AVNRT - palpitations between episodes
Posted , 8 users are following.
Hi all
Glad I've found an online forum with others who have various types of SVT.
About me: I'm 23 years old and have had SVT for about 6 years. I was able to be officially diagnosed with SVT around 2015/2016 after they finally captured my abnormal heart beat on an ECG. My episodes prior to then were very infrequent and resolved usually after 30-40 minutes. After one particular episode I was administered adenosine and then I was referred to a specialist who performs ablations who looked over my rhythm they captured on ECG and said I have AVNRT.
I was scheduled for an ablation in 2016, but they were unable to trigger my abnormal heart rate. However, I'm assuming they also would have been able to further collate evidence of my AVNRT diagnosis through the catheter body imaging?
My question for others who have AVNRT or SVT in general - do you get episodes of palpitations, flutters etc in between episodes of your rapid heart beat? I am fortunate to only get a handful of major episodes a year (which are sustained rapid heartbeat between 180-230 bpm) but every few days I'll have a palpitation or something that makes me stop in my tracks. Sometimes these feel a bit painful, and are followed by other palpitations. At times, it might feel like an irregular beat that lasts a few seconds, and previously I have had irregular heart rate that had lasted for hours too.
Is this a normal symptom of SVT, particularly AVNRT? Does anyone else experience this? I get a little anxious about potential complications of such an illness.
If not, whats the potential of being misdiagnosed?
Thanks!
0 likes, 14 replies
jamie2727 emma41027
Posted
Hi,
I have recently been diagnosed by one doctor with AVNRT. I have a lot of the same symptoms as you, except my episodes only last minutes (maybe because its fairly new with me?) Recently, I have been having palpitations for the last month, just about everyday. In the beginning, I used to get palpitations and nothing else. For a year and a half now, I've been getting the racing heart. Now they've all seemed to come together lol. For the past month, I think my palpitations are triggering my racing heart, which I guess makes sense because from what I have read, the extra heart beat (palpitations) timed just right, is what causes the AVNRT. Again, my HR doesn't go too high (only one time it went around 170), and they don't last long. After my HR goes down, however, my heart beat does feel irregular and it usually takes an hour or so for my heart beat to feel right again. I had an episode yesterday at work where I was feeling some palpitations then my HR went up to 150 for a few minutes. It came back down byut continued to jump between 90-120 for about an hour. Now, I don't know if that means there is something else wrong with my heart , or its part of the SVT, or if its just anxiety kicking in causing my heart beat to feel irregular. Do you take any medication for your HR? Have you considered trying ablation again? My doctor wants to go the ablation route with me. He also prescribed me 25 mg of Metoprol, which I really don't want to take because I really don't like the idea of taking pills everyday. I've been trying to calm the palpitations with magnesium and herbal teas, which seem to help a little. I see my doctor again in a week so hopefully we can discuss the EP study/ablation route.
emma41027 jamie2727
Posted
I do take atenolol daily which has helped with the palpitations and such. I used to get them daily or multiple times a day, but now i only get these symptoms once every few days. It definitely worth taking medications, although I dont seem to have mamy side effects from atenolol. I've heard others say they have had side effects from Metopolol.
My specialist and I are going the ablation route again, I have one scheduled the week before Christmas.
Shige emma41027
Posted
Hi Emma, I had an accessory pathway SVT so slightly different dx but the EP who did my ablation did tell me that i may notice ectopic beats more since the ablation because those used to trigger my SVT and since they were able to ablate all three accessory pathways I actually feel the ectopics now where before my ablation I didn't notice much unless an SVT was triggered. I didnt feel much pain before my ablation, on during the following 3-4 months post ablation did I have minor chest pains. My EP said if there is pain in my heart that I needed to follow up with the primary Cardiologist who is the "plumber" vs the EP who is the "electrician".
emma41027 Shige
Posted
It seems like ectopic beats are common with an SVT diagnosis! Glad to hear that they successfully ablated your accessory pathways.
elisa_76015 emma41027
Posted
Yes it is normal. I am 49 and was misdiagnosed for years ever since in my early twenties. always knew something was off but in my twenties it really went off the wall. It felt like i was having heart attacks and in between it was fluters and pain to the point my eyes would shake, I couldn't breath and pain in my chest. A doctor told me back then oh your to young to have a heart attack. I have been through several doctors heart test in the hospital even nuclear, i was treated for panick attack,and for what they call angina. Finally my heart got stuck at 257 bpm and they tried every thing to stop it. so they stopped my heart and started it back to reset it. finally the sent me to a right doctor that gave me a right diagnosis last year. it got stuck again at 243 bpm. Then i did the ablation come to find out i was born with this problem. He was able to set it off right away.
