This site has been so helpful and pretty much my constant companion since I was first put in the nightmare train called AFib!
It turned out that despite so many having this horror for no particular reason, mine was due to an inherited condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Time passes….
First ablation for fast AFib. A success. However it triggered Atrial Tachycardia so 2nd ablation needed at St BARTs again (Extremely good care)
That was on May 3rd this year and since then have felt unbelievably fantastic!
Swimming, gym, lost weight (now under 10 stone) So very HAPPY…
August, wore a 48 hour heart tape as a follow up.
Results were given to my vis a letter yesterday, and I now have VT.
So very disappointed and unhappy.
It’s dangerous, I know (have done some reading)
Several episodes were seen on the tape, the longest was 17 beats.
Another worry now… Apparently
it’s pace and ablate and an ICD for me as a next step.
Any comments would be very appreciated and welcome. ♥️
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Slidingdoors99
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You've had alot of unwelcome surprises .On the positive side it seems that you are being well looked after at Barts. You're having gold star treatment with pace/ablate and ICD fitted. It's good that VT was discovered this way.
Hopefully , once you've had your procedures you will find yourself looking on the bright side and get that fantastic feeling back again. Well done on keeping so fit which will obviously stand you in good stead.
I had my 5th ablation in June and as a consequence a LAAO procedure last week. I'm in the last chance saloon so can 'look forward' to a pace/ablate as well if AF returns.
I can sympathise with your nightmare journey that is AF. Mine began in 2016 at 67 years old. My episodes have been painful from the off. It's just Afib says my doctor, as did the cardiologist I saw next, just keep taking the tablets . So I did, Apixaban and bisoprolol. The bisoprolol bought no respite but I was told to keep taking higher doses , 10mg which wiped me out. By now I was transferred to an EP who seemed to get that I needed something more to bring down my heart rate. This was Digoxin, which after about 6 months I'd had enough of. It was so debilitating. Added to the bisoprolol I was like a zombie. So I just remained on the bisoprolol and took 5mg twice a day.
Still the Afib episodes kept coming, every time I went to A&E they commented that I had a very unusual reading on the ECG.
The EP decided it was time for an ablation and I was pleased that something was being done at last. I'd had an MRI and echocardiogram so he was confident that should fix things! Well it didn't. He had to abandon the procedure halfway through as my heart was too thickened. I stayed in hospital overnight and just as I was discharged the next day I had a psuedoanyurism in my leg caused by the procedure.
Back to the ward for 4 days until I could walk. The hospital must have been worried as I had visits from 3 consultant vascular surgeons!
So no more ablations for me.
It was either Amioderone or a pacemaker.
I was pressured into having the Amioderone as the EP thought as I was now 72 I was too young !! for a pace and ablate.
I was seriously unwell with the Amioderone. Though I must admit that the Afib episodes were slightly less painful but they kept coming, every 5 to 10 days they'd turn up and last from 24 to 48 hours. I took Amioderone for six weeks and after speaking to the EP he agreed I should stop them.
I had 9 A & E visits in 6 years and at no time was I told that I actually had HOCM.
A chance meeting in the cardio ward with a wonderful Cardiologist who wasn't even my doctor who wanted to know what my diagnosis was. I said I've no idea. I just keep having such bad Afib episodes I felt I didn't have any sort of life any more. I felt so poorly.
He investigated my records and said it looked like I had apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and he would write to me and give me a diagnosis and that he would do a CRT p pacemaker asap. Three weeks later I had my pacemaker surgery. I had a general anesthetic and it took three and a half hours as my heart was thickened.
Two months later he did the AV node ablation and now I have a LIFE! That was October 2022 and I feel wonderful.
It's been a long time coming but the pacemaker has given me my life back after 6 years of pain.
I don't think you'll regret having pace and ablate, I certainly didn't.
Oh my goodness, what a story! You poor thing to have had to go through all that. Thanks so much for telling me and for giving me hope that things will get better! 🌞
Oh, thank you, ahcm, for your post!! I’m due for an AV node ablation and pacemaker on October 15. I can’t wait—with fingers crossed my outcome echoes yours. I’ve been down the ablation route and the drug route (amiodarone is the worst!). I’m 82 and ready to move on to a good QOL in my remaining years, am otherwise healthy. Your post reinforces my optimism. I hope SlidingDoor and I follow in your footsteps.
I'm so pleased for you. I'm 75 now, but I don't feel it. I can do things now that I really struggled to do 2 years ago. I'm able to come off my Diltiazem too. So one less med can't be bad! Good luck to you, Carol.
I’ve not had any ablations but after a STEMI have bits of PAF, SVT and NSVT. Yours sounds like the NSVT type it’s the sustainer VT that needs a and e. If the NSVT isn’t causing any problems might they just monitor you?
Sounds as though you have a great treatment plan and excellent recommendation from achm. I had CRT pacemaker in preparation for P&A but didn’t in the end have the AV node ablation as the CRT seemed to stop AF but I don’t, as far as I am aware, have HOCM.
Hope it goes well for you and you can regain your active life.
