1 year after SVT ablation

[lovelyleafy]

Does anyone know why first and second degree can be intermittent?
I had an ablation for SVT a year ago and have now been told that I have intermittent first degree and occasional dipping into Second degree heart block.
Has anyone ever had this and has it completely gone away this far out from surgery, or has anyone gone onto develop anything else?
I asked my Cardiologist if there was any medication or supplements that help the conductivety or repair of the pathway and he said NO.  Well if it's intermittent what's at play that causes it to be there sometimes and not at other? ie it can't be totally damaged if the message gets across some of the time.
Does anyone understand my line of thinking?
Any thoughts on Magnesium and Potassium supplements?

[HFD41]

my mother is going through the same episode. I would like to know what is happening with you now? any treatments?

[Iva_87]

Hi,
just found your thread. I had two ablations for SVT, but mainly I have symptomatic AV block too.

Just wondering how are you doing after five years? Im getting quite stressed :)
thanks a lot! iva

[lovelyleafy]

Thanks for your comments...very reassuring.
So I know that my heart is functioning Ok...but I am symptomatic with the block. I can feel an uncomfortable uncoordinated sensation in my chest and pulsing in my throat.  Sometimes I get sinus tachycardia with it as I go from sitting to standing/walking and feel light headed. I have had this confirmed with an event monitor.
I know technically what my heart is doing, but i what I feel stops me in my tracks for a while as my heart settles down.
I would love to hear more on the 'intermittent' debates as I can't find any info myself. And do we have any control over the 'external' factors you referred to?

[bayleaf]

1st degree heart block is completely benign.  If it sometimes becomes second, most likely it's becoming 2nd degree type I, or mobitz 1, or Wenkebach (Yup, 3 names for the exact same thing!)  This is also benign and doesn't matter.  THe physical process occurring in the junction in 1st degree and mobitz 1 are pretty muh the same.  You can look at it this way : When you really block down hard, you're going into mobitz 1.  When you kinda block down, you go into 1st degree.  When you're conducting well, you don't see any of them.


The only heart blocks worth being concerned about is 2nd degree type 2 (or mibitz 2) or 3rd degree.  And you really only care about mibitz 2 when it causes you to drop enough beats to affect your heart rate and cause you to become symptomatic from the slow rate.  Otherwise, you really don't care too much about mobiz 2, except that if it gets really bad, it becomes 3rd degree.

Why the intermittent block?  Great question.  I've heard a lot of debates on that.  But you're correct in that your "wiring" is obviously not damaged.  There's no such thing as a "loose wire" in the heart.  Medications can obviously slow the conduction through the AV node.  Without getting too crazy on AV node physiology, just understand that external factors can greatly affect the conduction through the heart.  But most importantly, realize that 1st degree and mobitz 1 are benign rhythms.  Your heart is functioning just as well as it would be without the low degree block.