i tend to wake during procedures which to me is very scary and this time was no different when he ablated it i remember it it was like jolts of electrical shock i remember making sounds that i had no control over. Since then it has taken months to recover as far has heart trying to get back into a normal rhythem its like my heart was confused . sometimes it gets out of sinc but it does not last long. it gets better over time now and then out of no where i feel like it little flutter or a tinging sensation. i am so glad i did the ablation i don't feel like a ticking time bomb any more.
emma41027 elisa_76015
Posted
What were you originally misdiagnosed with and then what were you diagnosed with recently?
elisa_76015 emma41027
Posted
They diagnosed and treated me for major anxiety attacks for years. you will be surprised how many of us was misdiagnosed over all these years. I am doing great now after the ablation like i said it took a while. but it was so worth it. every once in a while i feel like it gets out of sync but then it takes a minute and goes back to normal goes normal. but my heart beat wrong all my life through those episodes it was crippling and i had 3 kids to care for.
deborah36618 emma41027
Posted
I developed svt 10 years ago. I had had a lifetime of missed heartbeats ( ectopics) at their worst in my 30's every 3rd beat was a missed beat.
A year ago my svt attacks changed from only lasting a few minutes every few weeks to being rushed to hospital after a run of ectopics set off svt lasting few minutes but recurring every 10 mins for 8 hrs. I also had svt degrade into atrial fibrillation lasting 5 hrs.
This was when i decided on ablation.
My cardio said that ectopics in runs can trigger svt so he hoped that the ablation would stop my runs of ectopics triggering svt attack.
I had successful ablation according to cardio 6 weeks ago. I still have runs of ectopics a few times a day especially on bending over and laying down. It will be 3 months before we know for sure if ablation was successful as its possible to get attacks until heart has healed.
So your palps could easily be ectopic beats and they can feel awful as i know well.
With me svt made me feel very faint whereas ectopics dont or not much.
Sorry to hear your ep study did not trigger svt. Thankfully mine was triggered at first attempt.
emma41027 deborah36618
Posted
The more I delve into it, the more I see that ectopic beats are common with SVT, which we may feel more due to our sensitivity with our hearts.
Interesting that you also had atrial fibrillation - was this caused by the SVT or was a separate diagnosis?
deborah36618 emma41027
Posted
Cardio said that svt can change to a fib. I knew it was not svt as felt more like constant ectopics with very erratic but very fast heartbeat. 180bpm. I am in uk and the a&e dr i got misdiagnosed ecg as svt and gave me adenosine 3 times which of course did not work. I went back to normal after 5 hrs. I have received written apology from hospital for the misdiagnosis.
My cardio is hoping that the a fib was purely caused by svt and a successful ablation will stop it happening again but obviously if it does then i have additional problem. So fingers crossed.
emma41027 deborah36618
Posted
fingers crossed that an ablation works for you. i dont think ive experienced a fib - my elevated heart rate has been reverted successfully through adenosine. i do get irregular beats but they never seem to be elevated above a normal level - just slightly sped up for a few beats and then it goes back to normal with breathing. it could even be anxiety, so its hard to tell.
sorry to hear about your misdiagnosis! being administered the adenosine must have been scary, since it wouldnt help the a fib. i hope a successful ablation can treat the root cause of both. im holding out for mine in two and a bit weeks to hopefully be successful!
deborah36618 emma41027
Posted
I really hope your ep study shows up the svt quickly. As soon as they did whatever they do i went straight into avnrt and they could not find any other svt or trigger a fib. They then did the ablation and redid the ep study and could not trigger anything so this is classed as successful ablation.
The worst part for me was the having to keep flat for so many hours after because of catheter in groin.
annie56356 emma41027
Posted
Yes I have AVNRT for 30 years and get lots of ectopic beats on any normal day. Sometimes there is a couple in a row, sometimes a slight discomfort. It doesn't change the diagnosis of what was captured on ECG though. I just ignore them as I've been told to do by my Cardiologist. I certainly won't be taking any medication for any benign condition.
There are great videos by an English Dr called Sanjay Gupta from York Cardiology. He explains when to worry about palpitations/ectopic beats and when not to (I think any episode under 30 seconds is fine by memory).
If you want more reassurance have a chat to your cardiologist and perhaps consider the possibility of a 7 day holter.
brandy2222 emma41027
Posted
I had a lot of PVCs especially as I became older. They continued even after ablation. Because my heart rate would rise too rapidly with even moderate exercise I was put on Cardizem CD 180 mg (Metoprolol caused bad reactions) which stopped the PVCs completely. Six months later the PVCs came back so the dosage of the Cardizem CD was increased to 240mg. Corlanor was added and the combo stopped the PVCs completely. I did use a Holter monitor which is where they caught the PVCs and higher heart rates. I recommend you talk with your specialist about the irregular beat (mine felt like constant flutters). Perhaps a Holter monitor might be beneficial for you as well.