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SVT sufferers can use your advice ..

Posted , 20 users are following.

Paladinx
Paladinx

I been suffering from anxiety for years and it has ruined my life.  There is one symptom that is devestating and scary to me.. I have to get a monitor to catch it to know for sure, but that won't be till jan 29th.    My main question to you guys and girls who suffer from SVT.. Is do any of you also get panic or anxiety attacks?   Mine have been happening most often right when I am trying to go to sleep.. I get this  weird nervous feeling that sweeps over me and get start getting hot.. like a hot flash.  It feels like if i can't take control over it right than and there,, my heart than starts to rapidly speed up into almost a mode where the heart is beating at even but very fast.. I get more nervous and start sweating like crazy and the nervous feeling and sweating and panic maybe lasts about a minute or a couple of minutes.. than I start feeling more calm and the sweating stops and my pulse starts slowing back to normal..  Does this sound like an SVT attack or more of a panic attack.. Another thing to note I do not notice or feel any skipped heart beats before my heart takes off to the races, and i don't notice any skipped beats when it ends. I have read a lot of people say their SVT usually starts with a skipped beat or heart flutter and also ends that way..  I never get these attacks in a split second.. i always know when they are coming on.. i feel nervous or volatile and get hot and the nervousness hits hard and than the heart starts speeding up very rapidly.  

 Any info or anything would be greately appreciated.. i am so down in the dumps righ tnow

sincerely

paul

0 likes, 75 replies

75 Replies

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  • wim24663
    wim24663 Paladinx

    Posted

    Hi,

    SVT and panic attacks can coexist or look alike very much.

    A pulse speeding up and down is "automatic enhanced tachycardia "

    could be Atrial Tachycardia or IST ( inappropriate sinus tachycardia )

    or even tachy-brady syndrome.

    Before you think it's panic...heart issues should be ruled out first.

    SVT occurs a lot in woman and that's why often a quick diagnose of panic

    is made....unfortunately.

    • Paladinx
      Paladinx wim24663

      Posted

      So atrial tachy doesn't start the typical way with skipped beats and than a sudeen instant fast pulse?  
  • wim24663
    wim24663 Paladinx

    Posted

    Hi, 

    Atrial tachy comes in diffrent forms, yes there

    is a form where it speeds up faster and faster and not

    in a click like other forms of SVT.

    However you gettng the hot flushes sounds like adrenaline rush, although

    like i said, both can coexist. Important for you is the holter monitor so

    the cardiologist has info on what exactly is happening during an attack.

    • Paladinx
      Paladinx wim24663

      Posted

      Thanks for the response, you seem to know a lot about this stuff.  Yeah I have an appointment but its not till Jan 29.  I realize the monitor is suggested.. But I am trying to maybe put myself at ease in the meantime.  Sometimes there are obvious symptoms for people.  LIke Atrial FIb.. If you don't have an erattic pulse typically you don't have it.. With some SVT's as you have said, many get a flutter or pvc(s) and than a fast heart rate out of no where in an instant..  I guess I could be having atrial tachy.. I hear that is a more rare form of SVT.. and SVT is kind of rare in itself.. except for AF..  so i guess the odds are in it for anxitey.. especially that every single time I get it i get the same nervous weird feelings.. but like you said.. you never know. thank you for your input. 
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx wim24663

      Posted

      oh yeah one thing..  when you say co-exist.. I could imagine that could be the case with a lot of people.. but should there be a distinction.. For people who have legit heart problems or arryhymias.. would it be safe to say IN GENERAL... the heart arrythmia is what often sparks the anxiety more so than the anxiety sparks the arrythmia.   I am not sure if thats the case with atrial tachy.. but with the more common form of svt.. I would imagine they get the skipped beats and the heart racing than the anxiety symptoms come as a result of that. 
  • wim24663
    wim24663 Paladinx

    Posted

    Hi ,

    SVT and anxiety is a viscious circle, unfortunately. Because when people

    experience a SVT attack they feel impending doom ( as if they where going to die). However it can be difficult for doctors to differentiate sometimes.. because SVT is often paroxsysmal ( it comes and it goes ),thats why SVT always has to be ruled out fist before a diagnose of anxiety is made and treated accordingly.

     

    • sonia98806
      sonia98806 wim24663

      Posted

      Hi

      I've had anxiety for years and have recently been diagnosed with svt. I can remember palpitations going back for years and always being told they were due to anxiety. Its awful when you know something is wrong with you not to be believed but that said when your anxious everything is a catastrophe so it's easy to understand why anxiety is diagnosed.  Still wondering if my anxiety would be so bad now if svt had been diagnosed earlier.

