911 call for SVT.. facing ablation or back on Toprol

[TXGal]

Hey everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA for a few months.. It's been a whirl wind with the birth of my twin girls.. they were born June 8th, so Braxton is a proud big brother!

I had an episode yesterday I thought I would share and hopefully get some advice as to what to do...

I was in my car yesterday after lunch, about to drive back to work when all of a sudden my heart started racing.. if you've had tachycardia before, you know it can be a scary thing! So, for several minutes I sat in my car trying all the manuevers I could think of and it just wouldn't slow down, and my heart literally felt like it was going to bust out of my chest.. (I had a sudden flashback of the last time I had this, in 1997 which led me to the hospital and discovery at age 17 of my ASD, then a couple years later I had my MVR)... so, I picked up my cell and called 911.. now it took everything in me to call 911, I practically have to be on my death bed to do that, but with my heart history, I thought I just had to call in case I couldn't control it and I passed out in my car by myself.

So after 5 min. of waiting to call.. 10 min. for the ambulance to get there.. then approx. 10-15 more minutes after they got there before they were able to get my heart rate under control. I was short of breath, disoriented, clammy feeling, I felt like I was about to pass out.. When they hooked me up to the EKG & pulse monitor my heart rate was 168. So after running several EKG tests they handed me a syringe and asked me to blow in it as hard as I could.. And low and behold my heart slowed down to 110.. so, nevertheless I'll be keeping that syringe in my purse in the case this happens again..

The EMT read the EKG and said he was not an expert, but he could see I had delta waves, SVT, and some abnormal waves that he wasn't sure about.. I was given the option of going to the ER or my husband driving me to my cardiologist since they had be stabalized.

So I decided to have my husband take me to my cardiologist and have him read my EKG.. he immediatly said I need to get back on Toprol and next Thursday wear a 24 holter.. then, today his nurse called and said that I need to see an electropyhsiologist and that the type SVT I had could possibly be prevented from happening again by having an ablation..

Well, you may remember after 10 years of being on Toprol, about 2 years ago I asked if it would be ok to taper off of Toprol and my cardiologist allowed me to do that.. so these last 2 years I've been feeling great, energized.. very much unlike I felt the 10 years on Toprol..

So tonight is my second night back on Toprol, I'm curious to know if my body will react the way it did before. I'm sure it probably will.. I was talking to my nurse today and she said if I opt to not have an ablation after speaking with an electrophysiolgist then maybe I could take Toprol and get off of my digoxen, that possibly being on both may make me extra tired.. but I know one thing, I'm going to do whatever is best for my health.. I'd rather be a little less energized the rest of my life if it takes keeping my heart healthy..

I'm very curious now though about this SVT ablation.. I don't know if I should do this? I haven't talked to the electro dr. yet, but I want to go in very knowledgable and questions ready... so if you have had one, please I would love to hear your stories about the success or failure of your ablation..

Sorry this is so long! Thanks for your support.. I love this board..

 

[TXGal]

oh, and they believe what I had was "Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome"

 

[GeddyLee]

I have been prone to SVT's before and after my AVR. I am currently on 50mg of metoprolol, and it seems to work decently enough. They also mentioned that an ablation could be a possible solution. Perosnally, if I were in your situation, I would at least learn more about the procedure. I am in the opinion that the less medicine I have to be on, the better.

 

[kfay]

Kristen, I have (had) WPW too that was diagnosed at birth. At times, my heart rate would get up to 300 bmp. After passing out from mine as a teenager, and their finally being a treatment for it, I was one of the first patients to have a surgical ablation for WPW. Luckily now, they can do them through the groin or your arm. My understanding is that ablations for WPW are very successful. When I had my second surgery 4 years ago, they did an EP study to check and make sure that first surgery was still successful b/c the extra pathway can sometimes grow back, mine had not. After this same surgery, I had two ablations for other rhythm issues with varying degrees of success.

I grew up taking huge dosages of beta blocker to try and keep my WPW in check with varying degrees of success. I think you have to decide which is more tolerable for you, taking a med, that may or may not keep it from happening again, or having an ablation (which is basically a longer cath). If I were in your shoes, I would seriously consider the ablation. Just be sure and ask your EP how many of them he has done, his success rate, and the chances of him causing other issues that may require a pacer afterwards ( I think this is pretty low, but can happen).

Congrats on your twins! I know you have to be exhausted.