How to cope with SVT....Need advice...ablation or drugs or nothing?

[sb786]

Hello everyone,

I am 27 years old and have been recently diagnosed with svt and have just started to get the annoying PVCs too. I have not really tried any meds to help with the svt yet. I have mild asthma so can only take a very lose dose of beta blocker. I tired calcium channel blockers for 2 weeks only but they do not work for me and i hated the side effects. Now i am thinking about an ablation. I have read very few success stories and many horror stories. Personally i'm afraid of the whole procedure and don't like the idea of scarring/burning areas of my heart. I just want to ask other SVT sufferers that have had an ablation for their experiences.
After the procedure did you experience other arrythmias such as increased PVCS? I have read that some people still get the svt but only very short runs instead of the sustained attacks. I also remember asking a paramedic about ablations and he said they were not a very good idea unless your svt attacks were unbearable and very frequent. He told me that the scarring from the ablation has caused some patients to suffer AFIB later on in life! How true are these rumours?

Also are there any SVT sufferers who have found success with drugs rather than the ablation? Or perhaps you have other coping techniques that work during an svt attack??
It would be interseting to see how many people have taken the ablation route, drug therapy route or do nothing and just put up with it route!

[sb786]

I hope your ablation was successful. What was the ablation for?
I have not really tried any meds to see whether they will help. I am currently on a low dose beta blocker and i hate the dizziness. My resting heart rate and bp are naturally very low so i cannot take a great amount of heart meds. What was the actual ablation procedure like for you?

[CollegeGirl143]

I didnt remember mine at all.. I remember them giving me a sedative, saying "night" and i woke up four hours later infront of a tv in a bed... I remembered going up an elevator to get to the cath lab, so i guess once i started coming too i kept asking over and over again "how did i get here? did i go on the elevator?" someone would tell me yes, and then ide ask again like 30 seconds later lol.. I woke up briefly during the ablation when they induced my svt because im so sensative to it.. all and all, it was a very easy procedure...

[mariop]

Well I did experience some discomfort; mostly from my body being in a fixed position for a long time.  You cannot move at all, your hands are tied and there's an oxygen mask that felt as if it was suffocating me.  I think the Aenastheleogist was an idiot.  Otherwise the whole procedure was fairly tolerable.

My ablation was for PVCs that originate in my left ventricle.  There's a site with more info on this:
pvcablation.com

I have to wait for 2-3 weeks to see if it was successful, if not I will request a repeat ablation.  I do not tolerate meds well, so there's no choice left.  My problem is that my EP is booked for a couple of months;  sad to say but there just aren't enough EPs around to do these procedures.  Moreover, I found the typical advise about "just forget them, their benign" to be nonsensical. An irregular heart beat is un-natural, and somewhere down the road it must take its toll on the heart apparatus.

[PikaPika88]

We got no more choice left!  Ablation is only the last resource.....  Some, they not even try the medicine yet!  Only some.....  but I'm still wishing them "Good Luck" and "Take care"!  Long term medication can cause other organ damage too!  Really a hard option.

[vange]

Ablation...Im 26 female, and had one 4 years ago...i havent had SVT since...my heart rate was up to 240bpm...so I hear ya....I didnt even have an EP study because they caught it on an ekg strip from the paramedics...honestly, i havent had any runs of SVT...just have annoying PVCs now...dont worry, it could be just what helps you.

[kjaj]

I have had PAT and SVT for 22 years now and have managed it quite well with meds. For many years I was on Digoxin but eventually it stopped working effectively. Then I began a very old medication called Norpace and it has really done the trick! I may get a skipped beat or so 1 or 2 times per week but no racing episodes. However when I was on Prozac for 2 months this last winter I ended up in the ER with a geat rate of 185. I beleive it was a side effect of the prozac as the pharmacist told me it is a possibility even though the doctor's said they did not think so. I stopped the Prozac! They reccomended the abaltion to me but after a stress test the doctor said I was very healthy and so was my heart and that  only having 2 real episodes in 22 years I could continue the meds and hold off on the ablation. Over the years I have always had skipped beats and a few minor episodes of a racing pulse but nothing major as it did subside and I am a very anxious person to boot! I really feel good with the norpace. I don't plan to have an ablation unless it is absolutely necessary.