E.R. visit Saturday and heart had to be stopped!

Posted , 10 users are following.

Hello forum users,

I am a 30 year healthy female. I work out 3-6 times a week with cardio and weights, eat mostly healthy/balanced, no smoking, no drugs, drinking just with social occasion, and have never had any heart issues in the past. My normal resting rate is 55-60. Saturday, I was causally walking down the grocery aisle when my heart suddenly started beating so fast it shook my body. I knew something was wrong but considered maybe it was a panic attack without anxiety. My friend has had that happen to her a few times. I went home trying to do yoga breathing and meditation but my heart was still shaking my body back and forth. I felt normal beside my frantic heart. Finally after 45 minutes decided let's go to the E.R. My boyfriend drove me. On the way there my S Health finally captured a reading on my pluse: 231 bpm. I thought it must be misreading it.

I walked in and let them know my symptoms. They did a reading of my pulse and the front desk woman asked him if that reading was correct. They were trying to keep me calm I think but they brought me back immediately to draw blood and put a line in. They had me get in a wheel chair and started hooking me up to EKGS and all kinds of other things. It was like an E.R. show episode to me! I was keeping in good spirits making jokes and laughing with my nurses. I could tell it was really serious but figured I can't do anything other then try to not freak out. They hooked up a defibrillator telling me it was just a monitor, but I just saw Doctor Strange and recognized it! Haha. Two nurses had to insync administer a medication to stop my heart for a second in the hopes it would restart back at a lower rate. It was the weirdest feeling I've ever experienced! Luckily it worked and my heart went back down to low 100s. They monitored me for a few hours. Nurses were coming by to see me and say they've never seen anyone with anyone heart rate like that walking and standing much less laughing and making jokes! Another told me she hadn't seen a heart rate that high in ages!

So they determined it was definitely coming from the upper chamber of my heart. A singal was bypassing my normal pathways and causing the upper portion to beat fast which in turn caused the lower half to beat fast. They said it was SVT and I need to go see a specialist. I check my rate regularly and have never experienced abnormal readings before. I'm currently taking a low dose medicine to help keep my rate down. They told me I can resume normal exercise but if it abnormally goes back up for more than a few minutes I need to call 911/go back to E.R. I attempted very light cardio today and immediately my heart felt weird and my bmp shot up to 110 with shortness of breath when normally it'd be around 80 when I start this same cardio at higher settings.

I was wondering has anyone else experienced a similar situation? While I'm sleeping it's in the 70s/80s. In the last 2 days, even when my resting rate is low 60s it feels like it's beating irregularly against my chest. I can't tell if I'm just over thinking it. My appointment is next week so I was just looking for some insight in the meanwhile.

Thank you!

1 like, 21 replies

21 Replies

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  • Posted

    hi Chubb i have had SVT for many years and a I was reading your post I felt as if I am reading my iwn story. I am a 40 year old male healthy otherwise. I like to run and excersice and pretty regular in that. The first time I had SVT i was in the same mental state as you are and you will hear the same frim ofhers on this forum. It is pretty normal to feel scared after first episode. My doctor refered me to Electrophysiologist and he adviced SVT ablation. I was so scared I did'nt opt for it dor four years. Every month i used to go to ER atleast once. Finally i got the ablation done. I am in Toronto Canada so here i went to Trillium. The best cardiac care ever. Don't let SVT affect your quality of life. If you de ide to go for procedure make sure ask questions. Get comfortable and go for it. You'll be flad you did. smile

  • Posted

    Hi I'm 28yrs old & i also had an ER experience similar to your own. I noticed my heart beating very rapid while i was at work as i began to get lightheaded so I sat down & was sent to hospital by coworkers after checking my heart rate & it being 230. I walk in already wearing a holter monitor & I told them my heart was beating really fast. They immediately take me in & check it. The nurse called the bakk to have a room cleared immediately that i had a heart rate of now 255. They were all shocked to see me awake n walking however they took me in the back with a wheelchair n started to take my shift while there was other nurses hooking me up to all these monitors & still kept saying how Im the 1st patient to have that high of a heart rate n still b awake. They had me on IV which is when the doctor was there telling me that they needed to stop my heart so it kan reset itself. The 1st time my heart did not take it & continued to beat fast so they doubled the dose & that time it finally was in the 100s. That feeling like you said is indescribable & to go through it twice was scary for me. They kept me there a few hrs to monitor me. My blood pressure dropped extremely low as i was having shallow breathing. They woke me up to get me talking & repeated blood pressure n it was ok. Besides the feeling tired part i was doing ok & was able to go home. Now i need to have the ablation procedure done as my cardiologist went straight to the procedure without trying the medication first. I have episodes 3-5days a week & sometimes multiple times a day which kan last a few seconds to the longest being off & on all day which had me in bed the entire day. My appointment with the surgeon is next week & Im terrified. My mom had the exact thing done & had 3 heart attacks on the table all while awake through it all. Again im terrified but I no I need it done.

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