How to control SVT without prescribe treatment?

Do you have a cardiologist or electrophysiologist? I would ask them. Generally I have been offered diltiazem, and previously a beta blocker. If you call an ambulance they can medicate you with an IV.

2 days ago was the first time I had a doctor looked at me and i know now that i have SVT. A bag of IV help to calm my heart beats. The episode lasted for almost 2 hours hence why I was taken to the hospital. I was told I may need to travel overseas to have an advanced test such as the electrophysiology test. I live in a country with limited medical options.

If SVT that last longer than a few seconds and it’s becoming more frequent and lasting longer you need to see a cardiologist, a heart Dr and he will do an EKG, maybe a heart monitor for 30 days. It may be another arrhythmia like AFib and other more serious. So after the cardiologist gets the whole picture with all the testing, he will probably put you on a med to control your heart rate. I had the same issues at age 19 which by age 57 it was lasting up to 4 hours and wouldn’t turn off. I rested, did the bearing down exercises and drank cold water. I had to go to the ER. I was at a rate of 290 and they started an IV on me( missed 4 time), then pushed Adenosine which literally stops your heart and when it does you get this feeling of leaving this earth. Scared the 💩 out of me! They didn’t tell me what it would do! I know what it was for but I never read reviews from people who have actually had it. If it would not have worked they would have sedated me and out paddles on my heart at low voltage and do a shock or repeated shocks. So I’m thankful the adenosine worked. They had the Dr the nurses and the EMT’s standing around me in case I continued to flat line but like text book it stopped the SVT and converted me into a normal sinus rhythm which is ideal for what a normal rhythm should be. I then found a cardiologist had the monitor and the tests and was put on a beta blocker which I could not tolerate because it was dropping my BP to 60/30 and I felt weak and dizzy and I was on a low dose.I reported this to my cardiologist and he told me to drink salt water stop the metoprolol and he immediately scheduled a Cardiac Ablation” by a Cardio/physiologist. A Cardiologist who does Ablations in the Cath lab. I was off my med for three days and was in SVT at rate if 240 when they did the procedure. They gave me a little anesthesia and threaded a catheter up my right groin to my heart and Zapped! The area in my right atrium where the abnormal foci was coming from and Wala! It Worked. After seven years I have a very rare bout of SVT but very short spurts. I am on no Cardiac meds . My BP runs 110/60 and have more than better cholesterol levels because I exercise and eat healthy and have good genes. Caution, there are risks with an ablation which the Drs will explain and it could come back and you may have to have another ablation. Everyone is different. If you BP runs high normal or high a med to control your heart rate will most likely be the first choice.

Correction to above a Cardioelectrophysiologist.

@keliza do you know what the ER gave you in the IV? Were you dehydrated? Did they give you a medication in the bag?

@bb03 I also have low blood pressure. I meant to add that as a caution for @keliza. Both beta blockers and diltiazem lower blood pressure. In the ER those of us with low bp need IV's to keep blood pressure up if we are treated with those medications. In the longer term, outside of the ER, the path described by @bb03 of ablation is very common.

I cannot imagine being in a place without medical help. @keliza I hope you can get the advice and treatment you need.

ps It can be helpful to try to identify triggers. For some people, some of the time, identifying and addressing triggers may (emphasis on "may") at least mitigate the problem.

You asked how you could calm things down without prescribed treatment so I will limit my comments to that. Taking a deep breath and then holding it, coughing, and putting your face in cold water are a few things I have read about on various heart health medical websites. How effective they are I don't know.

I'm 81. Started having Tachycardia off-and-on at age 72.

You asked "How do i control/calm it down, without prescribed treatment?" I recently found a vagal manuver on the internet that has worked 100% of the time so far for me to bring me back to normal HR. (That's about 1/2 dozen times so far) Try this:
1) Big inhale to a count of 4
2) Hold your breath for a count of 7.
3) Exhale to a count of 8
4) Repeat the above steps three more times only.

Good luck!

Keliza,
SVT can be diagnosed as benign or not by your cardiologist.
My case, and others here, are quite easy to accommodate in daily life. We have written long posts in this subgroup that you can read. Let us know if you have further questions.

