SVT anxiety

[winston333]

Hello, I am 32 and have been diagnosed with possible SVT and am currently waiting for a 3 year 'Reveal' monitor in May. I get nervous when I am not at home or when I am not 15 minutes from A & E. I am now taking propanolol which has really helped with the SVT episodes but have reduced the dosage down from 3 times a day as was suffering from disrupted sleep. Does anyone have any advice or has anyone suffered from similar SVT anxiety? Merry Christmas

[Bells08]

Hi! What is a 3 year reveal monitor? And what is your heart rate during dvt episodes?

[Bells08]

I was diagnose with sinus tachycardia through a holter monitor. After an episode of tachycardia, then I developed lightheadedness and palpitations and presyncope feeling. After I ha d a checkup with a cardiologist I was put on metoprolol 50mg twice a day. After a few weeks I had palpitations almost everyday with lightheadedness. Sometimes it happens at the same time, I also thought I developed anxiety due to my sinus tachycardia. Now I'm afraid to go out due to fear of passing out. I'm also afraid to be left at home alone

[winston333 in reply to Bells08]

Hi,

It’s a cardiac monitor which is implanted under the skin which you can wear for up to 3 years. The episodes I get are random and unfortunately it didn’t pick up when I wore the 7 day monitor. Last episode I had was 180 bpm resting.

I had to quit my job and go part time as I can’t commute anymore . I hope the monitor will give me some peace of mind that I’m not about to have cardiac arrest.

I’m sorry to hear that you are struggling to leave the house. Is the metoprolol helping at all? The cardiologist has suggested I have an ablation but that sounds a bit scary. It’s horrible and debilitating

[Bells08 in reply to winston333]

Oh I see cardio monitor implanted for 3 years? That's like an event monitor ? Where in you wear it for a month then if you feel something it will be recorded. I only had 24hours holter and the only findings were sinus tachycardia and isolated Premature ventricular complex. I've been reading forums also and people say it's hard to catch arrhythmias on EKG and holter Monitor. 180 bpm? That's quite fast. Didn't you pass out or had lifhtheadedness and palpitations??? And I was wondering at the age of 32 you have SVT? So sorry to hear that you quit your job. But seriously this sinus tachycardia also freaks me out. When I'm out I'm always worried that I would pass out or have a sinus tachy again it's been bothering me everyday, sometimes I don't know if my chest tightness are from the sinus tachy or from anxiety

[Bells08]

When I started taking metoprolol, it controlled my heart rate. I used to have 80-90bpm resting heart rate and shoots upto 110 when moving, or walking a short distance. Now that I'm taking metop my resting heart rate is now67-70s bpm. But the problem with metoprolol is the side effects , cause my BP goes down from 100/80 to 80/60! I also have lightheadedness and low heart rate sometimes it's down to 50s. And lately I'm having occasional chest tightness from metoprolol btw, you're too young for an ablation therapy that's what I'm scared also.

[winston333]

Yeh 180 whilst sitting at my desk at work, I felt like I was going to pass out so I ended up in an ambulance. I took a beta blocker so by the time the paramedics came my heart rate had come down but they said it was still high. Luckily I’ve only had about 5 of those episodes but they were scary enough to give me this fear haha. 110 walking doesn’t sound that high? Mine is about 70 resting and then in 50/60s with the beta blocker. Walking I normally go into the 100s but haven’t really checked with the medication. I’d love to get back into exercise but I get to nervous it’s going to trigger an episode so stick to walking the dog and some gentle weights and stationary exercise when I’m at home. Bring on May....

Have you spoken to docs about the chest tightness it’s probably because you are conscious of it?

[winston333]

Well google says 110 + is high when walking. The cardiologist didn’t mention anything when I had the 7 day monitor though... I think I’ll start wearing my heart rate monitor again and keep an eye on it thanks so much for the advice!!