Psvt And Ventricular Tachycardia Caught Red-handed!

[cardiactec]

Alright so I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy that after five years of mystery, of questioning, of trying to tell people there was more than "POTS" happening, we have confirmed that there is MORE than just POTS going on and maybe not even pots at all!!!!

I had been wearing an event monitor for the past two weeks and four days ago the ''mystery rhythm'' kicked off. I pressed the recording button and the event was so long that I was actually still IN "the rhythm" after the monitor stopped recording, TWICE in a row. Long story short, what we caught was some sort of PSVT (not sinus tachycardia) - it had a very clear and extreme abrupt onset from my "normal" baseline "sinus" tachycardia at 130 BPM to a whopping 278 BPM and then it broke after about 4 minutes of going 278! I thought I seriously was going to die - so so scary.

The differentials of the 278 BPM tachyarrhythmia are a few but it is now confirmed, 100% sure, that this is NOT a POTS (sinus tachy) rhythm. They however arent 100% sure if I also have pots on top of this other rhythm disturbance, and to make all this even MORE exciting, said with SUCH sarcasm, I also have the ventricular tachycardia that they caught a few weeks ago.

I will be undergoing an EP study within a few weeks to hopefully try and sort some of this out. I am thrilled that finally we seem to be getting somewhere with all this!

Just wanted to fill you all in on the latest.

Hope you all are doing okay.

-cardiactec.

[Mrs. Burschman]

Hey Angela,

I'm not sure what you say. "Congratulations"? "Yay!" "I'm sorry"? Maybe all three!

I'm glad it appears you're getting somewhere. Will the new information change your treatment plan?

Amy

[deucykub]

This just goes to show how important it is to trust our instincts about our diagnosis/es. You've been saying since at least my registration date on this forum that you were certain this was either more than POTS or something other than POTS. What a moment of validation for you!

I hope with all that is within me that your doctors can treat and cure your arrhythmias and that they discover you DON'T have POTS.

I'm so impressed by the way you "stuck to your guns" with your cardiologists to find the truth about your condition.

By the way... 278 bpm... holy cow, girl!!!! I'm so glad you are okay after that episode.

Take care of yourself, and please keep us informed. Yay for getting some answers!!!

[Rachel]

Hey Angela,

I was just thinking about you 5 minutes ago!!! I was wondering how you were doing, sat down at the computer, and here's an update!

278 - all I can say is "Wow." That's scary and impressive. I'm so glad that you were able to catch a long string of it on the event monitor. Please let us know how the EP study goes. I certainly hope you can get some good and definite answers from that.

Take care,

Rachel

[morgan617]

Gosh and to think it only took 5 years....

Good luck with your EP and subsequent treatment.....morgan

[Tessa]

Angela, I am so happy about that. Finally a light!

I hope you can get to the bottom of it and that they can adjust the treatment to your real health problems.

278 bpm! Hey, you reached more than I did. I reached about 240 bmp after doing "Step aerobics" and scared to death when I got plenty of strange symptoms (for me they were really scary at that time). I thought I was going to die or faint... Hours after that reading, I still had a very high hr.

Is it what happened to you? That you still had a high pulse after the episode?

What were you doing to get to 278 bpm! (if I can ask)

Please, let us know how you are going on,

and take care,

Love,

Tessa

[cardiactec]

hey all!

thanks for your comments/concerns/support/love - you all are so wonderful. I am so thankful right now. Just glad I am finally getting to the bottom of all this!

Rachel - been thinking of you too! how have you been?

tessa - ha, funny you ask - guess where i was when the "event" happened??? first I'll tell you where IT FELT LIKE I WAS -- IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS, ALL BY MYSELF WITHOUT ANY HELP - now i will tell you where i ACTUALLY was -- IN MY CARDIOLOGISTS OFFICE. he hadnt come in the room yet, I got up to sit on the examination table and WHAM - it started. He came in and i was literally crying, on the exam table and i told him i was having the event. he walked out and told the nurse to go in and do an ECG -- he wasnt even in the room while this was going on! - and mind you, he had not gotten a rhythm strip of this "event" i have been talking about for YEARS. so of course, the nurse comes in and takes 10 minutes to hook me up to the ekg and by the time she got me hooked up, it had terminated and did not display on her monitor, but thankfully i had already pressed the event monitor button on me while it was happening. my cardio came in and saw the ecg and said "well more pink paper to add to the file" - and said it in a way like "yeah sure you had an event". grrr. i told him that i caught it on my monitor and he continued to disregard it and didnt even want to download the monitor while i was in the office with him!!! proceeded to say "well we'll do an EP study but i bet you a million dollars that all of this is sinus tach/POTS and nothing more. i was LIVID! the next day, after i had gone home and downloaded the monitor and the people at lifewatch had faxed my strips out, i went up to my cardio after he had looked at the strips and i said to him "how about a direct deposit of that million into my bank account" .........yeah, he was speechless, didnt apologize or anything to me, but simply said "this is extremely fast and is some sort of PSVT". tessa, what was the underlying rhythm at 240 BPM?

