SVT - is it genetic or acquired.....or both?

[Jannie411]

Do you think SVT is genetic?  Or acquired through various circumstances?  Or both?  

I ask because some of us seem to have had this problem from birth or early childhood.  Others developed it later in life.    No-one else in my immediate family or extended family had it.  Only me.  

I'm wondering if it was there from the beginning (I suspect the potential was there all along).  I'm thinking that some things I did in my early adulthood might have made it worse - excessive caffeine intake, cold and allergy medications, alcohol consumption, etc.  (By the way, I gave up all those items long ago.)

Any thoughts on the nature of the beast?  I'd be interested in hearing your theories, as always.  :-)  I've learned more here in the last few weeks than anywhere else.

[curmudgen]

SVT can be associated with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome which is genetic.  Just goggle WPW syndrome for information.  SVT can, of course, have other triggers. Your cardiologist should be able to answer this question based on your medical history.

[DeltaDawn23]

I first had irregular heart beats and some chest pain in my early 20's.  I was diagnosed with a functional hear murmur, and a mild mitral regurgitation -- supposedly no big deal.  I've gone years with it simply being a nuisance.  I had my first (known) afib attack in 2003 when my husband was about to undergo a very serious surgery.

However, as I look back into my childhood, I was never able to run far without getting dizzy and sick.  My Mom used to say sometimes she felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest, and both my folks had heart issues with age.  Dad lived to be 88 and Mom 92, so they did okay, were very active with just the usual age-related problems.

I know stress sets me off, and the tachycardia will have me pumping out adrenaline, which of course, just makes it all worse.  My heart problems were diagnosed for years as panic attacks:(

[tom_h]

I've heard it is genetic, but no one on either side of my family back to my grandparents had it.  My first episode was at 6.