ventricular or atrial?

Is it possible to distinguish between atrial and ventricular fibrillation from the symptoms?
Thnx

[horseluver4]

Atrial fibrillation can go on for minutes, hours, days to permanently.. And if I'm right ventricular fibrillation causes death is inevitable with in a few minutes. . HOWEVER ventricular fibrillation is very rare and usually comes along with other major heart defects or problems. Honestly please don't worry about v-fib or don't even waste your time reading it. If your feeling anything I would get a holter heart monitor and document what you have so a qualified cardiologist can make that judgment. You will worry yourself sick about ventricular fibrillation as I'm sure that's what WE all fear the most. Like I said you prolly wouldn't even know you were having it because that happens do fast and requires to be shocked immediately.. Please just try to get a monitor but until then try to relax :)

[malan]

Thnx very much for the post. Some of my arrhythmia has been identified on the holter as NSVT. But I have symptoms of a more irregular arrhythmia too, which hasn't been caught on the holter, which I suspect is atrial fibrillation.
Thnx again, Malan

[is_something_wrong]

NSVT may be a little concerning, I assume your doctor has been able to identify a cause, if any, and determine if treatment is necessary or not.

It all depends on if your heart is healthy or not. NSVT is usually nothing to worry about if the runs are short and your heart is healthy.

Is your heart healthy, and how long are your NSVT runs?

[malan]

The echo shows a structurally normal heart- "assuming the echo is correct" as the doctor commented. There is, therefore, the fear that the echo may have missed something, as the problem first arose after strength training in a small room full of mosquito repellent spray. My guess is that it may have damaged the heart muscle, or valve, in some small way that is difficult to spot on an echo. Any pressure exercise, including weights and long(40 minute) walks tend to cause problems- the first by causing a slightly heavy, uncomfortable, feeling and the second by arrhythmia. The recorded runs of NSVT have been fairly short so far, 3 to 4 beats, but I have had episodes lasting upto around 10 to 15 seconds, which seems more like fibrillation.
Thnx very much for your posts and concern.
Regards,
Malan

[itdood]

Have you had a stress test?

[malan]

yes, once, and that was normal

[abc85]

A-fib is going to feel irregularly irregular when you are feeling your pulse.  NSVT while occurring will be regular for those beats and then go back to the regular sinus rhythm.  You could be feeling PVCs which will also make your pulse feel irregular.  With PVCs you will have an underlying regular rate with an irregular beat thrown in here or there.  When you say you have symptoms of a more irregular arrhythmia, what specifically are those symptoms?  Are you feeling your pulse at those times or are you just feeling dizzy at times?

[malan]

Thnx for the post. From your description, I have symptoms of both NSVT as well as fibrillation. The first is regular but fast, the second irregular- fast and slow mixed up. Except once just after a 40 mt walk, dizziness has not been a problem. I generally panick too much to feel pulse!
Thnx again for the post.
Regards,
Malan

[itdood]

I was thinking ischemia but the stress test would rule that out.   Vfib symptoms are lights out and generally not survivable.  There are 2 types of vfib. Course and fine.  Corse can sometimes be cardio vetted through shock.  Fine vfib is not good at all.  

A fib is survivable because the ventricles do most of the work though it  will be less efficient fur sure.  The symptoms vary for agin but are generally a high, erratic pulses.  This is because the atrial signal travels through the av node to the ventricles to trigger their beat. I. A fib, this signal can go into the 300 bpm range and be chaotic.  The av node is setup to tune out extra signals for other reasons so this chaos translates into a tachy rate but not as high as 300.  The rate wil jump around instantly too, not gradual changes.  

[abc85]

Since the Holter didn't pick up anything, I would ask your doctor about carrying around an event monitor for a while or having one to wear.  That way when you felt like you were experiencing any symptoms you could figure out what exactly is going on and whether it is something that needs to be treated or not.  I'm not sure how old you are but A-fib is less likely if you are younger although still certainly a possibility.  The biggest risk with A-fib is that it can cause clots to form in your atria which then are sent somewhere in your body so things like a stroke or MI can be a risk.  What you may think is the NSVT when you feel your pulse is hard and fast may not be NSVT at all.  It could be some sort of SVT or even sinus tachycardia as both those can feel that way as well.  What you feel might be A-fb might not actually be it either as it could be frequent PVC's, an intermittent 2 degree heart block, multi focal atrial tachycardia, or something else.  The best thing is to figure out what exactly is going on and then go from there.  Good luck with figuring it out!

[malan]

Thnx again for the posts. On the printout of the holter recording, it first said "svt?", which was then changed by the doctor to NSVT. So I suppose the best thing would be an event monitor, though there is the fear that it would confirm bad news!
Thnx again and with best wishes,
Malan

[abc85]

NSVT isn't necessarily bad news as it is something that could possibly be fixed through ablation or treated through medication and it sounds like they ruled out a structural issue through echo, which is even better.  Good luck and let us know what they figure out!

[malan]

sure I'll let you know. Thnx and best wishes,
Malan