well i came to this site nearly 3 years ago! everynight i thought i was dying, my heart would race i was getting tons of ectopic beats and strange rythms! eevrytime i went to dr's they said i was fine and just put me on diff anti-deppresants and tamazepam! i never slept cos i was forever checking my pulse and waiting in fear for that dreaded missed beat which would make me sure i was about to die which would then speed up my heart to make things worse! after numerous trips to a&e and being told i was foine just in an sinus arythmia due to panic they finally agreed to do further tests! I had many ecgs, blood tests 24hour recordings echo bla bla which showed nothing but a bundle branch block which is apparantly very common and not dangerous whatsoever! after months of panic and sleepless nights i finally pushed for more tests and they agreed to give me a recorder for the week! but i was sure it wouldnt pick anything up because by the time you have the missed beats it would be too late to gte the recorder to my chest! one night after i finally fell asleep i was jolted awake with my heart racing only this time it felt different, it was really really going fast and no amount of calm breathing would slow it down! i didnt feel panicked like usual or have any pains or anything, strangely i felt quite calm, i put the monitor on my chest and recorded! then rang the hosp and sent the recording down the phone, aoutomatically the nurse called an ambulance and told me to stay calm which i found impossible, convinced i was about to die! finally aftre 10 mins the ambulance got to me and hooked me up to the machine and my heart was going at a rate of 250bpm!!!! when we got to a&e the dr's told me i was in svt! and that they would need to convert it to normal rythm with a drug called adenosine, i was told 3 attempts then if it didnt work they would shock me, the drug was horrible made me feel like my whole body was being crushed but only lasted a few seconds i happened to glance to the side where the machine was going and actually watched my heart flatline i was screaming thinking i was dead then bam it went again! it took the third attempt to revert me to normal rythm, the dr finally told me that the drug stops and restarts your heart! this was the scaryest thing of my life!!!!!!! after the dr's explained to me that svt is very common and not dangerous so long as its not left too long, he told me how back in the day people would have attacks for days on end and be fine just that leaving it too long could tier the heart, i was then referredto a cardiologist who went through everything with me, explaining how it wasnt dangerous condition just a nuisance if anything and if i was having regular attacks they could do an op. i decided to see how i went, but everynight scared to death it would happen again i got myself worked up and would end up in a&e with nothing but a sinus arrythmia due to panic. eventually i learned to anage my attacks and tell the difference between panic and svt. when i take deep breaths when my heart is racing if it doesnt slow down as i inhale then speed up after then i knew it was svt but most of the time it would stop on its own after 15 mins! thats what a&e told me happens alot people in svt dont get diagnosis cos most of time its gone by the time they get there, i even met one dr who had svt every day several times and was fed up of being converted he decidie to go for the op which he assured me worked wonders! its so nice to know how common this condition is and how generally un dangerous it is! its put a new outlook on my life now! yes i get many palps but i no longer fear hem as i know they wont harm me! and the fast rythm i tend to calm down myself now there are many maneuveres to help with it! just wanted to share my story! oh and the way to confirm svt is if your having a fast heart rate when panicking and you have an ecg that will show svt.episodes of svt can be once in a lifetime to once every few hours everyone varies and it can happen to anyone! i havent had an episode now in a year but always get the missed beats which are horrid and still scary to feel but i just reassure myself that they wont hurt me! i just have a sensitive heart is all!!!!!
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