deucykub, yes it certainly has been A LONG TIME since the FIRST TIME i ever said "there is something else going on". this goes to show, TO ALL OF YOU, and anyone else who struggles with chronic illness, if you feel there is something more going on, EVEN IF everyone tells you you're crazy or it's all in your head, dont give up -- the truth will be revealed - even if it takes five years!

morgan, thanks for your support and i'll let you know what becomes of the EP study.

Amy, - hopefully the treatment plan will be to ablate the crap out of these abnormal electrical pathways and it'll all be taken care of. we shall see. thanks for your support.

[Tessa]

Angela, what a nigthmare. I imagine how you were feeling with all this health problem and your Cardiologist being so ... (better not to mention the description)

Wauw! And you got to 278 just by getting up and at the Cardiologist?s ! That?s scary. What happens when you have to walk or stand longer?

I am glad that you got that event monitor on you and that you managed to press it. I am sorry for you (for having that event) but happy that you could proof it (Sorry that you didn?t get the promised money on your account)

I have no idea why my heart rate got so high...

I was having my aerobic class (Step) and before the end of it I was feeling lightheaded, tachy and very tired but continued... When we finished, they asked for our heart rates. She asked who had more than 90 bpm. Some answered they did. She then asked who had more than 100. Less answered they did. Then she laughed and said "of course, noone has more than 170, do you?"... I felt so embarassed that I kept quiet. (You see, I am a shy person...).

Hours later, I was still feeling so sick, that when I met my husband (boyfriend at that time) and told him I had a problem during my aerobic, he checked my pulse and when he confirmed that it was still about 120 (sitting), he was so worried that I did not mention my real heart rate after the aerobic class... (I said it was about 170)

He made me promise that I would never return to the aerobic. And that?s what I did.

When I told my GP about it he send me to a Cardiologist who made an ECG. I had sinus tachycardia but he did not investigate further.

Since then I have been cutting down all kind of exercise... Until now, when I am unable to walk some steps up, etc.

And now I know that I have POTS... (Though I also think there might me something more)...

Both you and me have been trying to get to the bottom of our problems for a very long time and I am glad that you are getting where you wanted to.

I agree. If you feel there is something else going on, do not give up.

I managed to get a doctor to confirm that I was having sensitivities to gluten and casein. I thought there was still something else and I got a doctor to confirm POTS... Unfortunately this might not be the end, but I will not give up.

Some months ago (following my request) my GP asked for a aldosterone plasma test and it showed an extremely low level (far below the normal values)... I am now going to the Endocrinologist for further testings... All my health issues right now may be symptoms but not the real cause...

No matter the time it takes. It is our health and we have to fight to get to the right dx.

Yes, Angela, please, keep us updated

And thank you for sharing,

Love,

Tessa

[lalalisa]

Angela,

Hello! Thanks for keeping us updated. Wow, I can't even IMAGINE what 278 bpm would feel like!! YIKES! I'm glad to hear that this was recorded and that you can begin looking into different diagnosis/ etc.

Thanks for posting,

Lisa

[icthus]

I'm so sorry the physician seems so self-absorbed and distant. He walked out of the room when you said you were symptomatic! That's taking "do no harm" to a new level. But God is so much greater than all that. You got the recording and now you can go forward. Congratulations. May you now begin a new journey to get relief and your life back. Your rhythm is documented! Yea. God bless you, dear one.

[pastordari]

I'm SO glad you got the rhythm documented.

The docs many times will only take seriously the objective data and not the patient's experience.

Hooray!

I have struggled with all this for so long and the diagnosis process has been long and difficult. Thus, I say Congratulations!

You did it! You got the physician to see what you have been describing.

You will get to the bottom of all this.

I pray the EP Study goes well and they can ablate those suckers on the spot!!!

[ajw4790]

278 bpm! Wow! At least they finally saw it!!! There is proof!!! I am glad you finally got some answers! I hope that it will lead to some relief for you!

Good luck!!!