Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia - with a twist.

I am a 21yo female, reasonably fit and healthy. I was recently diagnosed with inappropriate sinus tachycardia or IST, with a HR consistently above 100 BPM even at rest, and with gentle exercise - I can expect it to easily exceed 200 BPM. I spent months dealing with extreme shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations, lightheadedness and nausea, without relief. I thought I was just exhausted/burnt out. I continued to exercise at the usual rate but I found that I started to struggle to even walk up a flight of stairs. I had a holter monitor fitted and was immediately referred to a cardiologist. Holter showed regular ventricular and supra ventricular ectopics as well as bigeminy/triggering runs as my tachycardia. I underwent an echo and a cardiac stress test with the cardio and received my diagnosis that week. Whilst they are confident about the IST, my doctors have recently raised their concerns about the frequency of my ectopic beats, particular during exercise. I notice them and they frequently trigger a rapid and irregular heart rate. I am taking corolan/ivabradine for the tachycardia (a relatively experimental treatment, but an effective one) at the highest dose to slow my HR. It cant however, fix the ectopics/triggers. I have completely lost my ability to exercise over the last few months and I am really struggling to regain it. My cardio is at a complete loss as to the cause of my condition and why it is getting progressively worse. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

0 likes, 5 replies