vt?

[braveheart1978]

hi does anyone have vt? with a very high heart  rate like the 200-280 range? seen a new ep czrdio n he says i dont have svt as i was told i had for the last 3yrs that i might have vt or scar tissue from a asd repair in 06 i know icd is prolly sumthing i might need but as many episodes i have im going to b shocked alot??????    

[braveheart1978]

sry hit post and was not done but any who my thing about scar tissue is also y all the sudden am i having these issues? i mean i know it can show up at any age but i guess i just wanna hope that its scar tissue bcuz vt sounds very very scary for the last three yrx i thought i had svt n that scared the heck outta me but was told i wouldnt die from svt well vt can cause SCA omgoshhhh have i had an angel with me bcuz i have had so many bad episodes that i didnt go to the er for. I will keep everyone updated on wut my outcome is ty for the in put hope everyone knows on here words mean alot when one is worried or scared. o n ps sry for txt or short hand im on threw cell or nook n sometimes these things have a mind of their own lil

[braveheart1978]

to is something wrong,my doc just said what he see's on a event monitor reading is not svt that it looks and sounds like vt or mayb scar tissue is effecting my elec system but deff not svt,im getting a cardiac mri this friday i guess those show alot i also was on a lifevest for ten days but my ins does not cover it and of course when i was on it my heart behaved lol so now waiting for anothet monitoring device or a er vist while having an episode but it makes sense to me that it may b scar tissue due to this issue had not apperred till almost two yrs after my asd fix i also was in heart failuer wen i had my open heart

[is_something_wrong]

The question if you need an ICD or not mostly depends on your response towards the arrhythmia. If you faint or develop other serious effects, an ICD is usually implanted.

An ICD doesn't necessarily shock you out of an arrhythmia. Usually it will try to "pace" you out of the arrhythmia by producing an extra impulse which can terminate the re-entry circuit. The heart rate zones where it will try pacing vs the zones where it will shock, is programmed and customized to fit each user. An old person with coronary artery disease who can't tolerate a heart rate of 150, will probably have an ICD programmed to shock at heart rate 140. A young person who can tolerate a heart rate of 220, will probably not shock before the heart rate is very high or they go into ventricular fibrillation.

It sounds weird to have VT from an ASD repair. The atria do not produce VT, if you have atrial scar tissue, you can develop reentry atrial tachycardia. But I assume your EP doctor knows what he's talking about :)

[Jerry_NJ]

I may be off the target of the question, but then I'm an old guy and I can't fully understand the abbreviations used by those writing in "text message" format - I assume that's what it is, I in fact don't know.  I know, just read the phonetics of what I see if it isn't a work I recognize... right?

The HR you specify sounds very high to me.  I'm unclear (bad memory too) about ICD, I always think of them to be a built-in electrocardioversion device, and can be used to stop fibrillation, suppose that VT while not fibrillation is also responsive to shock treatment.  I don't know what number limits exist, but I guess as long as the heart is pumping blood it isn't a fibrillation.  Sorry, not trying to bring up scary side-issues.  

Please let us know what you decide, others will benefit from your help and may be able to better relate as they learn more details on your case.

Hope your doctor comes up with the best answer.

[MichelleP_3811]

How many episodes are you having?  How long do they last?  Do they convert on their own?  Are you passing out from them?  I am not exactly sure how an ICD works but I'm pretty sure you can set the tolerance for it at certain levels.  If you convert on your own pretty quickly and don't have any bad symptoms with the episodes I wonder if you can have the device set to only go off in extreme situations.  It is something I would ask the doctor if I were in your shoes.  I wish you the best of luck.