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Heart rate spiked

To start I am 23 years old and in good shape.  I am not over weight and I eat rather healthy.  I do have high blood pressure and take medication for it.

I recently went skiing with some friends and ran into an issue.  First off let me explain that I am a good skier and was getting ready to go on a beginners run with my girlfriend so I wasn't at all nervous.  When I approached the lift I misjudged the chair and sat down rather hard on the medal chair lift.  As soon as that happen my heart started racing out of control.  I went the whole way up and skied down very slowly to try and cool myself down.  I got to the bottom and my girlfriend and friends came over to check out what was going on.  They could all feel my heart pounding through my ski gear and they all had gloves on so it was going very fast.  I sat down and about 5-7 minutes later it went from going a mile a minute to back to normal in a quick second.  I was never out of breath or fatigued so it really freaked me out.  I really thought my heart was going to explode.

I am scheduled to see the cardiologist in two days but before I go I just wanted to get some other opinions.  Thanks for any help you can provide!
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267401 tn?1251852496
I don't know if this will help or not - in the reading I've done on heart rhythm topics I think it could one of a few things.

Since you're young, in shape and eat healthy, maybe looking into some pro athletes with similar problems would be worthwhile:

Google Mike Rupp Andrea Natale - Rupp is in the NHL  - was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW), and later atrial fibrillation.  He had an ablation procedure and is still playing.  

Google Joey Harrington SVT - He was a QB with the Lions and was experiencing a racing heartbeat.  Also had an ablation and continued playing.  He may not be playing now, but if so, it's not because of his heart.  Might be a backup for the Falcons.  Not sure.

Google Dominic Raiola SVT - Coincidentally, he was (and still is) the center for the Detroit Lions and also suffered from SVT.  Also had an ablation (2, actually), and apparently is fine.

Google Mario Lemeuix Atrial Fibrillation - It wasn't enough that Super Mario had lymphoma and back problems, late in his career he also had a-fib, giving him a heart rate in the 200's while playing.  He tried medications while still playing, but because of the extreme tax professional sports puts on a heart, he would still have symptoms.  He has since retired (he was 40), and also had an ablation to fix the problem.

I should note that though all these athletes had ablations, most common in their stories is that because they played professional sports and were in such great shape, the medications they would have been on would have caused other issues that would have put their ability to play in doubt (can't be sleepy when you're throwing a Hail Mary, that kind of thing).

Now what you have may be far less serious than anything you'll find in any of those stories - but some of the symptoms they had sound more severe than what you've experienced, and they are all fine and continuing to have very active lives in professional sports (though for Lemeiux, it's as part owner of the team).

Good luck - here's wishing you a healthy heart.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the info!  I will definitely keep you updated.  
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251395 tn?1434494286
Hello...

What you experienced sounds like an SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) This particular arrhythmia is not considered life threatening and of course is only my guess, with nothing more than your symptoms to base my opinion on. This is exactly what I experienced with my firt episode of SVT. I leaned over to gather up some laundry, felt a thud in my chest followed by an extremely rapid heart rate. I too thought that my heart would explode!

I imagine that your appt. with  the cardiologist will include an EKG and possibly set you up with a holter (24-48hr monitor) or an event monitor which is given usually for 30 day period.

Best of luck to you and please keep us posted:)
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