Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

Hi Dana,
Really appreciate you sharing your journey, this was very helpful. I have been feeilng that the next step will be an EP cardo doc and you have confirmed that I will need to find one soon. Thanks again,
Deb

Hi Deb, I suffered with Vintricular Tachycardia for about 10 years and had a pacemaker defibulater. I just want to stop by and say that the new symptom of shortness of breath is probably tied to the Tachycardia.
A brief history of me is that at first I was in the "until it does " category. I first was diagnosed with CHF with a IF of 5 % after a flu bug cased fluid around my lungs to enlarge my heart and so a pacemaker was put in as a precaution and i was put on Amiodroine and a beta blocker. I think it was coreg. So for about 5 years I had no issues that I knew of and one night the pacemaker had to shock me when I went into an arrhythmia where my pulse rate went over 200. Now I mentioned this because when the heart speeds up (that's what Tachycardia means) there is not enough oxygen rich blood leaving the heart to satisfy your body so you feel like your out-of breath. That was always my first symptom of an arrhythmia ( it's when the heart is moving so fast blood basically stops flowing) so the out of breath your feeling may be that your heart is in a situation I just mentioned of an arrhythmia. Now arrhythmias actually are common even in health adults but the difference is with a healthy system it usually only last a few beats and my be felt like a skipped beat or you may not feel them at all.
For me one test to verify if I was in an arrhythmia was checking my pulse. And if it seemed very fast or I could not feel it I knew to just relax sit down and let my pacemaker take care of it.
So my suggestion is to seek the advice of a cardiologist and if you believe it's electricial in nature a regular cardiologist may recognize it but that's when I was referred to an EP Cardiologist. EP stands for electro physiologist or a cardiologist that specializes in the electrical parts of the heart and most time that's where arrhythmia start, its a misfiring of the signals to cause the heart to beat. It gets out of sequence and they know how to fix those types of issues. I hope that helps and please let me know if I can help further. There are many was it can be kept under control so don't worry at this point. It could be something very easy to fix.
Blessings

Hello. I'm an 88 year old male who is still cutting his own firewood and swimming in a neighbors pond about 200 yards. Lately I'm really shot after each activity and have taken my heart rate, three consecutive times, immediately after. Runs from a systolic high of 119 down to 104 -- and a diastolic low of from 54 down to 44. The systolic high goes down a bit for each take and the low on the diastolic rises at the end of the 3rd take. Is this safely normal for my age ( I have and have had asthma all my life). eejj

I can't comment on your drugs, but your statement, "non life threatening, until it isn't" caught my attention.

Has your doctor considered an automatic implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (AICD)? Perhaps, that could be a "safety net" to prevent you from reaching the "until it isn't" scenario.

Hi, I have Non Sustatined Ventrical Tachycardia with shortness of breath (new symptom) when exercising. I've been told this condition in non life threatening, until it isn't. It seems my episodes are getting worse. I am female, 68 yr old in otherwise good health. I take a low dose aspirin, a beta blocker and a calcium channel blocker along with atorvastatin. Since the additon of these drugs the shortness of breath has started. Anyone with a similar condition? And any treatments that have worked? Thanks, Deb

Sorry Dana, I hate it when the stack replies to a post and it looks like you’re answering one but it’s attached to another. Sounds like you’ve been thru a a lot. Your ablations, may I ask a question, were they the normal kind or the Rogue Cell short circuit like in my heart birth defect? I’ve never met a person with the same defect because it’s a 1 in a million chance. I know my Electrophysiologist and his tram is waiting to go. Thanks for telling me of the misguided message.

It wasn't Me asking about ablation n it was Ted, but since you asked I've had somewhere between 8-10 ablation of both interior and external. I have had 2 pacemakers/recorder/ defibulator since my arrhythmia could kill me in a few minutes if the pacemaker could not get my heart rate down from the 200s in a short period it would shock me which it did on many occasions. But that's a long 10 year story. My longest ablation over 5 hours with 4 seperate leads in my heart and my shortest was about 2 hours.
Blessings

Yes, Please speak to your Doctor and follow his advice. Don't ignore.

Dana, for some reason it spliced my post and reattached it at the end of my original post asking you if you had ever heard of this ablation, Sorry.

Hi Dana, the only thing they could do to save me from my heart failing is a transplant. Unfortunately for me, my precancerous blood condition would stop the application for one. That’s because my blood is progressing into Waldenstrom Macroglobulemia a rare form of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

But since you’re interested in ablations, I have one that is very rare to do and most doctors in the United States problem never hear of it being done, yet actually getting a chance to perform it. You see my birth defect involves rogue heart cells that formed a short circuit between the SA node and the AV Node in the right Atrial Chamber. What happens is a pulse beat jumps into the short circuit and starts going around and around causing the right ventricle to contact and pump. The beat just keeps going faster and faster. Now here’s the kicker, the regular pathway is also sending a signal to the right ventricle to contact and pump. Now it’s receiving two commands to pump. That’e the problem, my highest heart rate while pumping was 197bpm. It’s called Pulseless Ventricular Tachycardia because you can’t feel a regular heart beat since it’s pumping so fast.

Now here’s the only abolition possible to stop the short circuit from working. I will be unconscious, strapped to the operating table because I can’t move at all since the procedure is so delicate it could kill me. You remember those Rogue cells I told you about that make up the short circuit, each one will have to be destroyed one heart cell at a time in a procedure that could take over 10 hours to complete. I have a $25,000 special loop recorder under my left breast that has to map out each Rogue cell involved in order to destroy the short circuit. Each cell must be destroyed or the other cells might join in and rebuild another short circuit. The mapping heart monitor has a battery good for 5 years with 1 year gone already. How many doctors get to work on such a rare problem, not many I would thing. Well, have you ever heard of this ablation procedure Dana? only thing they could do to save me from my heart failing is a transplant. Unfortunately for me, my precancerous blood condition would stop the application for one. That’s because my blood is progressing into Waldenstrom Macroglobulemia a rare form of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

But since you’re interested in ablations, I have one that is very rare to do and most doctors in the United States problem never hear of it being done, yet actually getting a chance to perform it. You see my birth defect involves rogue heart cells that formed a short circuit between the SA node and the AV Node in the right Atrial Chamber. What happens is a pulse beat jumps into the short circuit and starts going around and around causing the right ventricle to contact and pump. The beat just keeps going faster and faster. Now here’s the kicker, the regular pathway is also sending a signal to the right ventricle to contact and pump. Now it’s receiving command to pump. That’e the problem, my highest heart rate while pumping was 197bpm. It’s called Pulseless Ventricular Tachycardia because you can’t feel a regular heart beat because it’s pumping so fast.

Now here’s the only abolition possible to stop the short circuit from working. I will be unconscious, strapped to the operating table because I can’t move at all since the procedure is so delicate it could kill me. You remember those Rogue cells I told you about that make up the short circuit, each one will have to be destroyed one heart cell at a time in a procedure that could take over 10 hours to complete. I have a $25,000 special loop recorder under my left breast that has to map out each Rogue cell involved in order to destroy the short circuit. Each cell must be destroyed or the other cells might join in and rebuild another short circuit. The mapping heart monitor has a battery good for 5 years with 1 year gone already. How many doctors get to work on such a rare problem, not many I would thing. Well, have you ever heard of this ablation procedure Dana? @becky1024