[Katie]

So I've been getting these wierd beats since December what feels like 4-5 beats in a row, I've told you all about them. And sometimes it feels like the beats are all over the place - really irregular. So I called my cardiologist today because I keep having them and the nurse said she thinks it's SVT. She said if it starts happening outside my cycle they would want to catch it on a holter. Luckily mine happens usually on ovulation or shortly afterwards and on my period. It still worries me though. I used to feel just skipped beats and now I never get those or rarely, now it's these funky beats. It just makes me uncomfortable I guess to not know what they are and if in fact they are harmful. She said with SVT the use beta blockers which I'd be opposed too anyways because I don't have them frequently. I'm just worried because they are relatively new and I'm just not sure what they are. Can everyone please explain to me how their beats feel- and if they are the same as mine what they've done? I feel like I can breath in or out deeply and it stops. But I don't know if that's just because that's how long they last in the first place.

[Chaoticdopey]

Originally Posted by Katie

So I've been getting these wierd beats since December what feels like 4-5 beats in a row, I've told you all about them. And sometimes it feels like the beats are all over the place - really irregular. So I called my cardiologist today because I keep having them and the nurse said she thinks it's SVT. She said if it starts happening outside my cycle they would want to catch it on a holter. Luckily mine happens usually on ovulation or shortly afterwards and on my period. It still worries me though. I used to feel just skipped beats and now I never get those or rarely, now it's these funky beats. It just makes me uncomfortable I guess to not know what they are and if in fact they are harmful. She said with SVT the use beta blockers which I'd be opposed too anyways because I don't have them frequently. I'm just worried because they are relatively new and I'm just not sure what they are. Can everyone please explain to me how their beats feel- and if they are the same as mine what they've done? I feel like I can breath in or out deeply and it stops. But I don't know if that's just because that's how long they last in the first place.

reassurance given

but my beats arent like yours mine are rare maybe 1-2 a day. wiwsh i could help you out alittle

[Katie]

I'm just worried it could be afib or something. Some woman said her afib feels like that beatbeatbeatbeatbeat.

[Katie]

I just read about afib and my heart feels like it flutters or is all over the place then the quick beats start up. I'm kinda freaking out right now.

[dr461]

Nothing like SUSTAINED afib or Vtach or any of the more serious rhythm patterns. The key word is sustained and they are not, first of all. Second of all, they sound like garden variety of skips--either a grouping of PVCs or PACs (need the holter to make that call or catch them on an EKG that lasts more than 30 sec to identify). I get that all the time, and in my case it was just ordinarily PVC sequence.

[Cheers]

I have been diagnosed with SVT. I think they use that term as kind of a general condition. I had a 7 beat run of SVT on my last event monitor. The Dr said it was probably just 7 PACs in a row.

But I have done endless reading on SVTs for the past 8 years after being diagnosed with it after an er visit. I was in a sustained tachycardic state for over 4 hours. The rate would not drop and remained about 150 the whole time until they finally gave me beta blockers. From everything I have been told and read...SVT is just as benign as PVCs/PACs and really in the same family. I personally chose to stay on the beta blockers for fear it would happen again. And they have worked pretty darn well for the most part. But there are many people with SVT who take nothing.

I get all my symptoms around my cycle too. I am dreading this month after the horrible last one. I wish they could find a way to treat this since it is clearly hormonally induced.

[Jeff]

Yep - no worries.

When I felt my first run of PSVT, I actually couldn't tell that my heart was beating. I normally can see/hear/feel my pulse just about everywhere, and for that few seconds my chest felt weird and I couldn't sense my heartbeat.

That? Was awesome. :/

After a few more occurences I could tell my heart was beating, just more quickly, and because of that, it was less full, and because of that, the beats weren't as strong.

And your deep breath fixing it is kinda like a vasalva maneuver, so it may very well be what's ending the arrhythmia for you. For me, I just all of a sudden feel a need to cough, which in terms of body mechanics, probably does the same thing as a deep breath and is some form of vasalva.

So. It feels weird, it feels different, and if you need "official" reassurance, certainly seek that, but it sure does sound exactly like what I have sometimes.

[Jeff]

@Cheers - you're right about the umbrella diagnosis - SVT just means there's a tachycardia that originates somewhere (anywhere) above the ventricles.

@Katie - To follow up on what Cheers said, my cardiologist told me that I could be having that arrhythmia for days straight and it not present any sort of risk to my life.

Hope that helps.

[dr461]

SVT is benign. THe only time that doctors worry about Tachy rhythms is when they happen all the time. Even for the WORST of these conditions, meds are available. SVT simply is NOT an issue for people, it is just a nuisance and scares the crap out of a lot of folks. It is well within the normal variants of ectopic beats. Worry not.

[Katie]

Thank you guys so much I'm so worried it's silly.