Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

@twinkle23 since my kid has type 1 diabetes, I am very familiar with the A1c. A normal A1c does not rule out low blood sugar. It is a 3 month average and lows could be balanced out by high normal blood sugars. You could buy a blood glucose meter, very affordable, and test your blood sugar when you feel that way. I am having similar issues and feel "low" even in the low 70's, which is still considered normal. Sometimes those feelings will happen when the drop in blood sugar is fast, despite a blood sugar in the 70's. Other times I have been in the low 50's so I know that is what is causing my weakness. I carry glucose tablets and try to avoid sugar, which can boost blood sugar when then crashes. Protein and fat even things out. Or maybe it is your heart...but I would personally not do anything invasive until I had tried a meter!

Thank you for that info. I will definitely get a meter. I got results from my carotid ultrasound today and there is narrowing seen and also nodules on my thyroid so that could contribute to my symptoms.

My friend was just talking to me yesterday about the effects of elevated thyroid on heart. Hope that is an answer for you without invasive treatment!

Good afternoon @soloact I had a recent Zio patch showing SVT and EP was not planning on medication. There were 17 episodes in 2 weeks with max heart rates-250. I am an athlete and was concerned about driving my rate higher. They put me on low dose Toprol. I had an ECHO read as “ normal,” but have exercise intolerance when jogging for 2-3 years. The dobutamine stress test was “normal.” How was your diastolic dysfunction picked up? Any symptoms or medication?
Thank you

I am new to these forums. I sent a response to @soloact. Will she receive this or is there something else that I should do?

Hi i am Barbara! I have afib and every med I am placed on makes me physically sick. I have been taking multaq for 3 days and I am experiencing headaches, loss of appetite and exhaustion i am thinking about stopping the multaq after 3 days

I would encourage you to do two things: let your prescribing authority know, but also try....hard....as tough as it is going to be...to tough it out for a week or more if you can. My wife was told to take anastrozole, a drug to stop her from making any more estrogen as a prophylaxis against recurrence of breast cancer. It can be a miserable experience, apparently, but it gets better after a few weeks. This from the sympathetic oncologist. I suspect that Multaq might be the same for you. What you don't want is something like night sweats, palpitations or more arrhythmia, vomiting, low BP (below 100/65). But maybe you can endure a headache for a few days just to give the drug...and you...a chance together?

Either way, let your doctor know.

In my late teens, I was diagnosed with paroxysmal tachycardia and was able to stop it by holding my breath and bearing down. I had no symptoms for many years. Now that I am 84 it has started up again, I wore a heart monitor for two weeks and was diagnosed with SVT and started a calcium channel blocker, which has calmed it down but I'm not happy with the side effect of constipation and just the fact I am taking a drug. I'm wondering if I should just try living with it as I was told to do 10 years ago since a beta blocker might be more objectionable to me .
ideas?

It depends on: frequency, duration, and the actual rate. Oh, and how much it impacts your well-being as well.

a. If you are frequently experiencing SVT, it can seriously impact your sense of ease and well-being. It can interfere with proper rest, or even cause you to want to stop going for walks or cycling or hiking...which is never ideal, particularly as you get north of 75. If it's once a day, no problem. Three times a day, not really a problem....unless..

b. ..it's lasting for an hour or three each time, or you begin to fear it wants to persist and to continue in perpetuity;

c. if the rate is above 100 BPM, you don't really want that, not for long. Again, an hour once a day...a pain in the patoot, and it bears watching....but you won't die from that. Once your rate soars above 100 BPM and stays there for a total of two, three, six hours each day, or never seems to want to quit and to return to NSR, you should start thinking about getting an intervention from an electrophysiologist. In fact, once you have an arrhythmia, you should shake hands with a really good, highly sought, EP and get in line for a remedy that she/he can offer.

Bottom line with SVT, flutter, and atrial fibrillation, your heart can tolerate a lot of it for short periods...now and then. When the rate begins to soar reliably, and the frequency of events begins to climb, drugs are losing ground and your wonky heart's electrics are gaining it. IOW, these things tend to evolve, or to progress, to more intractable levels and persistence, and they get harder for the mid-level electrophysiologists to treat. Even the very top tier EPs will struggle to fix your rhythm if you go too long and your heart begins to develop other pathology as a result.

If your monitoring device ever says that you have ventricular tachycardia (and not just SVT), call an ambulance immediately, or get yourself driven to the nearest ER that has a great reputation for cardiac problems.

All this information is very helpful and I will now seek out the advice of a electrophysiologist. Makes a good sense.
thank you so much for your prompt reply.