Worry about seizures and heart

[Helpplease20]

Hi. I'm a 20 year old female and since I was 3 I've passed out/had seizures. Examples of when I've passed out are: when being spun on a chair by siblings when younger, being scared, having cramp in my leg, having a fever with a cold, having a tattoo.

Usually the seizures occur randomly though. I've had numerous ECGs, a heart scan, a brain MRI and a tilt table test. The doctor has recently said he thinks they could be non epileptic attacks. However, a few days ago I read about long QT syndrome and I'm worried I could have it, I'm just looking for some advice. The only abnormalities that are picked up on ECG are second degree type 1 heart block and sinus tachycardia, this has only been found very recently after a 4 day ECG and a night in the hospital under observation on an ECG monitor. Does this sound like long QT syndrome? This condition has never been mentioned to me.

Can a basic ECG rule the condition out? I'm extremely worried. I've seen many cardiologists over the years and none have mentioned this to me. Nobody in my family randomly passes out apart from me. There's also been no sudden deaths.

[SJL]

I'd imagine they would of told you if you had long QT syndrome as there's things that trigger it, they wouldn't disclose that from you.

[Emilym80]

Hi there,

An ECG alone is usually sufficient in diagnosing Long QT, as the majority of people with it will have an elevated QTc reading (from memory). Anyway, yes, it will show up on an ECG in the vast majority of cases. Also, it's more often suspected if the fainting/seizures occur during or after strenuous activity or being badly startled.

Your doctors probably never mentioned this as they didn't think it was a possibility for you. Hopefully that helps your concern somewhat :)

---------- Post added at 15:25 ---------- Previous post was at 15:23 ----------

Also, the fact that nobody else has these experiences makes it even less likely, as these kinds of congenital arrhythmias tend to run in families.