What Next?

[Cgd1]

Does having LVH (my left ventricle is 11.4-11.9mm according to my cardiologist), high blood pressure, and arrythmias put you at a significantly increased risk for SCA? I have a good EF. I have also had a heart cath which found no blockages. Everything looked great. I have had 2 fainting episodes within and month and am having weird runs of beats. For example, my heart gives a hard beat then 3-8 really fast ones then another hard one. Also, I had one occasion within the past month where my heart just suddenly started racing. I'm not sure how fast it was going but it was going fast enough to make me feel winded. It lasted for several minutes. I am seeing an EP and have told him about everything. I have worn a holter monitor and an event monitor and didn't have any episodes. He has basically dismissed me saying I am just anxious. But, I just can't seem to shake the feeling that there is more to it than that. Although, as many of you have probably seen in my posts, I have already been to several cardiologists. I have been in the hospital 4 times since May and have had the ambulance called to my house due to the fainting and fast beats. When I was in the hospital I experienced, ventricular bigeminy several times over, but never had one of the fast beats episodes. In addition, my resting pulse used to be in the low to mid 50s and I had a hard time getting it to 100 even with exercise. My resting pulse is now in the 80s to 90s and it goes well over 100 with simple activities. For example, it goes to 125 if I just walk from the living room to the kitchen. When taking a shower, it can get to over 140. It has truly shut me down. I just wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions from here. Do I try another doctor? Do I just try to go on the way I am? Do I ask for an EP study? Can I even ask for an EP study? I'm just not sure what to do at this point and this is significantly affecting my life. Thanks everyone! Wishing all of you a great weekend and freedom from your worries.

[Mom2four85]

I think mine was at 11.1 when they first dx me with LVH; but my chambers were involved also and they termed it - concentric LVH.  6 months ago it was 12.5 so it will be interesting next week to see what my new Echo says...

the last tech I question because it said she had a "techincally difficult" time with the measurements; but I will ask my cardiologist & EP about this when I see them.  I think sometimes the techs don't take many things into consideration when they do echo's here - my son who is 6'2 (25) had the same parameters as I did at age 44 and I'm only 5'7 so there's no way that can be comparable.

good luck, hopefully they listen or maybe you find another doctor who will listen =)

[Cgd1]

Thank you for your response. I think I would be about 178cm tall (5ft 10in). My cardiologist told me I have LVH, but never said how far outside of what he considers normal for me I am. I have a really hard time getting them to answer any questions for me. When I asked my EP at my last visit, he said he didn't have my records. I said I see Dr. Smith (who is in the same office) and he said he would share my records. Then the EP said, Oh...I have them...but I just didn't print them out for today (he had a few papers in his hand which referred only to my visits with him thus far) I felt like saying...well...get up, go to the computer, and look at them. Sheesh.
I would like to get an EP study done since I am having episodes that feel like they could be nsvt and none of them have been caught on a monitor yet. Unfortunately, every time I have worn a monitor I haven't had an episode. I feel like it would be better to try to find out definitely than to just continue on with the "what ifs"
Once again, thank you for your comment. I hope you are having a wonderful day. :-)

[is_something_wrong]

I didn't even know that 11,4-11,9 mm was defined as LVH. It depends of course on your general heart size, it must be seen in perspective with how large the inner dimensions of your LV is and your body size.

I wouldn't think 11 mm would cause any arrhythmias. When speaking of severe LVH and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the LV walls are often close to 2 cm. My LV measure 11 mm on one measuring and 10 mm on another (it depends a bit on how the cardiologist is holding the transducer and how stretched the heart walls are). I have never had high blood pressure and my cardiologist specificly noted "No hypertrophy" on my journal. But we norwegians are fairly tall and large (I'm above 190 cm), so our hearts are somewhat larger, compared to, say, Japanese people.

If you need an EP study or not is something your doctor should evaluate, probably in light of the arrhythmias and not the LVH which I'm not even sure you have, it depends on the other echo findings (like inner LV dimensions), your body size and general heart function.

[Cgd1]

I am so sorry to hear about all of things you have been through and are going through. I think all of these doctors should have to go through what we go through for one day. Then, maybe, they would understand. I hope you are doing ok and had a good weekend.

[Mom2four85]

I know what you mean; even with malignant arrhythmia's and solid proof of my heart stopping and going into VTach over and over dr's still dismiss many of my problems and complaints and they do not listen to me and just expect me to say ok whatever you say you're the doctor.

The last EP at the teaching hospital University, actually put in my files I had NO symptoms and his physical exam showed I was in perfect health lol He never evern listened to my heart or examined me or asked me if I had any symptoms just read my ICD and complained about what a mess it was and how much noise I had in the RV lead and told me to go back to the original EP who implanted it [sigh]

He let me go and then I had 3 VTach episodes the following week and I ended up in the ER after I fainted and suffered a concussion, contusion and severly sprained neck :( back in the middle of June.

[Cgd1]

My LVH is due to HBP. I am taking meds, but it isn't always under control because I am extremely anxious and stressed out most of the time. I have taken SSRIs and they seem to make things worse. I have not had a tilt table test done yet. I am going to ask my EP about it, but I don't think he will agree. He seems to think I am just overreacting to things.
I am sorry to hear about your recent issues with the NSVT. >hugs< I hope that you can get some answers. That is what frustrates me the most. I hate having to beg someone I am paying for answers....grrrrr. Their job is to help us and they seem like we are hindering them by showing up. It seems as if they think we should just give them the money and walk back out the door.....grrrrr....Ok...enough complaining. I hope your weekend is going well. thank you for your response and suggestions.

[Mom2four85]

is your LVH due to your HBP?  have they done a tilt table test yet to rule out ANS problems?  If I remember correctly most of the time LVH can be caused by HBP.

until recently they thought my fast heart rates were due to my PSVT but my ICD interrogations showed I've had 7 or 8 separate 1-3 sec NSVT episodes where my HR was 350-425 bpm which scares the heck out of me with malignant arrhyhthmia's...right now I'm going through more testing to find out if they can find what's going on.  

I was dx with HOCM and my CLVH worsened over the past 2 years but they say my heart is "structurally" normal lol so I'm back to square one and asking questions all over trying to figure out what's going on - sometimes a change in doctors who has more knowledge or thinks outside the box may be in order to find answers.

[Cgd1]

Thanks Elli for putting things into perspective for me again. :-) I am here to lean on and hold your hand, give you virtual hugs, whatever it takes.

[Elli126]

Hi again! I have all the same beats you do...our hearts must have gone to the same music school. I think the fast beats are SVT or PSVT probably ( they're both the same thing pretty much ). Since they only last a little while and you convert on your own, thats a good thing. There are things you can do to get rid of them too like holding your breath and bearing down. There are others, they're called vaso-vagal ( or something like that, one of the brainier folks on here can tell you ) excersizes. I rarely can convert on my own and they last forever it seems, at over 200 bpms, so I end up having to go to the ER for the Adenosine.

I just had an episode of the hard beat followed by the fast ones as you described, but it didn't continue. So of course I came on here looking for some hand holding. Wouldn't it be peachy if none of us had to come here and we were all heart happy folks just living our lives? That is until that evil bus gets us, something else happens or we just fade away at 110... :- )

[Cgd1]

Just wanted to add that after rereading my post, I realised that I started off with a totally random worry before getting to the point of my post. Yikes. Not only is my heart out of rhythm...my brain is too....;-)