Anyone here diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia?

[nestof3]

I ended up in the emegency room last night because these rapid heart beat episodes were on and off all day long for over 24 hours.

They diagnosed me with supraventricular tachycardia.

What can I actually do to live with this condition aside from the medicine they prescribed?

I will be seeing a cardiologist soon.

[Scarlett]

I had it when I was pregnant. Medicine worked great. It is scary though. I thought I was going to die a few times. :) Feels like your heart is beating out of your chest.

[Karen sn]

Avoid caffeine.
Research Co-Q10 (Coenzyme Q-10).
Find a well educated, old fashioned doctor.
It can be very serious if not addressed.

[Eliana]

I have multiple arrhythmias, including SVT.

Have you been shown how to do a valsalva maneuver?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver
http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/topic100587639

I'm not good at describing it, but I'll try: If you take a deep breath, hold it, and then bear down (just the way they tell us not to push during labor!). This stimulates the vagal nerve which lowers blood pressure and heart rate and can sometime sort of reset your heart rhythm. It has been incredible for me...
Sometimes it works, but then the tachycardia just starts back up again. When that happens sometimes repeating the maneuver is helpful and sometimes it isn't.

Another useful technique is the carotid sinus massage
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/carotid_sinus_massage.jsp


Other things I've found helpful:

homeopathic aconite This and Apis for allergic reactions took me from an entrenched scepticism about homeopathy to a 'it doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not turning my back on something that's working' attitude.

I take aconite when I get that horrible panic-y feeling that can come with an arrhythmia...

Breathe slowly and calmly, remember that this can resolve, that fear will only aggravate - use relaxation techniques, find peace in the eye of the storm. Sometimes having someone rub my back (on the left side, behind the heart) helps me relax my chest muscles and breath more calmly. Some of my arrhythmias set of a really major subconscious panic reaction - which makes sense; something *is* going 'wrong', but it is a very counter-productive reaction. [I must warn you that it is possible to take this relaxation stuff too far! I have become so good at being mellow through an episode that I often am not as worried as I should be about the more severe ones...]

Learn to listen to your body's warning signs. Sometime of my episodes come with warnings, and if I lie down immediately (no matter where I am or what I am doing) I can minimize the severity of the episode. Warning: this can really freak out bystanders... but I can't say strongly enough how worth it this is. Don't try to push through, to finish a task. I spent an hour on the floor in the children's section of a bookstore last fall - the episode resolved faster than that, but the way things were it was clear that if I'd gotten up right away, another one would have started. After that, I was able to get up and drive home. (****I have had these issues for years now and have learned the difference between emergency and non-emergency episodes - please always err on the side of caution and call 9-1-1 if in any doubt ****)

Learn to take your pulse (doing it on myself works best when I take it from my neck, doing it on someone else it works best to do it from the wrist, but ymmv); have your dh learn to take your pulse.

Learn to pace yourself with exertion, and listen to your body's responses - learn to *stop* whether the task is done or not if exertion triggers episodes.

With exercise, or when you've been dashing around a lot, sometimes it is best to do a cool down rather than stopping all at once (this contradicts the above point, and the one about lie down wherever you are asap - it took me a while to sense which situations called for which response...).

If you have dental work done ***do not let them give you epinephrine in with your regular anesthetic*** this can trigger an episode (scared the daylights out of the young dentist who messed up on this with me!).

If you have severe allergies, be aware that if you have to use an epi-pen
it could trigger a serious episode (of course breathing comes first!!! Just be sure that 911 is called if you have to use an epi-pen)

Speaking of allergies: I am on a beta-blocker (metoprolol) and although it has made a world of difference in my functionality, there were two issues with it: 1) It took a while for us to get the dosages right, and for my body to adjust to it. I had several severe blood pressure incidents (one of which ended up hospitalizing me when my blood pressure bottomed out). We worked it out, but it was intense at the time. 2) It has aggravated my allergic reactions - things which got mild reactions (or none) now get anaphylactic reactions...

I'm sure there is more I should tell you, but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask, either here of by email (eliana@efn.org)

Eliana

[Cricket]

They take the daily medication which works very well. They also avoid caffeine and decongestants--anything that is a stimulant.