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SVT sufferers can use your advice ..

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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

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  • rose84139
    rose84139 Paladinx

    Posted

    I would not be surprised if it is both.  I was diagnosed with A-Fib and SVT at 28.  The panic attacks followed closely behind.  I thought I was going to die.  I am 59 now and just had ablation last week to correct the SVT.  I've been on meds all these years for the arrythmias and paxil for panic disorder.  Nothing messes up your head like your heart going wacky.  The meds for the arrythmias weren't  working as well anymore and I was in the er 5 times this summer alone.  5 shots of adenocard.  I'm not sure of the spelling but it is a quick fix that stops the heart.  It works but the EMTs told me it isn't good to be using it as often as I had been.  Since the ablation, I've had some flutters from the a-fib but the SVT is gone. I'm hoping the meds will take care of the Afib but if not, I'll have that ablation too.  I don't know about the panic problem.  I've tried several times to get off the paxil and it is for me impossible.  I hope yours isn't a combination but I wouldn't be surprised.  If it is SVT and the meds do not work, cardiac ablation is great.  Over a 90% success rate.  Mine's been less than a week and I am so glad I did it.  A friend's daughter had it several years ago and is a runner now.  She runs everyday.  Just don't give up.  God bless you. 
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx rose84139

      Posted

      Thanks for the response..  I haven't though about ablation .. My attacks mostly happen when I am trying to go to sleep, and they last maybe a min or two than when the nervous and funny feeling goes away,, my heart decreases speed back to the normal range.  

        One thing you said which I think is key.. You said your panic follows closely behind.. With me I don't get an attack where my heart is racing out of no where than get nervous.. I get feelings before my  heart races.. I feel weird, maybe a nervous tension, i start getting hot..  I always get these weird symptoms before my heart begins to pick up speed. I don't feel any skipped beats or flutters prior to the tachycardia.  I just feel a nervous tension and hot.. and it builds up and escalates and than my heart starts pounding like an adrenaline rush.. It lasts a min, or two.. Than Ill usually calm down and that tense nervous weird horrible feeling dissipates and my heart is still going fast, but it than starts to cool down back to normal.  and it seems to happen when I am about to fall asleep..  I don't know if I am getting nocturnal panic attacks or what..  

       I was thinking about going on medication like paxil.. but I am scared of medicines sometimes.. I think they migh tmake the problem worse, and ill be hooked on it for life. 

    • greenmoon1
      greenmoon1 Paladinx

      Posted

      I had an ablation for svt last year and at the hospital, the day after the procedure I had that feeling. The flushing and rapid heart beat (140-147 maybe more). I've had that before, but didn't know what it was. The doctor said it was IST, and pretty much didn't think it was anything to worry about.
  • sue73
    sue73 Paladinx

    Posted

    I've taken more time to read through your posts and I'm absolutely sure what you're experiencing is typical panic attacks. People often get them at night. The hot feeling is an adrenaline rush – flight or fight – and if you don't "use" the adrenaline by moving about physically your heart rate will increase. You sound like a really anxious person to me, going into great detail about what ails you: you would really benefit from cognitive behaviour therapy. If you can afford it (you'll wait for ever on the NHS) I would strongly advise you to find a good therapist and pay for a 6 months course – it helped me immensely in ways I couldn't possibly predict.
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx sue73

      Posted

      Yes there are some aspects of it that really point to panic attacks...and I know I have been suffering with dehibilitating anxiety for years.. It has ruined my life.. But when my heart goes into that mode..it doesn't feel normal..its extremely fast like it shot circuited.. Its not a normal pounding heart you'd feel being nervous..these attacks bother me a lot mentally..and is the center of my anxiety disorder..I've done a lot of reading and my problem is so obscure that I can't really be sure.. If its panic only..my heart really can react intensely to adrenaline..if it is sinus tachycardia it is an extreme intense version of it that is faster than usual..I've heard people have heart rates as high as 160 to 180 from panic attacks so I guess its possible
    • sue73
      sue73 Paladinx

      Posted

      Your reaction to your racing heart is entirely typical of someone with chronic anxiety (I speak from personal experience!). There is often a deep wish not to believe it's anxiety, but some sort of physical cause. Can I ask if you have tried any sort of psychotherapy? One of the reasons I strongly suggest you get CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) is that it teaches you the connections between your mind and your body and how they interact. Understanding is everything! The other reason is just that talking to someone who actually understands the condition is such a great relief, like a pressure cooker letting off steam. 
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx sue73

