worried about heart

well.. i had a echo 2 years ago, a treadmill test wich came back normal, and last month i had a new echo on my heart they said it looked good and everything.. however last year i had a heart MRI and they said it was fine.

but the problem is i get skipped beats frequently and then i read on internet there is a desease called ARVD and that scared me because it was very hard to diagnose and it was really bad!

so i am wondering should i do more tests like MRI to see if my heart has changed structurally lol... or does it only need one to do?

is doing repeated test on heart necessary if you had one done before?

[Jerry_NJ]

It seems to me you've had the tests that prove your heart is structural healthy.  This doesn't mean your "electrical" system is working properly and this is was manages the heart beat.

Skipped and extra beats are in general benign in a structurally healthy heart, still they can be troubling.  If the heart rhythm can't be detected in the doctor's office (I think this is true most of the time) one has to wear a monitor for 24 hours or longer to record the heart beat for diagnostic study.

In my case of atrial fibrillation when I is active it stays active so I can make an appointment, go into the doctor's office and the condition can be seen on an EKG.  I am currently in permanent AFib.  

[michellepetkus]

I believe the test you have had should rule out AVRD.  I would think if there was any issue with heart function it would have shown up.  Also from what I understand the biggest issue would be if you were having VT as opposed to isolated pvcs.  If you are not have VT that is causing you to pass out and your tests have shown that your heart's right ventricle is not dilated and pumping poorly then you likely have run of the mill pvcs that are more annoying than anything else.  Though if you have a question about this I would pose it to your doctor and have him explain your personal situation based on your tests.  When I found out I had svt I really didn't know what kind it was and someone scared me worrying that it was afib so I called my doctor and he assured me that my svt wasn't afb so just call your doctor and ask him to explain the disease and where you stand in regards to it.  Take care.

[den2094]

hi thanks for the reply. but what is VT?

how do you know if have it, because i never fainted before but my heart can beat sometimes very fast..

[michellepetkus]

The fast beat is tachycardia and is something different then the skipping/extra beats.  Do you know how fast it is going when you have an episode?  Does it start and stop suddenly like in one beat?  Does the fast beat happen for seemingly no reason or does it seem to occur after you get stressed or anxious?  No one can say for certain what type of tachycardia you have without seeing it on the monitor but answering a few of the questions I posed may give you a clue.  To know for sure you would need to see your cardiologist and get a monitor, your best bet, an event monitor that you wear for a month to try and catch one of the episodes.  If your episodes occur less frequently then a month then you might have trouble catching it.  This all said, the fast beat you feel is likely originating from the atria the top chambers of the heart as opposed to the ventricles (VT) the lower chambers of the heart.  This is especially likely true if the fast beat is lasting for anything longer than a second or two.  If it was VT and it lasted longer than a few seconds I would hazard to guess you would experience some difficulty functioning but if it is only a few brief beats the heart and body can tolerate VT pretty well.  

I have had all sorts tachycardia, svt, sinus tachycardia and pat.  My svt was a type of tachycardia that was caused by an extra pathway near my avnode.  The signal would get caught in a loop causing my heart to beat very fast at around 230bpm.  It was hard to breath and I became very lightheaded when it would happen though I would never pass out.  People generally don't pass out from atrial tachycardias. In general these types of tachycardia start and stop suddenly for no reason at all.  There are a number of different kinds but most are actually likely triggered by an extra/skipped beat but to the patient it feels like no good reason at all.  Sinus tachycardia or Inappropriate sinus tachycardia is a rise in the heart rate more than likely caused by some issue outside the heart.  Stress, hyperthyroidism, problems with the autonomic nervous system, electrolyte imbalances and dehydration can cause this to happen though sometimes they just don't know why.  I will get this type of tachycardia if I drink too much and get myself dehydrated.  PAT is premature atrial tachycardia and is essentially a run of Pacs, extra beats arising from the atria.   VT is a run of PVCs, extra beats arising from the ventricles.  When I do get PAT it is often very short lived for me, a second or two.  It feels faster than my normal beat but it feels more like a stutter than the manic beat I use to feel with my avnrt svt.  Then the last type of fast beat from the atria is afib but this usually only occurs in people with heart disease so older people or really extreme athletes.  

So how often do you get the tachycardia?  Most types of SVTs can be corrected with an ablation.  Inappropriate tachycardia is a bit harder to fix because the source of the problem has to be addressed generally outside the heart and sometimes it can be tough to pinpoint.   The ectopic beats, pacs and pvcs or what you feel as skipped beats are not easily fixed and are generally left alone.  Both SVTs arising out of the atria and ectopic beats are fairly harmless in a healthy heart, which it sounds like you have.  You will want to manage any fast beat episodes if they tend to last a while but isolated ectopic beats are actually considered pretty normal and even having quite a few of them a day even into the thousands isn't considered a health risk to the patient.  It is only when one reaches into the 20,000 range that they may become an issue but this seldom happens.  Anyways I would discuss with your doctor your fast heart beat issue to pinpoint what you exactly have and what you need to do to correct it or manage it properly but I wouldn't worry too much about the extra beats.  Your best bet for those is to manage your stress and watch what you eat which are 2 of the biggest triggers for aggravating them.

Ok, a lot of information here.  Let me know if you have any questions but do remember I am not a doctor so if you have any major concerns with your health please consult with them.  Take care.