Question:
My dilemna this week is possible SVT. I've been
seeing a cardiologist and she suspects that I have
SVT. I have occasional episodes of a racing
heartbeat, usually at night like getting up to go to
the bathroom. When I say racing, I mean my heart
flips a switch and is galloping at a fast clip
(150bpm+). It will peak out at about 3 minutes then
start to decline and then goes back to to normal in
around 10minutes. Sounds like a panic attack, doesn't
it? I've always had these occasional episodes and
attributed them to panic attacks. Now my doctor is
stating this *could* be SVT. Frankly, I'd like to
just have panic attacks. SVT scares the $%#$ out of
me.
Has anyone had the same symptoms? I mean I've never
had to go to the ER (knock on wood). I read some
stories about people with SVT at 200+bpm going for
like 3 hours!!! But reading further there are varying
degrees of SVT. Some people can get 5 minute
episodes.
At any rate, I'm going to get a second opinion next
month. I want a monitor to trap these episodes once
and for all.
Answer:
Yes. I was told I may have inappropriate sinus tachycardia.
It's a treatable condition that is generally benign unless left
untreated.
My pulse was over 100 bpm for quite some time and there
was no apparent heart function problem that was causing it.
My heart rate also rose to 130-140 when standing up.
I was put on beta blockers to control it.
As I understand it SVT is almost always benign condition and can be
treated with medication if necessary. I'm not so sure that there
wouldn't be a correlation with your PD. Many of us know the symptoms
from their own experience. I always ascribed them to PD and when
prescribed a betablocker for high BP my heart stopped racing too.
My heart rate has no problem reaching the 130`s when I am anxious. A fast heart
rate is a very common symptom of anxiety. From what I read, SVT is fairly
benign.......annoying, but benign. I suffer from PVC`s....so I know how
upsetting and anxiety-provoking it can be to have an irregular heart beat.
There is a wonderful support group at Yahoo called "People with PVC`s". You
don`t have to suffer from PVC`s to post there. There are many posters there with
SVT and anxiety. If you are interested in checking it out, here is the link.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/PeoplewithPVCs/