      S x

    • wim24663
      wim24663 sonia98806

      Posted

      Hi Sonia,

      I'm sure your anxiety would be not so bad if your

      SVT was diagnosed sooner! Unfortunately there are plenty

      of examples like yours. SVT can be a real pain ..... however it is

      rarely fatal, so indeed the sooner it is diagnosed the better ( not in the least for your peace of mind )

  • poppy08416
    poppy08416 Paladinx

    Posted

    No. SVT does NOT go back to normal when you're feeling more calm.  It's like someone turns on a switch, and immediately a jackhammer is going off in your chest. It can switch on at any time, including during sleep (no anxiety, just dozing).  Nothing will slow it down or switch it off until it either decides to switch back, or you take medication to make it do so.  It sounds very much to me like you are experiencing a panic attack where adrenaline is making your heart race.   (and just for the record, nobody's heart explodes from SVT, just so you don't worry further)

     

  • poppy08416
    poppy08416 Paladinx

    Posted

    Wim I do not experience anxiety or impending doom with an SVT attack.  There is nothing that makes that feeling come on expect for anxiety.  I am nearly 42, have had this since I was 13, although not diagnosed until I was 25.  The only anxiety I experience is after an hour or so when I start feeling exhausted, is how I am going to manage the care of my children while I get to hospital for Adenosine.  It's not a fatal or dangerous rhythym, there is no need for panic.
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx poppy08416

      Posted

      Thank you very much for your feedback and response.. I know i suffer from anxiety .. so its very possible... It always happens when I am trying to go to sleep like clock work.. I always feel it coming on.. a weird, nervous, weird feeling i can't explain and I get hot.. than my heart starts to race.. Its very strange.. but it ruins my life.   I been paying attention to how it stops.. It appears to slow down once the horrid feeling goes away.. I am not sure if I am getting an anxiety attack and than that makes me go into some weird heart thing or not.. I wish my appointment wasn't so far away.. but I am thinking of taking medication for anxiety in the meantime.. its ruining my life bad.  It only lasts a min or two.. but its enough to ruin my sleep and keep my anxiety and worry levels high the following day
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx poppy08416

      Posted

      Oh and poppy.. Do you feel a skipped beat or flutter before your svt kicks off?   I notice i don't feel any PVC's or skipped beats prior, during or when the tachy stops..   It is like a switch tho,, but never a switch that just happens with a flip flop and a race, or a race.. its always that feeling of some kind of fear creep in first.. than the hot flash.. than the heart takes off.. once its in that mode it feels like my heart is in its own weird mode going really fast..  Im sorry for repeating.. I think I have a phobia with the heart.. and this sh*t sucks.. it feels terrible.. sad

         Maybe its not SVT.. I have no idea .. maybe its just anxiety or something else like VT or atrial tachy.. I guess i won't know till i get that monitor.. Why the hell would it happen ALWAYS when I am trying to go to sleep.. I never knew heart problems would only hit u when your trying to sleep.  Growing up the name of my teddy bear was called Poppy lol.. I still have the thing.. Its like a rag doll now.. lol. 

      sincerely

      Paul

  • poppy08416
    poppy08416 Paladinx

    Posted

    Sometimes I get a skipped beat before it switches over.  But there's no weird feeling of nervousness before hand.  My mind can be totally engrossed in watching TV, or pretty much asleep, very relaxed, not thinking and it's like "BOOM" it hits.  I get plenty of ectopic single beats, sometimes 40 - 50 per day but it's different to the start of SVT.  I recently had a run of SVT so severe (5 days in a week of episodes 90 mins - 2 hours long) that I had to take daily beta blockers.  It was really stirred up and even with the Metoprolol I could feel it trying to get started but getting stopped by the drug.  It's very odd, it has nothing to do with anything that's going on in my head.   I know how my heart feels when I have an adrenaline rush (like a fright or a near misss or scared in the middle of the night) and it's quite different.
  • poppy08416
    poppy08416 Paladinx

    Posted

    Regarding episodes starting during sleep, I am much more likely to get it upon waking.  I am the most lethargic, drowsy non-morning person you could imagine.  Getting woken by this thing is an inconvenience because it makes it hard to get back to sleep and keep hitting the snooze button but I do manage!  I've actually let it go on for more than 2 hours in the morning because I'm so drowsy I can't even move my arse to get my medication out of the drawer.   smile
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx poppy08416

      Posted

      Sounds rough but it sounds like you handle it well..  You are a stronger person than I am.  I get the skipped beats sometimes, but not often. I might feel one every few days , its random.   I always hear people talk about a flutter or pvc before their SVT starts.. sounds like you don't get much pre symptoms of one coming, and that it just hits like a flip of the switch.. I also can be distracted, or not thinking of anything and my attacks hit, but my heart just isn't racing and im like oh damn.. i always seem to get warnings of how I feel and feeling hot right before.. 

        Sorry to keep asking you questions. but when you are on betablockers and you say it wants to start but doesn't, what do you mean by that.. Sometimes ill get the feeling like my attack is coming on but it doesn't, or it might come on a little bit but not full force. I hope this problem goes away for you.. It sounds like it can be a real headache.. Maybe I am a real wimp.. I get these attacks they don't last more than a min or two.. maybe the most a few mins. but its a horrid feeling. 

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