I can understand your concern re VT. Reading about the dangers can put us into a state of anxiety but at the same time we do need to be in reality. I agree with others here it's good it's been discovered without anything extreme happening. And by all accounts St Barts is a place of excellence and you have a treatment plan. Hopefully others here who have navigated VT will chip in and give further reassurance. It is also totally OK to call Arrythmia Alliance and get some reassurance from there. A while back I saw what I thought was reading of VT on my Kardiamobile- only 2.5 seconds as it happens - and I wasn't happy! I spoke to Tracey Admin who was so helpful. I'm OK as it happens and I trust you will be too.
Thank you very much for that. I remember you wrote to me when I had my vocal cord palsy. I have this again now as it’s a recurring condition. It’s heart related and called Oltner’s syndrome.
I'm glad that helped. If your heart is a little enlarged, it can press on the left recurrent laryngeal nerve (a branch of the vagus nerve that wraps around the heart. It's that nerve that innervates the vocal folds. Speech therapy can help, so do ask about this.
I know nothing, but I do understand there is a difference between supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia.
The more common tachycardia occurs in the atria, which are situated "above" the ventricles ie. "supra"ventricular tachycardia. Here's a description I found ...
The main symptom of supraventricular tachycardia is your heart suddenly beating faster than usual for a few minutes or sometimes several hours.
Things like avoiding caffeine and alcohol can help with supraventricular tachycardia. Medicines or a heart procedure may be needed if it's severe.
Supraventricular tachycardia is caused by a problem with the electrical system that controls your heartbeat.
However, ventricular tachycardia is another matter. Here is a quick summary I found ...
Ventricular tachycardia episodes may be brief and last only a few seconds without causing harm. But episodes lasting more than a few seconds, called sustained V-tach , can be life-threatening. Sometimes ventricular tachycardia can cause all heart activity to stop. This complication is called sudden cardiac arrest.
Hi Slidingdoors (love the name btw!) I’m sorry to hear your latest developments with VT /NSVT - I truly sympathise, as it’s a similar situation to mine. I was/am being treated for PAF (always very fast ventricular beat in AF, so very symptomatic and not safe to remain for too long in AF). I held off on an ablation due to other conditions and in the meantime worked on getting fitter, losing weight (now down towards the lower end of healthy weight). Like you very happy! And pleased and proud to reduce the burden of AF… only to discover I’ve developed NSVT. 😩 Utterly gutting. I’ve had maybe 20 episodes that I know of since March when it was first picked up. Probably more because a 7 day holter monitor picked up some in my sleep too.
The hospital I’m under gave me a cardiac MRI which was ok. And now they say they will just monitor until my next appointment which is in March 2025, as it’s ‘only’ non-sustained VT incidents. So I’m very intrigued that you’ve been told it’s pace and ablate and an ICD for you as a next step? That seems drastic compared with what the response for me has been, especially if your longest NSVT has been only 17 beats? But of course you’re under a top hospital, and they know your medical history. Personally I’d have full confidence in them. They’ve cared well for you before, and will continue to do so, I’m sure. Have they given you any indication of timings or a chance to discuss things through with someone? Jx
I’m pretty sure that the reason for the difference is because I have HCM.
My mum died of it aged 48…
I’m going for an appointment in the middle of October because- and here we are the same- I was told it was ‘only’ unsustained VT!
I live in Taunton, but Bristol said no to giving me an ablation because of the HCM.
Taunton didn’t give up on me and eventually St Barts agreed. I’m very grateful to them.
They told me they would give it only one try, but then the AFib ablation triggered AT and so they offered me a second procedure. That was on May 3rd of this year and I have been feeling well, except for a heart kind of shaky feeling at times.
My local hospital would probably do the pace and ablate etc.
Is your blood pressure ok?
Yesterday mine was 170/100 which is worrying. Pulse rate ok though.
Oh yes, that makes sense about the HCM. And I’m sorry about your mum 😕❤️
I’m treated for high blood pressure with Ramipril - it’s been mainly ok other than periods of time when I’ve been under extra stress or grief, when it runs stubbornly high, but you’ve reminded me that I haven’t measured it for ages, so I ought to do that! Has yours stayed around 170/100 since yesterday, or does it more go up and down? Xx
Apparently they think the high BP may be due to a halving of one of my meds!(as previously advised) I hope so. Have some extra ones, so will try that tomorrow!
Ah, so the info I was given (that they don’t fit a Icd for NSVTs when the heart is healthy on an MRI) is in error! That’s helpful to know, thank you Prince. Where are you treated? And how has it been with the icd? X
I had a 7 day monitor fitted and it picked up many runs of NSVT it also picked up multifocal PVCs that was making me feel terrible, they decided to fit the ICD for safety reasons just in case the NSVT turned to sustained VT, My PVCS are now under control thanks to the electrophysiologist Chris Pepper at LGI. He suggested trying me on Flecainide which thankfully worked instantly, it got rid of 90% of my PVCs and no more NSVT. I have come to terms now with the ICD thank goodness its never shocked me and when I go for it checking every 6 months it hasn’t even had to pace my heart rhythm.
Thank you so much for this, Prince, it’s very helpful. I’m due to see my EP soon and it helps me know some of the things to ask. I’m so glad you’re getting on well with the ICD - and here’s hoping it never needs to shock you. Sounds like a very wise decision to have it in case. X
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Four years today!
What next? Afib advice please
whilst the country celebrates the coronation on Saturday I’ll be raising a glass to one year since my mini maze and one year afib free 
High heart rate.
Afib worse since Ablation
