Heart Rhythm Episodes - AFib; Tachycardia, High Blood Pressure

great advice!!!

I agree...and I want to add...see your cardiologist asap...OR...go directly to the ER. They pass you through immediately if a cardiac issue is suspected.

Beautifully said!

My fast heart rate 133 bpm started 6 days ago and still keeping the same rate! The cardiologist diagnosis is Paroxysmal Atria Tachycardia (PAT). I am taking Atenolol 25 mg. The cardiologist also said PAT will not cause heart attack. I am going to have treadmill test in a month to check if Atenolol is working. He didn't say how soon Atenolol will take effect to slow down my heart beats! I hope it doesn't take one month! I think he probably doesn't know the answer, everyone reacts to drugs differently.
Would you please share your experience if you had fast heart rate and your treatments?
Greatly appreciate your input!

I have ventricular tachycardia and atrial tachycardia (so a whole lot of palpitations) and the first beta blocker I was on kicked in quite quickly (bisoprolol). First week things improved. Now on metoprolol 12.5mg × 2. Get the occasional flip and flutter but most of the time I feel 100%.

Have you been worked up for causes? Have you been considered for pheochromocytoma? Can cause episodic times of increased heart rate and BP. Just a thought.

I have had increasing episodes of increased heart rate over the past year but it is episodic. Mine, I believe, is related to dysautonomia - a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system due to my connective tissue disease, Ehlers-Danlos. I have a Reveal LINQ implanted which has caught all of these episodes. Last year, within less than a two week period, I had over 600 episodes of heart rate over 130 but the longest episode was under 3 minutes and most were around 1 minute in length. Most of the time, I was unaware of the increased rate. My cardiology provider gave me the option to increase my metoprolol if I felt I needed to, in January or February, I bumped it from 37.5 mg to 50 mg a day. I am apparently still getting the episodic tachycardias. But my provider is not particularly concerned -- no really concerning arrhythmias.

Look up paroxysmol supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) - a not uncommon heart arrhythmia . I was a runner, did ballet etc and one day while calmly at a cosmetic counter feeling happy looking at lipstick i felt my heart start racing - mine went up to 180 and higher. It would happen like you turned a light switch on and then, off, after 20 minutes.I was young and healthy and I was treated horribly by doctors who treated me as if i wereneurotic , having panic attacks, exaggerating, wanting attentio etc. It took me TWENTY YEARS to get diagnosed. During that time, I did my own research and tried maneuvers to break the tachycardia (whch means a heart rate over 100 pbm) I found in Merck manual and elsewhere .. this was long before we had the internet. Carotid artery massage,pressure on eyes, bearing down - did not work. I finally found for me the mammalian diving reflex ( plunging face in cold water and breathing slowly ) worked like a charm. Due to my work (and my work changed course because of my interest in medicine ) I ended up being respected and not treated like a neurotic person somehow making up my acute episodes - I was in the office of the chairman of the department of medicine, a cardiologist at a large university and health center, due to my work and i finally just let it out - what i had been going through with my heart. In TWO MINUTES he said " you aren't having panic attacks - it's WPW or PSVT . And we can fix it!" I collapsed sobbing. I had given up having someone actually LISTEN TO ME. those were my own "diagnoses" and i was right!! I had worn monitors but never were they kept on me long enough to catch the arrhythmia. Finally this wonderful doctor kept a monitor on me for weeks to document the arrhythmia so insurance would approve an electrophysiology study (EP study); first tried beta blockers but made me feel exhausted and rotten. I had an EP study during which my heart went up to 220 ! an ablation was performed - I went home less than two hours afterwards to cook dinner for my son and only had a few skips here and there over the next 12 years or so. The last 3 years , I've had one recurrence a year oddly . I have a loop recorder now (technology has so improved ) but no more occurrences so far. Sometimes psvt can come back after an ablation - or it may recur so rarely it's no big deal. I hope that's the case now for me. I cannot diagnose you but I can say that it wouldn't hurt to ask your doctor about PSVT.

By the way @jayhawk57 due to your symptoms of weight loss etc, definitely talk to the doctor about pheochromocytoma if you haven't already.

Wow! What a riveting story! I am so happy for you that your 20 years of terrible and frightening episodes came to an end. And it was not from lack of trying to find a solution that you suffered that long. You teach us all an important lesson. Trust your gut, do your research and persevere! All the best...and BRAVO!