[tachygirl]

Hi all,
I have PSVT. I had an EP study, no abalation done because cardiologist found no area to ablate. I tried various meds for tachycardia and finally ended up on atenolol to control my heart rate.
I am feeling better and more in control so my dr has agreed to let me try to reduce and/or eliminate my atenolol meds. I am doing this though while I love the way it control my tachycardia I hate some of the side effects such as heaviness in chest.
I have reduced my dose from 25mg daily to 1/4 pill in am and pm.
I can not seem to get any lower without heart rate going up to 95-100 at rest and much higher with activity.
Dr. told me to cut 1/4 pill weekly and see how I do. I had to reduce even slower or I had some trembling, shakey feeling, and tachycardia.
Anyone ever able to get off this??? This is much harder than the antidepressant they gave me for my "anxiety" "all in my head" they told me I had before they found the SVT.
Maybe its just not possible at this time??
Thanks all for any help.

[Jeff]

Hi Tachygirl -

Are you on an antidepressant now? (I am, so have no fear of saying so)

I've got to run off to work, but when I come back I'll have more questions for you.

Hope you have a great day.

[tachygirl]

No Jeff, I am not. I was put on zoloft by my FORMER dr who said the racing heart was just anxiety, menopause,ect. I stayed on for 6 months til I found my new dr who sent me to electrophysiologist cardiologist because he said my heart rate was always high.
Cardio found SVT on event monitor, had EP study, no area found to ablate.... so I guess that is why I am now labeled PSVT, no reason found for tachycardia and sudden SVT attacks.
Thanks for any input... maybe my body is not ready to get off the meds ... my heart not racing feels so much better .. stubborn ME!!

[Jeff]

I'm not exactly sure how to explain this, and I'm no doctor so I have no means to test a hypothesis other than on myself, but here goes anyway.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of tachycardia issues are "in people's heads." That's not to say it's something you can just control, wash from your mind, "stop worrying so much", etc. The brain and the body are extremely complex animals. And it's nearly impossible to introduce a drug to resolve one problem without causing another, simply because everything is so interconnected.

And here's what I know of myself and my use of SSRIs - I am constantly screwing around with my dosage, seeing what happens when I reduce my dose, increase my dose, stagger doses, skip a day, skip multiple days. I'm always tweaking, trying to find the right balance of medication to reduce symptoms but cause minimal side effects. Here's what I found:

After about the 7th month, I think my body was getting normalized to the drug regimen and had settled in.

At a certain dosage of SSRI I have no episodes of PAT/PSVT, and the craziness of mornings at my house, which used to find me waking up with nervous, jittery hands and a cloudy, unfocused head was gone. It as replaced by calm and focus. Very nice.

However, at that same dosage I walk dangerously close to not caring enough about things. Like how carefully a load is strapped down on one of our trucks or whether I bother to return client calls. Not good for business, not good for me.

And after about 2-3 weeks of reducing my dose, I noticed a bit of the jittery feelings returning in the morning, and a few really short bursts of PSVT/PAT.

So I do think that SSRIs can play an important role in controlling certain arrhythmia, and I think you need to take it for quite awhile for it to provide all the benefits it's capable of giving, but it may not be all that's needed. And maybe that's the place you're in right now. Maybe dropping your dosage of anti-arrhythmia meds and adding a very small dose of Zoloft again would be worthwhile (and BTW, if you're getting generic, I would search hard to find the Greenstone generic version, as many of the others are poorly made and have lots of documentation of lack of efficacy).

I hope that helps.

[tachygirl]

Jeff,
Thanks for your response. Perhaps being on a antidepressant would help but had such a bad run last time with it. My orginal PCP put me on the zoloft and when my heart still raced she kept upping the doseage slowly til I was a total zombie emotionally.
The atenolol takes away the racing, the SVT attacks, and it is used for performance anxiety, so as one person told me it probably crosses the blood brain barrier. This may be why I am having a difficult time to get off it,,,, I had no problem reducing zoloft slowly and getting off.
I have a friend who had SVT and had ablation. He said he had to shave his beta blocker just a little more every day for over 6 months to get off it... was really difficult to do.
I am happy to have reduced my dose, and so some the side effects ( chest heaviness) have been reduced but are still there.
I don't want to trade a pill for a pill either...would love to be off ALL of it, but may not be possible.
I agree some maybe be mind/mental but overall since I got those the SVT attacks under control I am feeling pretty good emotionally. The SVT was very spontaneous and downright scarey, not to mention affecting my lifestyle.
Thanks again so much for your response. Good luck to you and thanks for having this site.

[Jeff]

I know what you mean about being a zombie. At a certain dose I was seeing things around me that I should have been worried about or cared about, but I didn't. If the inside of my head was a television screen, you'd have just seen static.

Do you do any exercising? Maybe getting your heart into shape by starting off on a slow cardio program could help. Just an idea. Hope you get to feeling better.

[tachygirl]

Yes Jeff,
I SO understand what you mean about the tv screen and static. I also hated the lack of emotion. I felt like I could have been giving devasting news and felt nothing. After getting off Zoloft I remember finally laughing again with my kids, what a wonderful feeling. And that was on a low dose of zoloft ( 50mg).
As for exercise I walk daily. I used to go to gym but the atenolol makes me feel like I am winded so easily or as I say I feel like someone is giving a big bear hug. That is one of the side effects of atenolol cardiologist says... and one of the reasons I would like to get off of it. Maybe I need to push myself harder again, exercise helps you in many ways, mentally and physically.
Thanks again for your help, you have given me some things to think about for now.
I do feel SO much better than a year ago when this PSVT was out of control. I just want to be back where I was 3 years ago before all this "stuff" ( not the word I would like to use)started.I have always been very healthy physically/mentally all my life til now.
I am stubborn and strong so I will get there. Thanks again so very much!!

[postpartumillness.com]

I was on Propranolol last year and finally was able to go off of it. It took some time but my heart actually balanced out after a while. After starting Yoga and walking my heart is rarely spiking in rate. The only time I am having PVC's and increased hr is the week before my period.

I still had to take the Propranolol when going on some walks for a while but now I walk very far and I dont need it. I also have been able to do about 15 minutes of mild cardio but after that my heart starts to tell me to back off.

It will be work but be smart and you should be fine.

Lucy

[tickertock]

AS for SSRIs, I take only 5mg of escitalopram(lexapro, cipralex are the brand names) it works wonders for a pounding racing heart, also PVCs , at least it did foe me, if one don't work another might for example citalopram caused some unwanted side effects for & escitalopram , no side effects at all, they are very close to being the same drug, except escitalopram is a purified version. Good luck tachygirl , I know exactly how you feel.

[tachygirl]

Hi all,

Thanks for the info, sincerely appreciated. I talked to my dr and he offered to change my beta blocker to Bystolic, see if less side effects such as heaviness in chest.
But I am determined to TRY to get off if possible. I am now down to 1/4 pill in pm... and a lot less side effects from med.
This is very difficult to get off...
I am going to give this 2 weeks and if I don't feel better will add 1/4 pill back in am. I am shakey, anxious at times, and chest pain, heart thumping, fluttering at times.
Lucy, you said it took time- how long for you??
I am tough, but this is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. My dr said getting off beta blockers is similar to cocaine withdrawal... well I have no experience in that area and know now I never will!!!
Wheww.... this plays games with mind and body!! Every day seems a little easier...so I will keep trying.
Wish me luck!!