Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

@mellyq I drink low sodium V-8 which has a lot of potassium (used in place of salt for taste).

I have had EKG's with prolonged QTc interval. My EP doctor last week told me it tends to be higher in females. Mine is generally in the 460's but during afib went up to 504. Some of my EKG reports say "borderline QTc" but doctor seems unworried.

The QTc uses a formula to adjust the score. I am not sure whether that formula has any flaws. My QTc score seems to fluctuate quite a lot and afib raises it, it seems.

In general I avoid medications that might prolong my QTc further, like zofran and zithromax.

What is your QTc score?

I just looked up hypokelmic which is being low in potassium. And Doc Google also said it can cause heart problems when low in potassium. Add some of your favorites from the following list to your diet every day.

Banana, Potatoes, Spinach, Beets, Swiss Chard, Butternut Squash, Tomato Paste, Avocado, Dried Apricots, Watermelon, Pomegranates, Orange Juice, Coconut Water, Beans, Lentils, Plain Yogurt, Salmon,

Thank you so much I take 1.2 grams of potassium a day in this drink its so gross... those foods are some of my favorites so thank you so much for your advice!!

Mine 3 years ago was first at 470.. I was asymptomatic.. untill recently well I actually thought I had epilepsy having seizures in my sleep.. I got an iud placed in to help with my pmdd.. that's when things got serious my potassium was life threateningly low and my score went to 490.. but again like yourself it fluctuates. The doctors don't know much about this heart condition.. all I know it cab lead to svt or tdp! Which scares the hell out of me! How are you managing your symptoms when present? Because like I said 2 3 years ago I was diagnosed but never had a problem untill now.. please be safe and take care of yourself.. I feel so alone in this and I don't know what to do.. im on a beta blocker and 1.2 grams of potassium a day! I just found out my uncle passed away from this... but he did not take care of himself AT ALL! I'm hoping with the right life style changes and check ups I can avoid going into afib or set. I'm so sorry you have to go through this... you think they would have more research... some doctors are saying it's the leading cause of SIDS! They don't say much because again research is vague and I'm sure the doctor isn't trying to stress you out also, just being a good doctor knowing stress will throw you into a fib!

I just discovered this (the blog) after moving to Vienna, Austria. I have been a patient at the Mayo Clinic previously, but not for a heart problem. I developed an arrhythmia (frequent PVC's with occasional runs of VT). I lived with that for several years. My heart rate would go down to the 30's sometimes, and then I might become symptomatic. I eventually had it 'fixed' through an ablation procedure in Minneapolis (it was a miracle really), after failing a trial of Amiodarone.

In retrospect, I really wonder if the arrhythmia developed after I was shot with a TASER years ago. My ejection fraction was in the 30's, but now it is 50 or 60, and I just passed a stress test with flying colors at the age of 66 years. The only medication I take is Atorvastatin.

There was a long delay (3 years ?) between the onset and having a definitive procedure performed, but I am quite happy with the outcome.

I'm a 75 year old male that has experienced tachycardia while exercising. I have been exercising on an elliptical machine for 60 minutes a day for at least 35 years and are now having tachycardia (180 BPM+) about 50% of the time. I went to a PA and was prescribed 25MG metoprolol twice a day which halted the tachycardia. Unfortunately, the side effects were significant from depression to weight gain and ED in 1 month. Now some of my questions:
When is tachycardia dangerous? It scared me the first time it happened since it took more than 20 minutes to decrease but I've never fainted and had no chest pains.
Is the first "treatment" finding a vagal response that stops the tachycardia when it happens before going to medication?
Since I have not experienced tachycardia that was not exercise induced is this chronic?

Can you take walks rather than do the elliptical? Do you have tachycardia walking? I have afib and try to deal with triggers first even if limiting!

Tachycardia is considered dangerous when it exceeds 100 BPM indefinitely...certainly more than 24 hours. This is just my personal opinion, but I believe it is increasingly being taken as a reasonable reduction in the upper limit by cardiologists: a heart rate (HR) near or above 100 BPM suggests something is not right. The vast majority of children and adults have resting HRs between 45 and 80 BPM, either sex. When you see an HR above 85, and you're not getting wound up about an election, or your finances, or you're not walking around or doing some gardening, then you should seek at least a safety check by a physician....who should offer to run some tests.

Yes, for some, not everyone, an adjustment of Vagus nerve tone can bring the rate down to a safe level. HOW YOU DO THAT will be a personal investigation as only one or two of the YouTube videos will show you a method that will work for you. The rest won't. But the truth is that, for you....mebbe...you will be further ahead, first with an investigation by a cardiologist, and secondly on a drug LIKE metoprolol, but there are others if metoprolol proves.....PROVES...to be the culprit in how you feel. Diltiazem is such a drug. There is also bisoprolol.

This novel cardiac behaviour (Canuck spelling) is an indication that something about your heart's substrate (you can look up 'cardiac substrate' ) has begun to change. For the heart, and any major organ, you want to get on whatever-it-is as soon as possible while it is the most tractable that it will ever be. With heart arrhythmias/dysrhythmias, you want to deal with it as early as possible when it is still 'young'. Don't put this off!

@gloaming knows his stuff. However, I would think the first approach would be to avoid the exercise that triggers the tachycardia, and find exercise that doesn't trigger it, whether tai chi, walking, swimming....As @gloaming implies, each time you do the elliptical @sa joe , you may be increasing the chance for longer term problems. I am only another patient so discuss with your doctor of course. (I take magnesium, potassium and CoQ10 for heart, something else to ask the doctor about perhaps...)

windyshores - '...However, I would think the first approach would be to avoid the exercise that triggers the tachycardia...'

'Doctor, it hurts when i do this.'

'Uuummmm.....................don't do that?'