SVT and Ectopics - anxiety or something worse?

[Tompalp18]

Hi everyone,

I will try not to bore you too much with my story I promise. When I was 16 I went to the GP with issues with my heart and they said they could hear a murmur. I had years of testing and being told I will grow out of it.. it’s benign etc.

It was only when I was admitted to hospital July 2016 as I nearly passed out after a bad episode that they began to pay attention.

I had SVT (highest speed clocked was 286bpm wearing a loop recorder) and ectopics and honestly I have had every test under the sun!

I had an ablation done in March 2017 and since then I have had no SVT which is great! But I do get a hell of a lot of ectopic beats. This has no doubt given me quite bad health anxiety and things but I can’t help feel there is something more sinister at play.

I am 25 now and a dad to a 17 month old and she is my world, so to think one day I may just drop dead that makes my anxiety ten times worse! Sometimes I get horrendous anxiety being alone with her because I can’t stop thinking if I die she will be alone until someone comes round, stupid I know.

I have been to A&E so many times and each time my vitals are fine, nothing in my bloods to indicate stress and they send me home, at this point they only check my blood pressure now.

I just want to know if anyone else has the same and if they have found a good way to cope! The cardiologist tells me it’s benign and to ignore them but it’s so easy to say that! I find them really debilitating and scary, I wish I could just take a tablet and never feel them again.

Quite recently I have started to have intense dizzy spells, feelings of nausea, and pain in my chest straight through to my back.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Miaxx]

I have excatly wat u describe and have been told the same deal with them ther no harm..easy for them to say tht I feel 4 u I really do..

[Tompalp18]

It’s so refreshing to know I’m not the only one!

It is easy for them to say when you literally feel like your heart is failing, it’s like someone squeezes my heart and lets it go!

I used to be really active I ran all the time and I was a boxer but now I’m scared to push myself just in case...

I’m left living in fear really, I just want to be normal again

[Miaxx in reply to Tompalp18]

Ye it's feels like ur heart is been squeezed and struggling to beat but them docs won't listen..just keep saying anxiety anxiety I do say can't some1 with anxiety have an illness or is it to easy 4 them just to say tht.. really annoys me..and I'm the same I won't push myself hard to do anything cause I'm scared tey might cum ther so frightening..I just started magnesium taurte to see if any gud if u YouTube them uwill hear of alot of people taking them tht have ectopics and seem to help them so I'm gona giv them a bash nothing to lose..

[Tompalp18 in reply to Miaxx]

Exactly!

I will definitely check that out thank you.

[Miaxx in reply to Tompalp18]

No problem let me no how u get on I just started them today...take care of urslf

[Tompalp18 in reply to Miaxx]

You too, thank you for this

[Miaxx in reply to Tompalp18]

No problem Tom ur not alone and I'm sure there more just like us...😀

[Doris2010]

Hello! I hear you & sympathise I was diagnosed SVT at 35 had ablation 45 like you March 2017 been a wreck since! No episodes of SVT so docs believe I’m cured! Should be ecstatic! NOT! Terrified reoccurring chest pain/twinges/tightness shooting pain/panic/fear/anxiety call it what you 5 visits to A&E hate it! l would rather go back to living with SVT than all this pain & not knowing what if!! Take comfort that you are not alone & use this forum for help & support how anyone else is supposed to understand when they have never even experienced anything similar I will never know!😢

[Tompalp18 in reply to Doris2010]

This is exactly the same as me! All the little pains and pulls and strains it’s horrific! Joining this forum was one of the best things I’ve done just knowing I’m not alone in this! It is clearly a much bigger and wider thing than I first thought!

Well I’m going back to cardiology next month to hopefully get some answers so I will provide updates as I go!

[Doris2010 in reply to Tompalp18]

Yes I’m back with another cardiologist in July for 2nd opinion 1st discharged me like I was a problem! Anxiety is doing this to you not your heart! How can you ever get your head around chest pain not being serious I will never know! At least when I had SVT I knew what it was & to add insult to injury I have cysts in my left breast also just to add to the pain!

Yes keep us informed if your progress & hope things settle down I’ve also been using magnesium taurate & seems to help!😀

[Tompalp18 in reply to Doris2010]

Yeah that’s why I’m back to see if anything is underlying!

Oh no! Sorry to hear that! Cysts are rife in my family so I feel your pain!

I have heard about this magnesium taurate... May have to give it a go!

Keep me informed with how you get on too!

[Hidden]

Same here, lived with them all my life but I,m still here at 71,it has affected my life but I worked and brought up 3 children. I was offered an ablation, I didn,t want my heart messed with, I do have some scary moments when my heart pauses, I also have a mitral valve leak.

[Tompalp18 in reply to Hidden]

It’s good to know you have put up with this for so long and it’s not held you back! It does hold me back but I thinks it’s because of my anxiety more than anything else

[LindaDaisy]

I had a similar thing, it’s like a vicious circle and the stress increased the AF/SVT. They put me on a low dose anti depressant and it made a lot of difference.

