Skipped Beats folllowed by Very Fast Heartrate

[skipolot]

I have mitral valve prolapse.  I was sitting at my desk at work not doing anything and I felt like my heart stopped or skipped several times.  then it went into this very fast heart rate..i mean like I have never felt before.   I took an extra atenolol (I usually take 25 mg a day) to see if it would help. I had my mom take me to the emegency room.  I was standing up didnt really feel like I was going to pass out or anything but thought I would get it checked out.  I have skips all the time but this very fast heart rate I have not had since I have been on the atenolol.  When I got to the hospital heart rate was 117....it had slowed down some....oxygen rate was 100....my BP was a lil high 139/74.  They did a chest x-ray, ekg, monitored my heart for a while, did blood work and everything checked out fine....normal sinus rhythm the whole time i was there except one skip.  What scares me is if this will happen again and what was it Ventricular Tachycardia or SVT...how do I know if it was just a normal sinus fast heart rate or something worse.  I wish now I would not have taken the pills and they could have caught it...please help I am sitting here at home scared to go anywhere for fear it will happen again...scared to be home alone with my son for fear something will happen. I had an echo in Feb. of 08 and all was normal.    

[bobad]

I can only tell you that tachycardia and other arhythmia events are often preceded by PVC's (skipped beats).

Best of luck,,,

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

If you have a normal EKG and structurally normal heart, the chance that the heart rhythm you describe is dangerous is very low -- the same as anyone in the general population with a structurally normal heart.  There is no way to know for sure what the rhythm was without seeing it on a monitor.

Sustained ventricular tachycardia is very rare.  It is also not dangerous in people with structurally normal hearts.  The likelihood that it was an SVT (sinus tachycardia included in the diagnosis of SVT) versus is VT extremely favors SVT.  Sustained VT with structurally normal hearts is very rare.

It is worth talking to your doctor about a monitor to  see if you can capture an event.  Fortunately and unfortunately, if this is the frst time it ever happened, it is unlikely that a 30 day event monitor will capture the rhythm.

Talk to your doctor about what steps should be taken next, but the likey answer is a 30 day event monitor.

I hope this helps.