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How do you live with SVT

Posted by mscoleman @mscoleman, 2 days ago

Looking to see how others handle living with SVT. I was diagnosed with SVT a few months ago after wearing a heart monitor for a month. This was after dealing with the symptoms for about 4 months. I kept getting healthcare personnel telling me it was probably anxiety even when I told them it wasn't. I wish it had been anxiety vs this. Started metoprolol but it crashed my heart rate instead to 40. Now I only take it as needed for prolonged increased rate. I saw an EP and I'm considering ablation and wanted to know if anyone has had it done and if it worked. I'm at my wits end. My life is revolving around this. Afraid to drive, afraid to be alone. The episodes come out of nowhere where and mostly when I'm at rest and asleep and of course work. My life has changed and not for the better. I was outgoing. Any answers for me. Sorry about the long story. Thanks in advance.

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ccenj | @ccenj | 1 day ago
In reply to @dyspnea "I’m so sorry to hear about how SVTs are disrupting your life. I was experiencing shortness..." + (show)
Profile picture for dyspnea @dyspnea

I’m so sorry to hear about how SVTs are disrupting your life. I was experiencing shortness of breath with minimal activity and was diagnosed with Premature Atrial Contractions 22% of the time. I had an ablation but unfortunately the errant beat emanates from an area too close to the correct path to be successfully ablated. I’ve been on Flecainide 100 mg and Carvedilol 3.125 mg twice daily with some improvement in symptoms, which for me are fatigue and shortness of breath with activity. Thankfully I am now rarely experiencing palpitations or shortness of breath when lying down.

I have had some improvement in symptoms after starting Jardiance (I also have Type 2 Diabetes) but still am experiencing PACs regularly. I have been able to find a new cardiologist and a new electrophysiologist who are more interested in finding a root cause for my symptoms and recently had a nuclear stress test and another 72 hour event monitor. The new EP has suggested that I may have better results with Tikosyn, so I am hoping to get some direction within the next week.

My experience has been gradual improvement with trying different medications (I didn’t tolerate Metoprolol either). I am grateful to be in the care of physicians who are more proactive than the previous providers. So far no AF, so I am very lucky.

Good luck to you.

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@dyspnea
Thank you for sharing your experience! I am relatively new to this arena but I seem to be discovering that there are EPs who are interested in root causes and those who really truly are not. I went to one of the very top names in the field who told me to get a Kardia device, use it twice a day, and "see ya in 6 months." I try to take comfort in that...perhaps my case is so mild now that while it may be of critical importance to me, I'm not an interesting case for
Dr. Big Name. But I cannot describe my intense disappointment! Where was a discussion of what I could do to improve my situation, or at least to not make it worse? I am seeing another top EP soon and hope that I will have chosen more successfully this time. Glad to hear your new physicians are more interested I finding a root cause and I hope to be able to report the same for myself.

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mikeneverwired | @mikeneverwired | 1 day ago

I had SVT during exercise for decades and, while it was disruptive, I learned to manage it. At some point about 25 years ago I started getting SVT's during stressful times at work. At that point, I saw an electrophysiologist and scheduled an ablation which worked very effectively for a long time.

I only recently had a second ablation which seems to have calmed the SVT and AFIB events even moreso (they had slowly started to recur over the years after my first ablation). I read a lot about the new pulsed field ablation (PFA) techniques prior to having mine and it did not disappoint (my doc used a Boston Scientific PFA tool). I was out doing 7 mile hikes at elevation with no issues only 9 days post ablation. If you have SVT, don't fret. These new techniques should help fix your problems.

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gloaming | @gloaming | 1 day ago
In reply to @mikeneverwired "I had SVT during exercise for decades and, while it was disruptive, I learned to manage..." + (show)
Profile picture for mikeneverwired @mikeneverwired

I had SVT during exercise for decades and, while it was disruptive, I learned to manage it. At some point about 25 years ago I started getting SVT's during stressful times at work. At that point, I saw an electrophysiologist and scheduled an ablation which worked very effectively for a long time.

I only recently had a second ablation which seems to have calmed the SVT and AFIB events even moreso (they had slowly started to recur over the years after my first ablation). I read a lot about the new pulsed field ablation (PFA) techniques prior to having mine and it did not disappoint (my doc used a Boston Scientific PFA tool). I was out doing 7 mile hikes at elevation with no issues only 9 days post ablation. If you have SVT, don't fret. These new techniques should help fix your problems.

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@mikeneverwired Unfortunately, as of last summer's formally published findings, PFA does not enjoy a reputation for succeeding to stop ectopy and AF over the other techniques. So far, its sole advantage is that it is safer in some ways (while not as safe in another). For example, there is much less risk of damaging the phrenic nerve or the esophagus compared to RF and cryo ablations. However, PFA requires more flouroscopy, and that means more radiation exposure to the body.

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