[Tompalp18 in reply to LindaDaisy]

Thanks Linda, I am hoping that is the resolution for me too! Just some mild tablet or some mystery thing that will prevent me from feeling these symptoms anymore

[DisneyMom3]

I haven’t been diagnosed with SVT but last year I started waking up with a heart rate that would range from 130-180 and horrid PVC’s. I thought I was dying. Went through every test, wore monitors.. they said I was always in sinus rhythm and just had a couple PVC’s sometimes. I still get PVCs at least once daily. It scares me to death! Twice in the last year I have experienced a “PVC Storm” where I get multiple PVCs that seem like they are every other beat. So it sends me in a panic and makes everything 10 times worse. And every time I get to the ER, it stops of course! They keep telling me it’s my anxiety it it’s horrible to live with. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It has really ruined my quality of life. I never want to leave me house in fear of something happening, I always carry a heart rate monitor and a BP cuff. It’s the worst!

[Jgirl333 in reply to DisneyMom3]

I have been getting them in a row, like 5-7 at a time with a pause in between. Scaring the you know what out of me.

[Tompalp18]

Hi thank you for sharing.

I completely understand how you feel I’ve lived it for the best part of half my life so far and I agree it’s not nice and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone either.

You sound very similar to me and after much research I have found the facts relating to heart disease and it helped a lot, I still stuffed daily, PVC pain in chest and arms, intense dizziness spells but you know I got so sick of waiting I took action and did something I never thought I would be able and that was start running again... alone.. and I felt so good after it mate!

[Magpies2]

I know this post was a year ago but I was diagnosed with SVT a month ago after my first episode lasted 45 minutes and was caught by ECG at our local hospital. Just lucky!

I had several episodes in that week but none for 3 weeks although I am now plagued by ectopic beats. I had bloods, chest xray, cardiac MRI. All normal apart from that first svt that raised troponin levels.

I can really relate to the health anxiety. I'm told it's benign but the ectopics cause chest pressure, pain in my left arm, a burning sensation in my chest, occasionally headache and extreme fatigue. I've been noting it but no particular triggers. I am a mental health nurse and have coping skills...teach them in fact!..but it is still such a worrying condition. Do you go to A & E and be fine? Or stay home and this time it is serious? I'm trying to lead my life but I am hyper aware of changes in my rhythm as I have pulsatile tinnitus and can hear the changes.

Guess we just have to trust our cardiologists but also our instincts.

Thanks for sharing on these posts as I don't feel quite so alone with it!

[Jgirl333 in reply to Magpies2]

I have health anxiety as well and recently mine have been running like 5 in a row. It used to be just one hard thump at a time that would come every now and then but now it feels like a flopping fish then a pause then again and so on like 5 times in a row and takes my breath away. Makes me so anxious. Going to cardio in two days.

[MOasis]

I can sympathise. The only thing that works for me is anti-depressants. I think they numb the nervous system so you either don’t have the etopic beats or you don’t feel them. But they have side effects (depending on which one) such as weight gain, effect on sexual function etc. I try to take the anti- depressants intermittently for say 6 to 12 months - then I get off them - that seems to settle things down for a further 6 to 12 months before it all starts again. But everyone is different and I would actually like to get off the anti depressants so I posted a question earlier. I suffer from SVTs and etopic beats and also had a few episodes of AF. I also suffer from panic attacks. I tried an ablation but they couldn’t identify the circuit under sedation.

Anyway, you might want to try. There are some natural anti depressants like St. John’s wort but no idea how effective they are. You could try if the doctor agrees. Good luck!

[Avrnt]

Hi Tom You sound like me ! I was successfully ablated but I get jumping little tiny fluttering and I have to work very hard on my anxiety, which pays off. I reckon your just anxious ( I'm an ex cardiology sister) I'm now 61 and still here so I think you will be OK. Hope it helps , Fiona

[Dolly1234566 in reply to Avrnt]

I am about to get an ablation in a few months , had been living with SVT for years , wasn’t believed , ended with awful health anxiety… got diagnosed a month ago. My discharge cardio told me that ablation helps the SVT but will never rid the ectopics and normal harmless Palps… I don’t notice any of them now I am on the magic formula of bisoprolol and flecainade x

[Avrnt in reply to Dolly1234566]

You know what Dolly I never fail to be disappointed in not being believed. I would never wish SVT on anyone but if the disbelievers experienced how terrifying it is they are in for a horrible shock . I'm sure your ablation will go well . I'm fine after 10 years and I pray it doesn't return 🙏. My health anxiety is still really bad but I prefer that to runs of SVT xxx

[Dolly1234566 in reply to Avrnt]

Wow i am sooo pleased for you ❤️ That’s such good news to hear - i love a good positive outcome, yes I think the health anxiety that it can cause is harder to battle with. So pleased for you xxx

[Avrnt in reply to Dolly1234566]

Let us all know how you get on 💝💖