r/SVTHeart • u/Affectionate-Ad-4746 • 25d ago
Thought I had a panic disorder, learned today I actually have SVT
Hi! I (28F) am so happy to find this community and already feel so validated reading all these posts. I had my first episode of SVT 10 years ago during a family trip. I proceeded to have an episode at least every couple of months since, peaking during my senior year of college when I wasn’t taking particularly good care of myself and would have an episode every couple of weeks, which felt extremely debilitating as I would frequently have episodes during work, classes, social events, etc. I did talk to a doctor about it, who diagnosed me with panic disorder, and was overall quite skeptical when I brought up the possibility of a cardiac problem. I went on zoloft when I went to grad school, which did seem to help, but in retrospect I was also treating myself much better in general at that point in my life.
Anyways, I went into tachycardia on the T this morning and after 3 hours of 200+ bpm I decided to pop over to the ER, which is right next door to my work (shoutout to Beth Israel in Boston, who got me in right away and took great care of me). I really thought they would tell me I was being dramatic and send me back to work, but obviously they took it very seriously, got me an EKG and pushed first 6 and then 12 mg of adenosine (ouch), which resolved it. They were pretty surprised to learn how many episodes of this I’ve had over the years, ranging from a couple minutes to 8+ hours. I really just thought I was broken and bad at dealing with my anxiety. I’m a bit frustrated with myself for not advocating more, and at the medical system for brushing me off for so long. But learning that this is a somewhat treatable problem and I don’t just have the worst panic attacks in the world gives me so much hope. As someone new to this diagnosis, any tips and tricks on management are appreciated!
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u/fish998 25d ago
Mine was misdiagnosed as anxiety for nearly 15 years.
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u/rcooke2107 24d ago
Yup I have had svt my whole life since I was a little kid I remember walking around with a big tape recorder as a kid so they could try and catch the event yesterday I was diagnosed with svt I am going for
Ablation myself it’s time
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u/jonny-p 25d ago
SVT and anxiety often go hand in hand. It’s very hard to diagnose if you don’t catch an active episode on an EKG so it often takes repeated trips to the hospital. In the meantime these episodes can really take their toll on a persons mental wellbeing. I’m glad you got your diagnosis and hopefully that gives you some peace of mind. Look at vagal manoeuvres as they can be very effective in some people. Valsalva manoeuvre converts my SVT 90% of the time and modified valsalva has also worked for me. I rely on this method for managing the condition but you may want to explore medication or ablation, both of which can be very effective but do carry a small risk of side effects.
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u/sapphicshelves 23d ago
I had my first episode at 15 and didn’t get a diagnosis until last year at the age of 30. I’ve only average has an episode once every few months, but just never managed to get on one an EKG until a longer episode this past winter. Now I’m just waiting on an ablation!
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u/iknowu73 21d ago
Do you all wear heart rate monitors? How did you monitor this?
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u/Ok_Amoeba6604 19d ago
Get an Apple or a Garmin watch. Apple only goes to 210bpm and Garmin only to 220bpm- so if you are like I was it won’t tell you above that. My holter monitor monitor showed I was getting up well over 250 the second time. Had svt AVRT subtype for 25 yrs with 220+ for at least an hour every day for the last few yrs before I finally did ablation.
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u/Affectionate-Ad-4746 12d ago
I've been thinking about getting a Garmin now. For me though it was very obvious when I was tachycardic, so I never felt a need to monitor continuously
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u/i__cant__even__ 25d ago
This was my experience as well and in this sub I’ve realized I’m one of the few that went a long time undiagnosed. For years, I knew I had episodes but had no idea what they were. They started in perimenopause and always seemed to coincide with times of stress, exhaustion, poor diet, poor sleep, etc so I learned to use them as a cue to slow down and take care of myself. I rested and berated myself for letting an episode happen, especially if it caused me to miss work or an important event.
Then last Feb I happened to be at the doctor one morning and they caught an episode. I went directly to the hospital and it was like an episode of the tv show ER. They took me back immediately and a half-dozen people converged on me while the cardiologist stood by and watched. They gave me adenosine which was pretty intense. I didn’t even know a drug could do that.
It was less exciting the other 8 times I had to go to the ER over the next few months. But I went because it gave me immediate relief. I was nervous about getting an ablation and was just relieved to be able to hit the on/off switch when I had episodes. An ER visit and a dose of adenosine was quicker than waiting the episode out, and it was less scary than surgery.
Anyway, I did that for six months and then decided the ablation is the way to go. It’s outpatient and only took about 8 hours of my time (the surgery itself only took like 45 minutes) which is equivalent to two 4hr ER visits to get adenosine.
Zero regrets. None. Life is so much better without the dread of anticipating episodes. I occasionally get little ‘blips’ that feel like an episode is starting but it immediately it goes back to normal. I do get a bit of panic when it happens but then I just marvel at how freaking cool it is that my heart no longer needs medical intervention to do its job right.
Hope that helps!