SVT, certain triggers and prognosis

[James_]

I’m nearly 18, and for roughly 3 years I’ve been experiencing episodes of what I believe to be SVT. I can go 6+ months without episodes and when I do get them they’re usually only a few minutes long. I only really get them when I get Ill with colds and things and I initially thought it was medications triggering them. However, after stopping things like Sudafed which I believed to trigger episodes, I still get multiple svt episodes whenever I’m ill with viruses and things, once I had about three 2 minute bouts of svt in about 10 minutes. I occasionally get them from other triggers such as stress or bending over but with my episodes being so frequent with illness and fever, I’m worried if it may be more serious. I’ve had around 3/4 ecgs since being about 15 and never had it documented. Could there be something serious and underlying which may be triggering these episodes? Or anyone with similar experiences.

[daisy2311]

Hi James, have you seen a doctor about this? I have SVT and would suggest that you get a formal diagnosis. It can be quite normal with SVT to get episodes months or even years apart. I was only diagnosed at age 34. This can make it difficult to catch on ECGs but perhaps a monitor you wear for a week or two would capture the episodes. I would suggest that if you are getting prolonged episodes lasting more than a few minutes, go to A & E. That way, they can monitor you and hopefully catch the episode on the ECG so they can then treat and follow up if required. I was only diagnosed after an A & E admission. I hope this helps and good luck.

[mistymolly]

Keep going to A&E until they help you. You know your own body. Best of luck

[Atora]

Hi James,

I started getting SVT at the age of 14 and at a similar frequency to you. This carried on through my twenties and thirties when finally in my mid forties I took myself to A&E following an episode which had lasted for over 5 hours. I had learned to stop most episodes by holding my breath but this was not working on this occasion and having been monitored for about an hour in A&E and also being threatened with the shock treatment it stopped by itself. Following this I was prescribed Bisoprolol but the defining moment was having an episode an hour into a 7 hour flight to Dubai which after a short period of time my wife talked to the cabin crew and they had me hooked up to an ECG talking to a doctor on the ground and also put a call out to see if there was a doctor on the flight which thankfully there was. Again after around two hours and using some techniques suggested by the doctor it stopped and I decided enough was enough and my GP referred me to hospital for further investigation and I had an ablation procedure and haven’t experienced any more episodes. The fortunate thing was that during my tests prior to the ablation they identified that I also had a bicuspid aortic valve showing severe regurgitation so I’ve had it replaced just recently too.

My advice is to seriously consider having an ablation as I wished I’d had one much earlier and not suffered with the discomfort and worry as to when it may occur.

Good luck.

Atora.

[James_ in reply to Atora]

It’s reassuring hearing people with similar experiences. I can’t remember my first episode really because I wasn’t really looking out for it, but I’ve had about 3 ecgs and a holter monitor in the last few years and because my episodes are so spaced out and short lasting (30 seconds - 2 minutes) it’s hard to catch them. I just seem to have so odd triggers like fever which concern me. It’s also difficult getting my parents to believe me, because after having 3 ecgs, they always come back with “you’ve had all the tests, you’re fine” but don’t understand how difficult it is to catch SVT and get it treated.

[Dickyticker26]

It's good that your condition has been recognised-but has it been formally diagnosed?

I suffered episodes of rapid heart-beats, palpitations almost to the point of vibration for some years

It was always at night after my main meal

I felt I was dying and used to lie completely still until it passed

Then I could get up and get on with normal things

At the time I put it down to indigestion or some problem with my lungs

I felt the cause was caffeine and cut down my cups of coffee to two a week

Then I had an episode of severe chest pain and went to A&E

I already had a history of irregular heart beats and it was identified as atrial fibrillation

I was put on betablockers and bloodthinners and after an angiogram showed severely blocked arteries I am awaiting a quadruple bypass

I recognised the symptoms of SVT only after reading about it on this forum

I have mentioned it to the surgery but they don't really want to know and say it is just an aspect of atrial fibrillation

After my visit to A&E I gave up caffeine completely and have had no more SVT-or chest pains for that matter, but then I am on the medication

Any problems I do have seem to be side effects of medication

I would recommend going along with investigations or procedures that are available