On April 30th 2024 I went in for a regular 6 month doctor check up. He noticed heart rate was consistently around 160. Noting it was high but not seemingly alarmed he sent me home. Over the next few weeks I continued to monitor my heart rate from home on my own where it consistently read in the mid-160s resting numerous times throughout the day. I decided to call my GP back and he referred me to, I guess what would be considered their go-to cardiologist. Just for contacts I had been in the 160s for at least 5 weeks that I knew of but the only reason I knew, was because I was checking it. I never felt a rapid . I never feel fluttering or skipping a Beat, heck I could have been in it for 6 months and would not have known. So, I walk in and sit down in the cardiologist office without so much of an introduction he orders his nurses to put me on the EKG. He originally diagnosed SVT. Then they tried pumping several syringes of something which they did not identify by way of ivy IV which didn't work. The cardiologist who had barely uttered two words for me since I had been there said to his nurse well put another one in. The nurse summoned one of her assistants out of the room to go get another syringe of whatever they were so quickly trying to push into me. This nurse returned after a few minutes of what seemed like a bit of Chaos and said "we must not have anymore of that either we can't find it or it must be on back order." Meanwhile I'm lying there no change in my heart rate wondering what the heck is going on. The man who acted as if he was the cardiologist told the the nurse try something else. So the nurse and her assistant started trying to push syringes of other things through my IV. I still have no idea what. I guess I could have asked but everything seemed so frenzied and I couldn't understand why because I've been in the same condition for likely months and was in no distress had never been in any distress. I likely would not remember the name of the liquid that they were pumping through my IV some of which they said had to be pushed in as fast as it could go and the other of which they said could go in like a regular shot for what that's worth. I have never experienced any problems with my heart. Had never even parked in the parking lot of cardiologist's office. I went there purely out of caution because I knew 160 something not normal. It is this time with six people plus equipment in the cramped office with me lying on the bed hooked up to the EKG that the man who I assume was the cardiologist leaned over me and said in very broken English that I would need to be transferred to the hospital for a night or two and that he could not let me leave. I just looked at him with a
polite smile. Remember no one has explained anything to me. I wasn't trying to be a difficult patient, but this all happened so fast I felt fine and no one explained anything to me as to why I would have to call my wife and two young boys the next morning, and tell them, "I went in for a doctor's appointment and by the way, the Dr. wouldn't let me leave and now I'm in the hospital for a night or two with who knows what kind of heart problems." Yes, I watch cop shows and there was a moment of much needed levity when I thought, "You know, I'm not handcuffed and to this bed, how is he going to keep me from leaving?" I politely told him I would not go to the hospital. Had I known why, I may have gone, but he was either unable, or just didn't feel like explaining anything to me. When he left the room and the nurses were sure he was a few steps down the hall they all rolled their eyes and got a big chuckle out of him. I still lay there half naked with stickers and wires and needles in me, while a 16-year-old girl from a local high school who had been sheepishly standing in the corner of the room from the beginning with no ID and no introduction, remained quietly embarrassed, still observing from her corner. I was then moved down the hall to see the electrophysiologist. He gave a brief explanation of what he felt was going on. He said it was not SVT but atrial flutter. He then said the only option for me would be to have an ablation on each side of my groin in 3 weeks and that I would need to be on eliquis for those 3 weeks prior to the procedure. He asked me what I did for a living I told him that I stayed home and took care of my children. I told him that we had a vacation planned during the week that he was insisting I had to have this surgery. (The week after July 4th.) I asked if we could put the surgery off for a week or do it
the week before, and in a much different kind of broken English, he said, "No, since you are sitting around doing nothing, we have to do it then." And he walked into a room, closing the door. I have since learned through my own research and that there are other things that are often tried such as cardioversion and Metropol forgive the spelling. Is the ablation the only, or typical first go to treatment? I'm frustrated and a little scared and I would love to have someone comment to perhaps give me more realistic perspective. The people on this form are wonderful. This is my first time. Posting so please forgive some of the syntax errors because I am trying to do most of this using voice to text technology which we all know is imperfect. I will do the ablation if necessary, but would love to try something less invasive such as and oral route medication or cardioversion. I will do something I do care I need to fix this I want to be around for a long time for my family. I have to be.

You need another Cardiologist. A Cardiologist who can communicate with you and can educate you and has a sound not eradic mind. Have a monitor for a while so they can catch what the exact abnormal heart rhythm is. In the mean time be started on a beta blocker depending on your history etc. If you can tolerate the beta blocker med it will lower your heart rate and that may be all you need. The Beta blocker didn’t work for me. Well it worked to well on my BP. I run low BP so I couldn’t tolerate being treated with this med because my BP dropped to 70/30, so an ablation was done and it worked. It stopped the 240-290 persistent heart rate, getting worse and worse. Initially I had an ER visit where they pushed Adensosine that halted the SVT that at that point was going on for 5 hours at a rate of 240-290. I was then referred to a cardiologist and put on a beta blocker which I could not tolerate and he se the ablation 4 days later. After seven years I occasionally have a quick bout of svt but rare and quick. It could come back frequent and lasting. If so I would have another ablation if possible.