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What Has Provided Me Relief From PSVT
I just wanted to share with you guys what has helped me with my PSVT. I used to get it so bad that I couldn't climb a flight of stairs without having my heart race and get out of rhythm. It took me a long time to figure it out, but these are the things that helped me tremendously.
1. Eat foods that are high in potassium and magnesium.
2. Supplement with magnesium. The product Calm (magnesium citrate) works well for me, although I can't have it everyday because it will upset my digestive system. Find what works best for you.
3. Exercise. If I start getting out of shape, I start having irregular beats, making me more prone to PSVT. I have to be careful though, because if my heart rate gets too high, or I over do it and become too fatigued, I can trigger it.
4. Avoid food triggers. For me....gluten, dairy, corn, too much sugar, chocolate, alcohol
(sad because I used to work in the wine industry), and too much salt.
Also, keep in mind that as you get older, your condition will probably change and you will have to figure it out and make more adjustments. Hope this helps somebody. It took me a long time to figure out what worked for me, because there were so many factors.
1. Eat foods that are high in potassium and magnesium.
2. Supplement with magnesium. The product Calm (magnesium citrate) works well for me, although I can't have it everyday because it will upset my digestive system. Find what works best for you.
3. Exercise. If I start getting out of shape, I start having irregular beats, making me more prone to PSVT. I have to be careful though, because if my heart rate gets too high, or I over do it and become too fatigued, I can trigger it.
4. Avoid food triggers. For me....gluten, dairy, corn, too much sugar, chocolate, alcohol
(sad because I used to work in the wine industry), and too much salt.
Also, keep in mind that as you get older, your condition will probably change and you will have to figure it out and make more adjustments. Hope this helps somebody. It took me a long time to figure out what worked for me, because there were so many factors.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Well said, as always tom. Im always impressed by home,much knowledge you picked up while you were dealing with your condition.
If i may i was bored tonight and typed up an absurdly long and detailed explanation! If you choose to read it be warned, its excessive. Maybe itll help someone though, who knows.
In terms of avnrt.. A good analogy would be to imagine a race car track.
Well call it the avnrt speedway.
On the avnrt speedway there is only 1 lane to travel on.. Meaning that when 2 cars a racing.. They are not allowed to pass each other.
At 1 side of the track there is a pit stop for the racers.
Now because theres only 1 lane races on the avnrt speedway are run a bit differently.. 1 car gets a "head start" then the second car in the race starts shortly there after.
In this case lets imagine were going to have a race between 2 older model ford tauruses.. The first ford starts driving.. 30 seconds after it starts, the second ford starts driving.. So we have 2 cars on the track, spaced a good distance from each other.
After 1 lap the first ford goes into the pit stop.. And you know what? The crew is so incredible that they actually upgrade the whole vehicle! Out pops a slightly faster honda civic! The second ford passes the pit stop and keeps moving forward at the same old slow ford taurus rate!
Because the civic is faster then the taurus it starts to get closer to lapping it! But after the second go around the track the civic takes a pit stop again! The ford keeps driving.. Next thing you know.. A mustang pops out! This cycle continues for a few laps until finally a ferrari pops out of the pit stop.
The ferrari speeds around the track and very quickly catches up to the rickety old ford.. But.. Oh no! Because the avnrt speedway only has 1 lane the ferrari cant lap the ford! Instead it rearends the other vehicle.. Causing a big crash and ending the race!
In this racetrack analogy the upgrades that occur in the pit stop represent the acceleration in conduction over the fast pathway. The old ford represents slowing of the impulse in the slow. The track of course is the whole circuit.. And each lap a vehicle does around the track is like a heartbeat.
Clearly the avnrt speedway wasnt designed to hold races! It only has 1 lane! In normal people only 1 car goes on the track at a time. But in avnrt there are 2 vehicles racing, resulting in at least double the amount of heartbeats (laps).
Using this analogy how can we eliminate/prevent avnrt?
Well obviously 1 way would be to get rid of 1 of the cars.. That would be an ablation, or prevention of a trigger (blocking the old ford from entering the race)
The whole reason svt starts is because 2 cars are on the track at the same time.. In the case of the heart the second car is the result of a pac usually.
