Svt....sss?

[bttrflyamby1981]

Hi guys,

The NP tells me I have SVT (Superventricular Tachycardia). I was confused so she explained it to me. She said that the Sinus Node wasn't working properly and that that's why I was getting the Tachy. She mentioned that the sinus node was the bodies natural pacemaker.

A friend asked me if the NP mentioned Sick Sinus Syndrome (SSS). She did not, but I looked it up and it did in fact sound as she described to me?

Anyone familiar with SSS? Why would they call it SVT if it was SSS?

Thanks for any info on this!!

Amber

[MightyMouse]

SVT isn't necessarily SSS.

Here's the result of a forum search on SSS.

http://dinet.ipbhost.com/index.php?act=Sea...+sinus+syndrome

Here's a search of Medline.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000161.htm

Nina

[cardiactec]

first of all, SVT can be triggered from a number of different factors. SVT's include atrial tachycardia, sinus tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, AV nodal reentry tachycardia, or multifocal atrial tachycardia. the sinus node with SVT's arent always the culprit for the cause of the SVT, it could actually be the atrial tissue causing the problem, extra electrical circuits that have formed, conduction fibrosis, etc, not necessarily an abnormality the sinus NODE itself.

SSS is basically a cluster of symptoms. once again we use that lovely "syndrome" term as a way to say there is a problem followed by symptoms, but not to say that this is a diagnosis. atrial fibrillation is a diagnosis, SSS is not. they use the term SSS loosely in that it can mean a number of different things, but usually it means there is an intrinsic sinus node abnormality. SSS is pretty rare and is usually accompanied by brady, not just tachy. actually another term they use for SSS is "tachy-brady syndrome".

they cannot determine if you have a sinus node abnormality without doing an EP study. sick sinus can be tested by pacing the sinus node at rates higher than it's intrinsic rate and then suddenly eliminating the instigated pacing. a normal response of the sinus node would be a quick return to baseline. people with sick sinus are all over the place with tahcy, brady, pauses, etc. ususally SSS with tachy's have long pauses after the tachy episode. do you have this?

if you are simply tachy, with no pauses, brady's, etc i'm not sure i'd classify it as SSS cuz usually there is more than one arrhythmia that is occuring with sick sinus.

[bttrflyamby1981]

I'm mostly Tachy, but my event monitor picked up a couple of Brady and PVC episodes. There was a mention of Possible WCB on one as well. What's WCB? Someone told me and I can't remember.

I was only recording when I pushed the button, so not sure how that all works?

I was told I had SVT but they didn't tell me what type. She only said that it was an electrical problem?

Thanks

[Dawg Tired]

I have SSS.... Before my pacemaker I would drop into the 30's, have pauses, jump into the 180's..... Throw PVC's...

I still do everything except drop into the 30's - that's basically the only thing my pacemaker can control. I still jump into the 170-180 range and still throw a lot of PVC's - and I still have syncopal spells.

Yes, I've been EP studied over and over - I am now tired of dealing with it, so I just live with it as best I can.