I am no stranger to PVCS/PACS and very brief episodes of SVT but on April 15th my heart did something it’s never done before. I was driving to pick my son up and as soon I pulled up and hit the unlock button so he could hop in my heart started fluttering. It felt very similar to the way my PVCS feel but instead of a quick flutter it just wouldn’t stop and it took my breath away. It lasted for several seconds and scared the crap out of me. Now I had a loop recorder implanted 2 and a half years ago so I hit the button on the patient assistant to mark the ECG and drove to the hospital. There they did an EKG (which was normal as the episode had passed) and some blood work but other the a high white count (doctor said it was from the episode) was also normal. They told me to follow up with my cardiologist and sent me home.
On 4/31 I went in to see my EP to review the ECG strip from that night. He told me my heart was going over 200 beats per minute and that it appeared to be a 24 beat run of ventricular tachycardia that lasted for 8 seconds. Since it was under 30 seconds it’s classified as non sustained ventricular tachycardia but that really doesn’t offer me any comfort.
My heart has always been structurally normal but im 39 years old now with a family history of sudden death on my fathers side so my regular cardiologist thought it wise to do an updated work up. I had the echo last week which was mostly normal. It should mild mitral valve regurgitation, mild mitral valve prolapse, grade 1 diastolic dysfunction (this showed in 2017 as well) and some mild thickening. I have a stress test set up for June 1st and a cardiac MRI later this week.
I am dealing with some serious fear and anxiety. Fear that I will have another episode and fear that when it happens I will drop and not get back up. I need someone to talk to because I’m gonna lose my mind. I’m afraid to be alone, I’m afraid to go to the store, I’m afraid to be to far from a hospital. I mean I am afraid to get on 95 because if something happens it would take to long for 911 to get to me.
Is there anyone here that suffers from this particular heart arrhythmia or a different dangerous heart condition? How do you deal with the anxiety and fear?