You get a pac, and if the coupling interval (time from natural beat to pac) is just right.. Then the pac becomes the 'old ford' and enters the race track.
I dont think it would work for everybody.. But absolutely i can see something like exercise, or avoiding caffeine.. Reducing pvcs and thus reducing the amount of future old fords.
The other ways would be to stop the race early.
We can accomplish this by damaging the slow ford.. Lets say we slashed its tires, or we drained it of oil! That way the ford is going so slow that even the honda civic can catch up to it with ease! This of course means youd have a civic/ford crash, and the race is over!
You can accomplish this with drugs, adenosine being 1.. Another being amiodorone, or pretty much any sodium channel blocker.. In fact ill even go so far as to say just about any antiarrhythmic medicine would help, with some of course being more effective then others.
Now we can acknowledge that, theoretically, a loss of an electrolyte like sodium as seen in hyponatremia would reduce avnrt. Blocking sodium.. Or just not having any.. 6 of one half dozen of another right? Of course such a significant loss would also effect your central nervous system and make you forget your name.. But thats all sort of out of the scope of this.
Potassium on the other hand is predominantly responsible for repolarization... Basically potassium makes the old ford go faster making it harder for the crash to happen. If potassium supplements were to be shown to reduce avnrt the best explanation id have would perhaps be an acute rise in extracellular potassium might interfere with chemical concentration gradients.. But that would be a real longshot.. And doesnt account for the kidneys.
The most effective medicines we have to reduce avnrt.. Or actually any svt (these drugs work great on afib, and flutter and wpw even!).. Are drugs that block outward potassium currents.. Drugs that prevent potassium from leaving cells. This in turn slows down the old ford, by expending its refractory period... These drugs are amiodorone(which you can take home) and corvert (which is basically only available in iv form and is only found in the ep lab.)
With this in mind we can,see that effectiveness of potassium supplementation is questionable. Magnesium which actually promotes the leakage of potassium out of cells, and promotes early activation of na+/k+ pumps is deffinately something that 100% would not help avnrt.
Another way we could potentially eliminate avnrt is by making the ferrari/honda civic or whatever faster! I know that seems counterintuitive but by increasing the heart rate in avnrt you might actually terminate the circuit.
This would be a very strange, potentially dangerous and roundabout way to do it.. But if you gave a drug like say.. Atropine which is designed to combat BRADYCARDIA by blocking parasympathetic (feed and breed) stimulation from the vagus nerve/increase conduction velocities.. You might wind up with an episode of avnrt thats twice as fast but half as long, or something along those lines. Id imagine an isuprel drip would produce some pretty short but intense avnrt cycles.. With the disadvantage being youd have more pac's runnin around tryna fire it up again.
Next up you can add about 10 or 20 additional cars to the race! Eith that many cars on the track a crash is inevitable. This is your burst pacing/ anti tachy pacing strategy.
Lastly you could just blow up the whole speedway and cancel the race entirely until the speedway is rebuilt. This is a cardioversion.
Anyways literally everything said here also applies to atrial flutter, with the key difference being the track in atrial flutter is alot bigger, and hence it takes alot more time for the sportscars popping out of the pit stop to finally catch up to the ford. Of course ever now and again those flutter patients cars descide to go offroading and turn the whole race into a demolition derby, at which point you wind up in afib.
If i may i was bored tonight and typed up an absurdly long and detailed explanation! If you choose to read it be warned, its excessive. Maybe itll help someone though, who knows.
In terms of avnrt.. A good analogy would be to imagine a race car track.
Well call it the avnrt speedway.
On the avnrt speedway there is only 1 lane to travel on.. Meaning that when 2 cars a racing.. They are not allowed to pass each other.
At 1 side of the track there is a pit stop for the racers.
Now because theres only 1 lane races on the avnrt speedway are run a bit differently.. 1 car gets a "head start" then the second car in the race starts shortly there after.
In this case lets imagine were going to have a race between 2 older model ford tauruses.. The first ford starts driving.. 30 seconds after it starts, the second ford starts driving.. So we have 2 cars on the track, spaced a good distance from each other.
