, which was usually during or after playing sports.  I quite by accident learned how to perform the Vagal manuoever to return my heart to normal.  My heart rate would be between 130-150 bpm then would drop to 80-90 bpm in 1 beat.  The PVT would last anywhere from just a few minutes to as long as 8 hours.  I can remember having PVT on dates in high school and then realized it was brought on by anxiety or excitement.  When I was in my second year of college, I read a cardiology book in the library and, of course, thought I had heart disease. I told my mother about it and she made an appointment with a cardio, who found nothing wrong.  That was 50 years ago.

Over the years, I have had episodes of PVC as well, many times just prior to coming down with a bad cold or the flu.  I finally realized that my heart was very sensitive to adrenalin and that it was the root cause.  I have never liked taking prescription drugs and chose early on not to take any medication for the condition.  I simply learned how to control the stress or excitement that caused it.  As I got older, the mechanism changed and was more muted, ie. instead of 130-150 bpm, it was closer to 100 bpm.  I have noticed that in the last 3 years, there have been more numerous episodes of combined PVC and PVT, and, after several of these, consulted a cardio again.  After stress test, echocardiogram, etc., the only thing he found was a mild aortic schlerosis, which is common in many seniors over 60.  However, I was prescribed Toprol, then Toprol XL, and finally atenolol, for blood pressure regulation.  My resting blood pressure was 130 over 85 before the meds.  I still have the PVT and PVC, sometimes in sequence with each other and normal beats.  I have experienced many different patterns and, on 2 occasions, went to the ER.  ER docs were not concerned and just recommended a follow up with the cardio.  I really would prefer not taking the meds, but cardio seems pleased with the results.

Sorry about all the I's, but my HS English teacher hated sentence fragments.  The point of my post is to reassure young people who are pre-disposed to feel and know what their hearts are doing.  Enjoy your life and don't start being concerned until you reach your sixties, if then.  By the way, your DNA is more than likely the culprit.  My grandmother and her brothers and sisters all had what I have.  She lived to be 99 and all her siblings and parents lived to be in their late 80's and early 90's.  






  

[Donna-lee]

It seems to be happening at all different times like after exercise but also why he is in class. Yesterday it was in Maths and he said he just sat in class and it went away. He isn't an anxious sort of person and didn't tell us when it first started happening cause he thought he was imagining it. At the school I teach at we had a student who was really sporty who suddenly developed tachycardia and the episodes happened at all sorts of times too. He has since had ablation and is back to normal. (his words)  The GP is not our doc but one who works out of a clinic near my sons school. He never even did an ecg so not impressed with his lack of clinical professionalism. He suggested we take Dylan back if it keeps happening (it's already been going on for a few months)

[ireneo]

I think a heart monitor would be best to see exactly what the heart is up to. Guessing just doesn't work for me. I've had arrhythmias for as long as I can remember (even back to 1st grade). I think they can tell the difference in tachy when it's trigger by anxiety vs. PSVT or NSVT for example. I do hope you get clearer answers than "probably."

[Artaud]

Hi,

I would ask the Doctor to order a 30 Day Loop Event Monitor. I think it's important that they know if it's PSVT or some form of VT. Supraventricular Arrhythmias are often not of as much concern. I was very frightened by a Fast Rhythm that I was experiencing last year, I thought it must be serious. A 30 Day Loop Event Monitor and a few days of waiting, and it was found to be PSVT. They sounded almost bored when I phoned the results in. That's OK, I'd rather have bored than "Oh my God, get to a hospital right away ;-) LOL.

Hormones may be a motivating factor. Adrenaline, stress, etc. My LIFELONG experience with PVCs and other benign arrhythmias began at the same age.

I was never one to be satisfied with "Probably". A Doctor would not be satisfied with "I'll probably pay the bill". Your son, especially in light of Stu's problems, needs to be treated with more concern than "probably".

Just my thoughts.

Wish all of you the best.

[sunset555]

Hi Donna-Lee

I am a 35 year old woman (Mother of two) and only in the last two months have I been suffering with the "Exact" same thing as your Son. I have had two eposodes, and both occurred at night time, when I lay down. On both occasions though, I would have had some alcohol, so my doctor reckons it may be alcohol induced, even though it was only a small amount, it can still bring on eposodes of tachycardia. It is a very frightening experience for anyone to have and in particular you Son at his tender age, did it happen to him at night? was he under any amount of pressure or anxious about anything at the time? does he drink caffeine as in Coffee, lucazade, coke or redbull as all of these drinks have been proven to cause the heart to rapidly and strongly beat!

I went for my own tests just Tuesday gone (three days ago) and I had an ECG test, some blood tests, a chest exray and also I am waiting for a 24 hr holter monitor which the hospital has ordered for me. So far my ECG read as normal, but surprisingly my cholesterol came back as slightly raised, that really surprised me as I am quite tiny. The doctors are waiting until I take the monitor and after that in a couple of weeks I will have all the results back.

Personally, being a Mam myself, I would not let this go with your Son, I would definately get everything checked out, because you can never be sure when it comes to health, you have to rule out all possibilities and get "everything" checked out for him.

Ask for the following to be done on him.
1: Ecg test
2: Chest Exray
3: Full blood test done
4: 24 hr Holter Monitor

And when all of these results come back you can put your mind at rest, but until you go further about this, you are going to be worried sick over every little eposode.

Best of luck with everything and make sure that you keep in touch with me as I would like to know how your Son gets on (which I am sure he will be fine anyway).

Sunset555

[Jerzeegal]

Do the short periods of tachy happen during specific times?  Many times panic attacks can cause tachy but without at least an ekg and maybe a 24 hour holter monitor I would be hesitant to just leave it at that.