Arrhythmias Support Group
Cardiac arrhythmia is a group of conditions in which the muscle contraction of the heart is irregular or is faster or slower than normal. Some arrhythmias are life-threatening medical emergencies that can cause cardiac arrest and sudden death. Others cause aggravating symptoms, such as an awareness of a different heart beat, or palpitation, which can be annoying.
I was 16 when I had my first episode of AVNRT. It scared me but went away before getting to the ER so it wasn't diagnosed.
Ihad these SVTs off and on for many years. In my 20s I became an alcoholic and drank every day for about 10 years.
When I was 27, I had AVNRT, and like usual I took the steps to make it stop. Vagal maneuvers, dipping my head in a sink with ice cold water. It would stop, then come right back 10 minutes later. I went to the ER and was finally able to get it on an EKG. The results were that I had AVNRT.
I say an electrophysiologist and eventually had it ablated. It was such a relief to finally be rid of it.
But, then it happened again. I was drinking, like usual one night, and went into what I thought was AVNRT for about an hour. I had tried the same things to get it to stop, but none of them worked. It eventually stopped on it's own.
I saw my electrophysiologist again, and he wanted to get it on a monitor. He didn't think it was AVNRT because he was confident he had gotten it all during the ablation. It didn't occur while I was on the monitor, so I just went on with my life.
At age 29, the night before Thanksgiving, it happened again. This time, it lasted 4 hours before I had enough and went to the emergency room. It was also different than AVNRT. It was causing extrme panic and I could barely move without feeling like I was falling over.
When I got to the ER, I was devastated to find out it wasn't AVNRT at all, but Afib. I had known about Afib from my time studying arrhythmias and was always thankful I at least didn't have that one. But, now I did.
I was scared because I thought it could only be treated with a Pacemaker. Come to find out, the treatment had evolved quite a bit since my research a few years earlier. It could be ablated as well.
My doctors didn't think it needed to go that far. They figured it was caused by my drinking. I quit drinking that night and haven't had one since.
They put me on Flecainide which worked pretty well. However, I still continued to feel PVCs and PACs pretty frequently.
My electrophysioologist eventually offered to ablate the Afib because of my anxiety over having it. This happened August of last year. I was 30.
Since then, I think I've had 1 or 2 episodes of Afib, lasting probably 30 seconds each time.
My problem is that I still constantly have PACs and PVCs (they've been shown on monitors). I can go weeks without issue, but then have 4 days straight of them. It's torture. I'm in a constant panic that I'll go into full blown Afib. Some people don't feel their Afib. Not only did I feel mine, but I felt like I was dying.
My doctor assures me that the PVCs, PACs and constant palpitations (I can almost always feel my heart beat) are benign and I have nothing to worry about. When he tells me this I do feel better, but eventually I get anxious again, which causes me to feel my heart more. So, I feel like my panic disorder contributes to this.
I'm just in constant fear and I hate it. I'm almost 32 and I'm having all these different arrhythmias. I just feel like, why me? I wish there was same way for it to all stop.
Ihad these SVTs off and on for many years. In my 20s I became an alcoholic and drank every day for about 10 years.
When I was 27, I had AVNRT, and like usual I took the steps to make it stop. Vagal maneuvers, dipping my head in a sink with ice cold water. It would stop, then come right back 10 minutes later. I went to the ER and was finally able to get it on an EKG. The results were that I had AVNRT.
I say an electrophysiologist and eventually had it ablated. It was such a relief to finally be rid of it.
But, then it happened again. I was drinking, like usual one night, and went into what I thought was AVNRT for about an hour. I had tried the same things to get it to stop, but none of them worked. It eventually stopped on it's own.
I saw my electrophysiologist again, and he wanted to get it on a monitor. He didn't think it was AVNRT because he was confident he had gotten it all during the ablation. It didn't occur while I was on the monitor, so I just went on with my life.
At age 29, the night before Thanksgiving, it happened again. This time, it lasted 4 hours before I had enough and went to the emergency room. It was also different than AVNRT. It was causing extrme panic and I could barely move without feeling like I was falling over.
When I got to the ER, I was devastated to find out it wasn't AVNRT at all, but Afib. I had known about Afib from my time studying arrhythmias and was always thankful I at least didn't have that one. But, now I did.
I was scared because I thought it could only be treated with a Pacemaker. Come to find out, the treatment had evolved quite a bit since my research a few years earlier. It could be ablated as well.
My doctors didn't think it needed to go that far. They figured it was caused by my drinking. I quit drinking that night and haven't had one since.
They put me on Flecainide which worked pretty well. However, I still continued to feel PVCs and PACs pretty frequently.
My electrophysioologist eventually offered to ablate the Afib because of my anxiety over having it. This happened August of last year. I was 30.
Since then, I think I've had 1 or 2 episodes of Afib, lasting probably 30 seconds each time.
My problem is that I still constantly have PACs and PVCs (they've been shown on monitors). I can go weeks without issue, but then have 4 days straight of them. It's torture. I'm in a constant panic that I'll go into full blown Afib. Some people don't feel their Afib. Not only did I feel mine, but I felt like I was dying.
My doctor assures me that the PVCs, PACs and constant palpitations (I can almost always feel my heart beat) are benign and I have nothing to worry about. When he tells me this I do feel better, but eventually I get anxious again, which causes me to feel my heart more. So, I feel like my panic disorder contributes to this.
I'm just in constant fear and I hate it. I'm almost 32 and I'm having all these different arrhythmias. I just feel like, why me? I wish there was same way for it to all stop.
why me? good question.
Realize that anything that will do that will create those symptoms:when you drink too much you increase the circulating blood volume and then you increase the pressure in the left atrium, when your mitral valve does't open or close properly and when your heart pumps against resistance the same things happen.
You do have plenty of ways to manage all this. When you feel those pesky beats ,take notice of your thinking. Are you feeling anxious ? It's normal because you have unconsciously activated your fear system . Take a few deep breaths and recenter. Focus your thoughts on something that you truly, truly LOVE. These will change the mediators in your circulating system , you will now dialed your own Dopamine and in this context your arrhythmia will disappear. Be mindful also and feed your body with healthy foods and stay away from alcohol because electrolyte imbalances can also trigger arrhythmias.