After 1 lap the first ford goes into the pit stop.. And you know what? The crew is so incredible that they actually upgrade the whole vehicle! Out pops a slightly faster honda civic! The second ford passes the pit stop and keeps moving forward at the same old slow ford taurus rate!
Because the civic is faster then the taurus it starts to get closer to lapping it! But after the second go around the track the civic takes a pit stop again! The ford keeps driving.. Next thing you know.. A mustang pops out! This cycle continues for a few laps until finally a ferrari pops out of the pit stop.
The ferrari speeds around the track and very quickly catches up to the rickety old ford.. But.. Oh no! Because the avnrt speedway only has 1 lane the ferrari cant lap the ford! Instead it rearends the other vehicle.. Causing a big crash and ending the race!
In this racetrack analogy the upgrades that occur in the pit stop represent the acceleration in conduction over the fast pathway. The old ford represents slowing of the impulse in the slow. The track of course is the whole circuit.. And each lap a vehicle does around the track is like a heartbeat.
Clearly the avnrt speedway wasnt designed to hold races! It only has 1 lane! In normal people only 1 car goes on the track at a time. But in avnrt there are 2 vehicles racing, resulting in at least double the amount of heartbeats (laps).
Using this analogy how can we eliminate/prevent avnrt?
Well obviously 1 way would be to get rid of 1 of the cars.. That would be an ablation, or prevention of a trigger (blocking the old ford from entering the race)
The whole reason svt starts is because 2 cars are on the track at the same time.. In the case of the heart the second car is the result of a pac usually.
You get a pac, and if the coupling interval (time from natural beat to pac) is just right.. Then the pac becomes the 'old ford' and enters the race track.
I dont think it would work for everybody.. But absolutely i can see something like exercise, or avoiding caffeine.. Reducing pvcs and thus reducing the amount of future old fords.
The other ways would be to stop the race early.
We can accomplish this by damaging the slow ford.. Lets say we slashed its tires, or we drained it of oil! That way the ford is going so slow that even the honda civic can catch up to it with ease! This of course means youd have a civic/ford crash, and the race is over!
You can accomplish this with drugs, adenosine being 1.. Another being amiodorone, or pretty much any sodium channel blocker.. In fact ill even go so far as to say just about any antiarrhythmic medicine would help, with some of course being more effective then others.
Now we can acknowledge that, theoretically, a loss of an electrolyte like sodium as seen in hyponatremia would reduce avnrt. Blocking sodium.. Or just not having any.. 6 of one half dozen of another right? Of course such a significant loss would also effect your central nervous system and make you forget your name.. But thats all sort of out of the scope of this.
Potassium on the other hand is predominantly responsible for repolarization... Basically potassium makes the old ford go faster making it harder for the crash to happen. If potassium supplements were to be shown to reduce avnrt the best explanation id have would perhaps be an acute rise in extracellular potassium might interfere with chemical concentration gradients.. But that would be a real longshot.. And doesnt account for the kidneys.
The most effective medicines we have to reduce avnrt.. Or actually any svt (these drugs work great on afib, and flutter and wpw even!).. Are drugs that block outward potassium currents.. Drugs that prevent potassium from leaving cells. This in turn slows down the old ford, by expending its refractory period... These drugs are amiodorone(which you can take home) and corvert (which is basically only available in iv form and is only found in the ep lab.)
With this in mind we can,see that effectiveness of potassium supplementation is questionable. Magnesium which actually promotes the leakage of potassium out of cells, and promotes early activation of na+/k+ pumps is deffinately something that 100% would not help avnrt.
Another way we could potentially eliminate avnrt is by making the ferrari/honda civic or whatever faster! I know that seems counterintuitive but by increasing the heart rate in avnrt you might actually terminate the circuit.
This would be a very strange, potentially dangerous and roundabout way to do it.. But if you gave a drug like say.. Atropine which is designed to combat BRADYCARDIA by blocking parasympathetic (feed and breed) stimulation from the vagus nerve/increase conduction velocities.. You might wind up with an episode of avnrt thats twice as fast but half as long, or something along those lines. Id imagine an isuprel drip would produce some pretty short but intense avnrt cycles.. With the disadvantage being youd have more pac's runnin around tryna fire it up again.
