long qt interval on 2 hour holter -anxious !!

[aylish28]

Hi,I have a history of pvc and pac i take atenolol 50 mg a day for this,no high blood pressure ,,i have had many ecg and a few holters and an echo,,and an av node signal average test,,no one has ever mentioned a long qt interval before -i am haveing gall bladder surgery soon and as a precaution they sent me to internist who ordered this last holter,saw clinic doc today for results he said it showed a long qt interval and he did and ecg  then and there- no long qt on that one -i was haveing an anxiety attack dureing this ecg! he said dont have the surgery yet follow up with internist re this first whom i see march 5 th--my question is....can you suddenly develop a long qt interval and can it have a benign cause,,is it dangerous,,?? why would it never show before,,and does it mean i have LQT  syndrome>>?
i have anxiety and this has made me soo freaked out,,,what could cause it?--i am just turned 40 overweight but in fair health non smoker non drinker,,structyrally normal heart with functional murmer,,and not a huge ammount of pvc and pac per hour,,but feel them all hence the atenolol,,also take cipralex 10 mg for anxiety thanks for any feedback

[aylish28]

that should have read on 24 hour monitor not 2

[aylish28]

thank you for the reply--i am going to see doc today for more clarification  also,,can you have long qt intervals show on ecg but not have the syndrome?i have no other symptoms i am aware of...i was thinking same thing re ecg re do when i am not freaking out with high heart rate in anxiety attack,,i do know it has never been mentioned before,,and i havehad a number of holters and ecg  -it just really shocked me and frightened me and it wasnt my own doc it was a replacement he really scared me...but with anxiety disorder esp re heart stuff it doesnt take much! of course last night i lay here afraid to sleep thinking i would not wake up,.,ughhhhhh

[is_something_wrong]

Well, the "normal" limits of QT is just what 95% of us have, so 2,5% of all people have longer QT times (and 2,5% have shorter) than this normal value, which is 1 out of 40. Only 1 out of 4.000 (I think) have the long QT syndrome, so the answer to your question is clearly no, 99 out of 100 with higher values than "normal" do not have LQTS.

That said, aquired long QT is also something to take seriously, there are some (reversable) conditions that may prolong QT, including medication side effects.

You should discuss all this with your doctor, and keep in mind, the machines may miscalculate. A truly prolonged QT will often show up with other EKG changes as well, something your cardiologist probably will be able to see.

[aylish28]

thank you---:-)