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SVT and medication
I have posted about my SVT before but here I am again. It's been 7 months since my last episode. It only happens 1-2 a year. This week i hit between 180-235 for almost an hour. I learned so much from other posts about strategies people use to reset their SVT. I thought I was prepared and was going to stop it on my own but I failed again and needed the ER to do the modified valsalva. I tried endless at home to do the head drop and feet up but couldn't reset it but again the ER can do it. If I could just learn to stop it I feel that I could live with my SVT but it is scary even if it's only once or twice a year.
In the past 12 years I've been so lucky that I've always been able to get to an ER. We have some trips for graduations coming up this month and since I just had an SVT episode my anxiety is through the roof. What if it happens on an airplane? I can't reset it on my own. Would they have to do an emergency landing some place closer? Would I ruin my kids graduations?
I've never taken medication because the side effects seem worse than the 1-2 a year episodes but I'm wondering if I should just do it to get through the next months? What medications have you taken and how bad are the side effects for SVT?
One final question, I have allergies and carry and epi-pen in case of an emergency. Before my appointment, I was curious if there is an emergency pill available that I could just take on a plane if there was a problem that would reset it and then I could seek help after landing.
Thanks for any help. As you can see from all my questions, my anxiety is raging for my upcoming airline trips to graduations.
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I've had a long history with SVT, going back to those very occasional episodes when I was much younger, to episodes that could last from a couple minute to several hours 2-3 times a year as I got older. I was started on medication for SVT after I presented to the ER with a heart rate of 225 after several hours of this at home. They slowed down the SVT with an IV drip of adenosine- it went down to around 120, then gradually reduced to normal overnight with a digoxin drip. They started me on 100 mg/day of metoprolol succinate ( long acting formulation), and that seemed to keep my heart rate in the normal range for a number of years. They wanted me to have an ablation at the time, but my SVTs were infrequent, so I refused. The cardiologist told me I'd likely have to be on the metoprolol for the rest of my life unless I agreed to the ablation, I told him I was happy to take the medication as it seemed to help.
I had a few side effects when I first started taking the metoprolol, kind of a light-headed, floaty sort of feeling and another side effect I actually liked, which was a calm, calm feeling and nothing bothered me. The light-headedness and floatiness disappeared a couple weeks after I started taking the metoprolol. I still take metoprolol about 25 years later, though now it's 150 mg/day of metoprolol tartrate ( shorter acting, twice a day formulation) and believe it or not, it still seems to have a calming effect on me. I still take it for SVT, but now also for A-fib and flutter.
One of the side effects of metoprolol, along with other beta blockers can be lowering the blood pressure too much in people who have normal blood pressure. These folks could have additional side effects that come with low blood pressure and may be advised not to take beta blockers. But I've had high blood pressure since I was a spring chicken ( genetic) so I have never had those side effect with this drug. In fact, the metoprolol seems to work with the other drugs I take for blood pressure to keep my blood pressure within a fairly normal range.