Considering Ablation but really need advice
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Hi. I'm 26 and have had Sinus Tachycardia my whole life. I can always immediately feel whenever my heart skips a beat or changes rhythm. When I've gone into tachycardic episodes I've always been able to slow my breathing or cough or bear down and they went away on their own. Usually lasted between 5 and 20 minutes. In October I was out with a friend celebrating my new job and I had an episode that was worse than normal. I couldn't get it to slow down, and eventually we called an ambulance and they had to give me Adenosine. My rate was 240, probably lasted 20 minutes. That was the first time anyone called it SVT. All my tests came back normal, they sent me home after 24 hrs.
Then in May it happened again. I had had no episodes in between. This time my rate was 220 and it lasted 45 minutes before they gave me Adenosine to break it again. All my tests came back fine again except they said my magnesium and potassium were low.
Since then they've put me on Metoprolol 25 mg 1x daily and its been working great. I'm a little tired but otherwise i feel fine. I've had 2 episodes since but both were lower rates 150-180 and lasted less than 5 minutes and cleared on their own. Now my doctor wants to do an ablation. He says that it's really my only option, but i just don't know that its necessary at this point so i was hoping to hear some other stories and see what people with similar conditions have gone through.
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Lolasmom brianna27118
Edited
I think it is a personal decision really.
I have SVT.. It just started Feb 2016 out of the blue. Now, I did have a very bad cold and cough, and I truely believe this virus triggered
When it started, I started taking bisoprolol..It did help my episodes but \i felt like crap. I was extremely tired, and my hands and feet were freezing.
I was told to just stop the biso 5 days prior to my first ablation attempt. Just stopping it was the worst thing to do. I went into terrible withdrawals which messed me up pretty bad.
Anyways......I have gone for 3 ablations attempts, but never got ablated. Long story...........
After the first ablated attempt, I did not go back on meds. I told my EP. I would rather have tachy than feel the way I did on meds.
Fast forward......I started to take a calcium channel blocker last January. I feel like crap. I still get episodes. Actually had one this morning. They can last 10 minutes and up to over 6 hours. My heart rate is usually around 140 bpm. Not high like yours, but when I go over hours, I am totally exhausted. Episodes from 10 minutes up to an hour, I am able to go back to doing what I was doing before the episode.
By the way, the type of svt I have is AT (Atrial tachycardia)
When I first started this, they said I had AVNRT, but during my second EP study, he found out it was AT.
So many people have had great success with ablations. And some have not. Usually they give you success rates. I do believe that ones with types like AVNRT have higher success rate, Mine being AT, I was told 70--85 % success.Unfortunately I never got to the ablation part to find out.........
brianna27118 Lolasmom
Edited
Thank you for sharing your story. They've never told me what type of SVT I have so determining the success rate is difficult.
After an episode I'm usually exhausted for the next few days. And being on the meds i only feel a little tired. Right now it is worth it to me to be on the medications, but i do worry that I'll become dependent on them.