Heart Rhythm

[KallumTitchmarsh]

Hi guys

Im a 16 year old male who is '6"1 i weigh 11 stone. Since i was around 10 I have had random spell of my heart racing for a maximum of 1 minute 30 seconds. Its usually triggered by a jump action or landing on my feet. It occurs on average once every three months. Also last year I started having times where my heart thuds for a single beat (ectopic) if I am correct. I am an extreme athlete playing football 4 times a week at a very high level. I have a resting heart rate of around 54bpm. I some times feel dizzy but again this is rare and when it happens last around 1 second. I belive anxiety is also a huge factor...

Any help would be great!

[KallumTitchmarsh]

Thanks guys, i have booked an appointment on the 28th of April

[alejandradr]

If your an athlete. Please Get a full check with a cardioloagist/ electrophisiologist

[tom_h]

As Marlinspike suggests, are you sure you're not experiencing normal Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA)?  While it sounds bad, this is the heart's normal response to changes in activity.  Fir instance, when you get up from a resting position and walk across the room, the heart will respond by increasing it rate, and BP will rise as well.

I ASSUMED, and perhaps jumping the gun, that you're getting these sudden, really rapid, abnormal changes in heart rate.  This would not be RSA.

[marlinspike]

Hi Kallum. As I understand it, short periods of faster heartbeat are not unusual, say when you stand up quickly. As Tom says, ectopics are very common too, and very often benign. You would be best to mention these occurances to your doctor though - a week long holter monitor would give a good picture of how your heart is doing and hopefully catch the ectopics. Anxiety can certainly contribute to both these kind of events, but best to have it checked out if you can, especially if other symptoms are present.

[tom_h]

It sounds like you could be experiencing some sort of supraventricular tachycardia or SVT event.  It's just a guess, but I use to experience the same phenomenon if I landed flat footed or did something that suddenly jarred my body to its core.  The key to finding out what it is would be to capture it on an EKG.  But once every three months is going to be hard to catch even with a long term monitor.  The ectopic is perhaps a PCV, a benign event in most cases, but something that often triggers an immediate SVT event as it did mine.  If this happens on a regular basis, take heart (no pun there) as it will most likely become more frequent as you age.  The good thing here is then you'll be able to identify it, and there are methods of curing it through cardiac ablation which will rid you of it permanently.  Again keep ion mind that  I'm assuming that you're experiencing an SVT event.