More Questions

[oatbucket]

My daughter, 12, who has AVNRT had another "episode" yesterday. What I call an episode is when her heart starts beating really fast (I'm not sure exactly what this is called).   Again, it was when she was riding horses.  It lasted about 3 minutes.  She handled it wonderfully but it still scared her.  She hasn't had one since May 29th (yes, I keep track of them!).  Anyway, she tried bearing down and that wasn't working so I threw two handsful of cold water in her face.  It stopped about a minute after doing that.  So one of my questions is...do you think the water was what stopped it or do you think it stopped because after I threw the water in her face she went and sat down and tried to bear down again.  Also, can these "episodes" happen more than once a day?  Is 3-5 minutes a long time for a person, especially a kid, an episode to last?  What, if any, other methods have any of you tried to stop your rapid heartbeats.

[CollegeGirl143]

The reason my AVNRT was triggered with my horseback riding was because my mechanism was easily triggered by extra beats during a higher than average heart rate (like exercise enduced tachy)... i doubt it was the water.... when doing maneuver to try and stop the mechanism, its usually a pretty quick response.. it sounds like she might have come out of it on her own, which is good :)  

As far as frequencey and rate... I had multiple episodes a day, of a rate at 200+. which would last anywhere from minutes to hours... There is no set time as to what is too long, its more of a comfort thing.. if you are tolerating the SVT fine, then you dont need to go to the emergency room every time it kicks in, since svt is not life threatening, its usually safe to just wait it out, even if it takes awhile.. if you are feeling dizzy, time to get some extra help in making that bugger stop...  the most common advice ive seen given reguarding time frame is, if its lasting  hours without breaking, go into the emergency room or consult your physician.

[ireneo]

Sorry she had another tachy time. When the heart beats real fast it's called tachycardia. A few minutes isn't very long but it depends on the rate. I used to get times of 180+ that lasted for 30-45 mins. Some folks have them last for hours. At 180 I felt uncomfortable. Anything over 200, I think that's just unbearable.

I've used the valsalva maneuver (bearing down) for years and sometimes it worked, sometimes not. But when it works, it's immediate. Never used the water in the face but I'm guessing it should have an immediate effect to switch the rhythm back to normal. What I've noticed about valsalva is I have to take a breath, hold it for almost a minute (I'll feel my heart thump around a bit more), then release the breath slowly. Then my heart hiccups and goes back to normal. If I just whoosh out the air, my heart goes right back to tachy. And sometimes I have to do valsalva 2 -3 times. That's what works for me.

Interesting that riding horses triggers her tachy. It would be neat if someone could explain how that works in the body. If I rock in a rocking chair I get more PAC's and PVC's (rock, rock, kerthump, rock, kerthump) Very funny stuff.