I have had ECG's, echo cardiograms and a myocardial nuclear perfusion scan

Cardioversion has been mentioned but not tried on me

It's good to watch "24 hours in A&E" to see how they deal with emergency admissions with heart problems

After a bit all the options become familiar

I do wish you all the best

[James_ in reply to Dickyticker26]

It hasn’t been formally diagnosed mostly based on the fact that my episodes are so short and infrequent. And I almost feel like because I’m young, it’s quickly written off as stress or anxiety, even though it’s triggered by certain SVT triggers and I’ve recorded my pulse during an episode and it was about 220 ish. Because all my base ecgs were normal and a holter monitor I had at 15, nothing showed up, despite me trying to provoke it as much as I could. I don’t really know what to do now because both my parents and doctors don’t seem to believe me, but I don’t feel like I can walk in to the doctors and tell them that I have SVT, because they’ll just write it off again.

[Dickyticker26]

Yes Thanks Interesting

Mine has never been formally diagnosed or even recognised either

Last night's "24 hours in A&E" had an elderly patient with a very high heart rate

I think it was 140 on the machine

I believe that SVT can show 250!

The medical staff at St George's were doing everything they could with drugs (presumably betablockers) and eventually cardioversion electrical shock treatment and got it down to 80 bpm which is within the usual 60-90 range

When I walked into A&E this time last year (4 pm on a Thursday) it was empty of patients

I said I was having chest pains and was in the Resuscitation and Cardiac room within a minute or so and there for 5 hours

SVT was not mentioned as I know now I had it but never recognised it for what it was until a month or so ago

I think there is a separate BHF site on atrial fibrillation and maybe a posting there might help you towards formal diagnosis

[James_ in reply to Dickyticker26]

I’ll have a look at that site. I normally forget about it because I go so long without episodes but when it flares up, even if the episodes last seconds, they scare the life out of me.

[Qualipop]

I was just yesterday diagnose with this following a 24 hour holter monitor. I suggest you ask your gP to book you for a longer lasting monitor to try to catch an episode. MANY years ago I got what I called palpitations. A monitor then showed them to be SVT but they only happened rarely and were very strong. I learned to ignore them until Jan this year when, after a heart attack, my BP Tablets were changed. After about 2 months the SVT started to increase and would turn into a fluttering which lasted up to 90 minutes. But of course after a 5 hour wait in urgent care for an ECG, they had stopped. It was only the long term monitor that showed them. My GP was worried it might be AF but it isn't and he tells me SVT is harmless and to just ignore it which is exactly what I was told many years ago.. In my case the BP Tablets had made the existing, occasional SVT much much worse and more frequent. My BP Tablets were stopped 2 weeks ago and it is gradually settling down; no more fluttering, just an erratic heart beat that feels to miss every 3rd or 4th beat then do two to make up. I have found that increasing my potassium by eating bananas has helped. Now don't go stuffing your self on bananas LOL. When it was like yours, I never could find out what triggered it. It would just act up for a few days then just go away for months. Do ask your doctor to get you as monitor to find out just where these odd beats are coming from.

[James_ in reply to Qualipop]

When I first went about the palpitations because I was only 15, I kept getting referred to paediatricians who thought it was anxiety. And I do get pretty severe anxiety but I’m assuming it’s SVT because the episodes just come out of the blue. I had a 72 hour monitor and originally I was getting palpitations with exercise but they were normal and felt nothing like the SVT. I almost forget I have it at times because I can go so long between episodes, I almost feel like I’d have to wear a monitor for a year to catch anything, and they cause me so much anxiety when the episodes happen I just want to know that it is SVT and is harmless and not something more serious.

[Qualipop in reply to James_]

Yep I understand that as someone who has suffered anxiety and panic attacks since I was 18. IT's always temping for GPS to blame everything on anxiety but like you nothing triggered mine. They didn't happen when I was anxious, they did happen sitting watching TV,they happened when I was fully immersed in doing something and thinking about nothing else. It's almost impossible to catch them even with a 24 hour monitor. You really need one for a week and even then they may not happen. If that's what it is, a slightly late beat then a double one that seems to thump, I can assure you they are harmless. I've been having them for over 50 years but you do need to find out for sure. Think about how you can explain it to y our GP without sounding anxious and point out that if it is just ectopic beats you need to know for your own peace of mind so you can learn to ignore them.