      Posted

      No i never had therapy before.. I never felt it would work for me.  My anxiety is a tricky one.  It won't allow you the time to use any kind of mental approaches.  Can hit you out of no where out of the blue even if you aren't nervous or thinking of anyhing. I think my main reason for having anxiety is due to the uncertainty I always have.  That doubt I have keeps it alive and the fear alive.  I believe I have cardiac neurosis.. I am always checking my pulse throughout the entire day.. I always know what my heart is doing. I know it sounds sick.. but I feel like I have some kind of control over my heart.. If i don't keep tabs on it.. it can go crazy.. I know it sounds insane.   I have had anxiety for many years, and my symptoms and fears have morphed throughout the years..  From dizziness and feeling terrible, to worry about skipped heart beats.. but the racing heart one took the cake.. that one dehibilitated me and scared me the most. 
    • sue73
      sue73 Paladinx

      Posted

      Yup, I used to do that – check my heart rate every few minutes – your anxiety is neither tricky nor unusual and you don't sound insane. Neither is your anxiety separate from you: it's not a strange entity that "doesn't allow you time". It originates in your own mind and only you, with professional help, can learn to deal with it. Yes, you can! Sorry if I sound harsh, but you need to take responsibility for yourself and I implore you to try therapy. 
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx sue73

      Posted

      No I agree with you Sue.  It is something I would want to try.. but my problem is that I am not sure if it is all anxiety or not.. That doubt or uncertainty is my main problem.   Look at greenmoons response.. shes saying she had the same symptoms as me and it was SVT and not anxiety. 
  • greenmoon1
    greenmoon1 Paladinx

    Posted

    I've had the same thing happen to me. I also have SVT, and that feeling appeared around the same time the svt started. I feel like a flushing feeling and my heart then starts going fast. It used to happen at night and right before my period, so I went to the gyno and tests came back normal for hormones. Cardiologist didn't really pay attention to it, neither did the electrophysiologist.  It's not anxiety because I'm not anxious when it happens. I haven't had that horrible feeling in a while, thank God. I've been taking iron supplements bc I was anemic, maybe that was why they happened, not sure. 
    • Paladinx
      Paladinx greenmoon1

      Posted

      You had SVT that was caught on the monitor.. Do you know what type of SVT you had?  So you used to feel hot and flush and than your heart started beating fast?  How did it stop?  .. I usually feel nervous first or odd. and than I get hot and flushed than my heart starts racing 
    • greenmoon1
      greenmoon1 Paladinx

      Posted

      Yes, I've had the SVT recorded twice while in the ER.

      This flushing feeling and heart racing is different. It stops by itself gradually. I "ride it out" by closing my eyes when I'm laying down. I know it sounds like anxiety, but I'm not anxious or nervous before it happens. 

      It also has happened during the day, twice right after a skipped beat or a thump, and other times without them. 

    • Paladinx
      Paladinx greenmoon1

      Posted

        So this other type of feeling is different than your known svt episodes?   When I get these attacks at night.. I am not feeling nervous.. but I do suffer from anxiety disorder.. But these attacks can hit me when I am not nervous.. its like a rush of adrenaline out of no where or something. I heard anxiety can cause it or hormonal changes, or lacking certain minerals and vitamins can also cause it.   I think there are two types of anxiety.. subconcious anxiety/nerve/hormonal and nervous tension...  So you don't think these weird attacks are SVT?
    • greenmoon1
      greenmoon1 Paladinx

      Posted

      Yes, I feel it's different because my heart rate is much faster during SVT. The flushing feeling stops more easily and without the vasovagal maneuvers. I do feel like an adrenaline rush, like you say.

      I had that flushing feeling two nights before having a long SVT episode during the day for which I went to the ER, and I can differentiate them, but they might be related. I haven't had that feeling in a while, thank God. 

    • greenmoon1
      greenmoon1 Paladinx

      Posted

      I have a holter monitor now and wanted to find out what it was if it happened, but it hasn't. If it happens when you have the holter, would you let me know what the Dr. says it is?

      Thanks

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