Next up you can add about 10 or 20 additional cars to the race! Eith that many cars on the track a crash is inevitable. This is your burst pacing/ anti tachy pacing strategy.
Lastly you could just blow up the whole speedway and cancel the race entirely until the speedway is rebuilt. This is a cardioversion.
Anyways literally everything said here also applies to atrial flutter, with the key difference being the track in atrial flutter is alot bigger, and hence it takes alot more time for the sportscars popping out of the pit stop to finally catch up to the ford. Of course ever now and again those flutter patients cars descide to go offroading and turn the whole race into a demolition derby, at which point you wind up in afib.
2210485 kind of hints to it. Its really hard to screw up your electrolytes, and if you eat a normal diet, you'll get everything you need to maintain them. Taking supplements really doesn't do much good because your kidneys and hormones work to maintain the electrolyte balance. Basically, there's not much you can do to increase them above the levels they're supposed to be at. I use to get regular blood tests and my electrolytes were always steady, and never wavered.
You're right about staying away from food and drinks containing caffeine and alcohol. Fatigue was also a contributor for me.
As far as exercise to stave off SVT episodes, I trained in two sports at very high levels, sprint cycling, and speedskating, and yet had regular SVT episodes. For me, heart conditioning did nothing to affect them. I did go ( through periods of cardiac "restlessness", as well as periods where practically nothing would trigger it. It's very possible that you are in one of those quiet periods. I believe that if you have SVT, in most cases it doesn't go away, and you can't control it by diet, or cardiac conditioning. Professional athletes in basketball, ice hockey, and the like have had issues with SVT. If your heart "wiring" is screwed up, there's not much you can do to control it. I knew a young woman who had SVT episodes every time she got pregnant. She knew this was predictable because she had 5 kids! When she got pregnant, she was going to have SVT. When she got one, she would require a hit of Adenosine to convert it. That was the only thing that would work. When she wasn't pregnant, she never had any SVT.
I predict that it'll return some day. You may not have it now, but it'll be back. I hate to be the prophet of doom, but that's the way it is.
You're right about staying away from food and drinks containing caffeine and alcohol. Fatigue was also a contributor for me.
As far as exercise to stave off SVT episodes, I trained in two sports at very high levels, sprint cycling, and speedskating, and yet had regular SVT episodes. For me, heart conditioning did nothing to affect them. I did go ( through periods of cardiac "restlessness", as well as periods where practically nothing would trigger it. It's very possible that you are in one of those quiet periods. I believe that if you have SVT, in most cases it doesn't go away, and you can't control it by diet, or cardiac conditioning. Professional athletes in basketball, ice hockey, and the like have had issues with SVT. If your heart "wiring" is screwed up, there's not much you can do to control it. I knew a young woman who had SVT episodes every time she got pregnant. She knew this was predictable because she had 5 kids! When she got pregnant, she was going to have SVT. When she got one, she would require a hit of Adenosine to convert it. That was the only thing that would work. When she wasn't pregnant, she never had any SVT.
I predict that it'll return some day. You may not have it now, but it'll be back. I hate to be the prophet of doom, but that's the way it is.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Not sure about the supplements or potassium diet.. I would assume lower potassium would be of more benefit in theory. Even if higher potassium helped your kidneys are just gonna get rid of it, assuming theyre both healthy.
Lower sodium would help though. It would combat hypertension as well.. But would make the problem worse in someone with pots.
The rest of your advice is spot on.. A well conditioned heart has a low rate and less ectopy (premature beats that start psvt circuits)
Avoiding triggers also helps.. If you avoid pac or pvc triggers its less likely youll go into svt. So i definately vouch for that advice.
Good stuff man.
Lower sodium would help though. It would combat hypertension as well.. But would make the problem worse in someone with pots.
The rest of your advice is spot on.. A well conditioned heart has a low rate and less ectopy (premature beats that start psvt circuits)
Avoiding triggers also helps.. If you avoid pac or pvc triggers its less likely youll go into svt. So i definately vouch for that advice.
Good stuff man.
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