When do you go to hospital?

Posted , 3 users are following.

I have had or known about these episodes for under 2 years now. I say known as when I have a episode my HR is normally around 120. I started wearing a fitbit recently so that's when I found out.

I feel perfectly fine other then a feeling that my heart is beating a little faster.

Sometimes it gets reset after 1 or 2 valsalva manoeuvres and sometimes it takes 2hrs and 10 attempts. I normally don't leave it any longer and end up going to ER which has happened 2 out of say 10 times.

My cardio put me on 2.5mg Bisprolol which I can't say has helped or not as I am still getting them every couple of months.

My question is that I have read people just letting it be as long as they feel fine and it eventually resets itself. Is that fine? Are you doing any damage by doing that?

Normally I would end up going in after 2-3 hrs but say if you are in the middle of a flight or 3-4hrs from the closest hospital which happens to me sometimes is it ok to just wait it out when the HR is around 120? I am mid 40s and generally fit and well.

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • Posted

    I have had SVT my whole life with frequent episodes (some lasting hours) and have never gone to the ER for it. I am also typically asymptomatic other than feeling palpitations/fast HR. One doctor had told me not to let it go for more than a day, and another suggested going to the ER after 30 minutes...so I guess it's a matter of preference and comfort. If you are otherwise healthy and don't experience other symptoms (like fainting as a result of the fast HR), SVT in itself is typically not life-threatening.

    • Posted

      I travel quite often for work and often the flights are ultra long haul so 12hrs on a flight plus 3-4hrs at airports etc. So say if it happens on a flight and I am sure it would reset with the manoeuvres but if it doesn't can I just let it be and stop stressing. I am sure the anxiety that comes with it would make it worse.

      As I said earlier I am early 40s generally fit and well.

      Am I wrong at looking at it this way that my HR is normally around 120-130 when I have it and that is similar to when I go for a walk. So I guess its like a 10hr walk which would just tire you out but not cause any long term damage.

    • Posted

      Have you officially been diagnosed with SVT? SVT is typically heart rates 150+. The EP compared an SVT episode to running a marathon (where your heart can tolerate having an elevated HR for an extended period of time), so the way you're looking at it makes sense!

  • Edited

    I have had svt since 2016. i have gone for 3 attempted ablations but have never been ablated. Long story......

    I get between 6-12 episodes each week. Sometimes I can revert in 3-5 minutes others have gone for over 6 hours.

    When this started for me in 2016, I went to emerg 2x.

    Both times i reverted before any any medicai interventions was done.

    The first times i reverted was after a chest exray, and the other time, they wanted me to have adenosine. I did not want it, but finally agreed. I told me that I really needed to pee before i had it, so i was unhooked to go .

    With my long episodes i pee like crazy ( quite common). I peed for ever. Then when i came back to get hooked up again, my hr was 74. Yea!!!!!!

    So now, even after so many episodes, I do not go to the hospital. I have so many maneuvers I can do.

    By the way, my types of svt is AT. I was origionally told it was AVNRT, but after having an EP study, they found out it was AT

    Sometimes i can stop it with one maneuver, and other times it do several and nothing happens.

    I just keep doing different ones until something works.

    I was told as long as you do not have any other heart issues, it was just fine

    I am always told it is not life threatening. BUT, It is life altering!!!!!!!!!

  • Posted

    If it happens at night do you sleep on it?

    • Posted

      For me, when it does initiate while I'm sleeping, the fast heart rate will usually wake me up. (I would then try to stop it with a Vagal maneuver, etc.)

  • Posted

    I have to go to the ER as soon as possible because my heart rate goes over 200 bpm.

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