Anybody here get (relatively) regular SVT?

[MuFu]

For people that don't know, Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) is very rapid pulse triggered by an electrical glitch in the heart. It's underlying causes can be genetic, too much caffeine, stress/anxiety, an electrolytic imbalance, a histamic reaction etc etc. A not-inconsiderable proportion of the population get it from time to time (~5% AFAIK - mostly women though, heh). Most people I've talked to about it tend to know at least one person that gets it.

In my case it's something that's (IMHO) not serious enough to contemplate an operation or using medication for life, but it does bug the hell out of me from time to time. Plus, when you get it it feels like you're going to die, which isn't very fun. Usually my BPM will jump suddenly to about 240-250 for anywhere between a few seconds and a few hours, and the couple of times the latter has happened I've begged people to take me to a hospital. A shot (adenosine) stops it straight away*. Ultimately it's just an inconvenience though - I'm thankful I don't have a more serious condition.

Bit of a self-indulgent topic thus far, sorry, but I'm pretty sure quite a few of you guys will either get it from time to time or know someone that does. How badly are you affected? Anybody had the catheter ablation op (supposedly over 90% successful) or take meds for it? The worst thing I've found about it is that it is both caused by and causes anxiety. So if you get really depressed about something it's very easy to develop a complex that involves the condition and grind yourself into the ground.

MuFu.

* The weirdest feeling... your heart actually stops beating momentarily, you feel like a baby elephant is sitting on your chest and then it starts beating normally again and everything is fine.

 

[Tahir2]

Hmm very informative Mufu.. when I have had anxiety attacks myself (pretty rare thing to be honest) I felt a great pressure on my chest, my heart seemed like it had stopped and my breathin failed me. This happened everytime I got up for a few days.

Your description of the baby elephant sitting on your chest described it pretty well.

Glad to hear that your condition is not as serious as it could be but from what you described, "I'e begged people to take me to a hospital" it must be damn frightening and painful.

I would make a crappy joke trying to relate this to gfx cards but I dont have the heart.. (sowee..hehe)

 

[digitalwanderer]

I was gonna say, that sounds like an anxiety attack and I've had a couple of those...but they are a bit easier since me angioplasti and all me blood thinning/slicking meds.

My blood pressure don't get anywhere near as high, and my pulse is pretty much abnormally high all the time now anyways.

 

[MuFu]

Hmm very informative Mufu.. when I have had anxiety attacks myself (pretty rare thing to be honest) I felt a great pressure on my chest, my heart seemed like it had stopped and my breathin failed me. This happened everytime I got up for a few days.

If you're susceptible to SVT this is the kind of thing that can trigger it. It'll be beating normally, then stutter a bit (sometimes you get the urge to cough) and then instantly lapse into this accelerated pulse. My resting heart rate is about 70BPM and it'll jump straight from that to 240-250. It stops just as suddenly (which is rather bemusing to those with you because you're pretty much "back to normal" all of a sudden).

Glad to hear that your condition is not as serious as it could be but from what you described, "I'e begged people to take me to a hospital" it must be damn frightening and painful.

Well "begged" is a bit of an exaggeration. I've only been admitted for it twice and both times I went mainly out of frustration. It's extremely inconvenient if you're doing something/going somewhere, especially for the people you're with, who never seem totally convinced it's not serious.

It's not very painful. To start with you just feel a bit light-headed and short of breath, but if it goes on for hours you can start to zone out a bit and get some intense headrushes. You do get a dull ache in your limbs, and cold ears (!) which get progressively worse the longer it goes on for. I normally go a bit crazy as well after a couple of hours or so - a physician said this was completely normal; apparently people "laugh in the face of death" for the same reason! It's a mild psychosis induced by chemicals released into your bloodstream when you panic. Doesn't happen so much now that I know what's going on, of course.

I would make a crappy joke trying to relate this to gfx cards but I dont have the heart.. (sowee..hehe)

It's ok, I was going to make an joke about it being like a badly designed PLL circuit.

 

[Crisidelm]

I get it every now and then (very much then, let's say once a year), most of the time it happens when I'm travelling, but it doesn't last long usually, 10-15 minutes at max. Never taken/gone anything/anywhere for it, I know it's something that's going to go away quickly by itself, without much further ado.

 

[London Geezer]

Well sometimes i feel like my heart is "stopping", which i guess is the opposite thing...
and sometimes, for like 4-5 heartbeats, it feels like those heatrbeats are much louder... stronger... not sure why... but straight after i'm left pretty much breathless for a few seconds... really strange....

 

[MuFu]

Well sometimes i feel like my heart is "stopping", which i guess is the opposite thing...
and sometimes, for like 4-5 heartbeats, it feels like those heatrbeats are much louder... stronger... not sure why... but straight after i'm left pretty much breathless for a few seconds... really strange....

I get this sometimes and it's almost always related to stress/anxiety. I don't think it's the opposite as sometimes SVT can start directly afterwards (in my case, anyway). It's the same thing Tahir is talking about as well, I bet. It feels like your heart is stuttering and you can almost feel the blood sloshing about inside it as it beats - fff-dum, fff-dum, fff-dum. When I've had it I nearly always get an urge to cough and yeah - it leaves you feeling momentarily winded/breathless. Funny thing.

Ah Crisidelm, I knew there'd be at least one. I get it about once every two weeks to various degrees, although there have been periods of months at a time when I haven't had it at all. It's only gone on for hours a couple of times - one of them was New Year 2002-2003 which I spent in a ward with a bunch of pissheads.

 

[Crisidelm]

well MuFu, after all my health is so bad that I'm not surprised at anything anymore that may happen to me

 

[London Geezer]

^ ^ I'm really sorry to hear that, matey. If there is one thing i hate is sickness. It's like, the god of bad luck, cause most of the time ther is nothing we can do about it, it just IS. And it's not fair. But i guess i am more sensitive about it because i never had too many issues, people who live with it might be "used" to it, more resistant, and get on with it better... Just a thought.

 

[London Geezer]

Well sometimes i feel like my heart is "stopping", which i guess is the opposite thing...
and sometimes, for like 4-5 heartbeats, it feels like those heatrbeats are much louder... stronger... not sure why... but straight after i'm left pretty much breathless for a few seconds... really strange....

I get this sometimes and it's almost always related to stress/anxiety. I don't think it's the opposite as sometimes SVT can start directly afterwards (in my case, anyway). It's the same thing Tahir is talking about as well, I bet. It feels like your heart is stuttering and you can almost feel the blood sloshing about inside it as it beats - fff-dum, fff-dum, fff-dum. When I've had it I nearly always get an urge to cough and yeah - it leaves you feeling momentarily winded/breathless. Funny thing.

Not sure about the anxiety thing... I mean, it happens pretty much anytime it wants really... It's a funny thing, because for some reason after everything's over, u feel very relaxed.. I think it might be the brain releasing some kind of natural chemicals into the body when that kind of thing happens...