So I get up about 3:45 this morning, something that, alas, is not unusual for me these days, then go back to bed and…. Oh shit, here we go… SVT, or supra ventricular tachycardia, a situation where electrical signals to the heart get out of whack and the heart starts beating at around 190 and… well it’s not pleasant. I’ve had this going on for about 10 or 12 years now and it’s — annoying.
Wake up my poor wife and she has to drag my sorry old butt down to the ER where most of them remembered me from the last time this happened about a year ago. SVT won’t kill you, generally speaking, unless it goes on for a long time, but you can faint, get weak, and if it goes on for too long it can cause heart damage so it is not a good thing.
Sometimes it will convert back to normal rhythm by itself, but for me generally not. They usually have to give me a drug called adenosine which is just nasty. It basically kills you. Sort of. Or at least it feels that way. They defibbed me once and being shocked was preferable to getting adenosine, really.
This time it converted on its own, amazingly. The nurse was trying to put in an IV and missed and this horrible burning went up my arm, I half sat up, gasped, and bang, it converted to normal. So that was something anyway.
It’s weird, though… this seems to happen every spring for some reason. Last year it was in Feb. The year before that in May…
What’s the most irritating about it is the symptoms of this starting feel exactly like a gas bubble is moving through my abdomen, which, when you get to be my age, is something that happens a lot. So every time I have indigestion or gas or or something like that I go into panic mode because I think the SVT is starting again…
Anyway, not a fun way to wake up.
grouchyfarmer 
Be well. Have they considered cauterization of the relevant portion of heart tissue?
LikeLike
My cardiologist talked about it but considering the low frequency of the incidents (one a year or less) and risks associated with the ablation procedure, it’s probably not worth the risk at this time. SVT is scary but isn’t necessarily life threatening as long as it’s dealt with in a reasonable amount of time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Geez. That is scary and sucks.
I wonder if you can poke yourself next time and scare your heart back to it’s normal rhythm. A good scare works for hiccups. đŸ˜€
I should set up an alternative therapy shop, huh? I could probably convince a good number of people just with the hiccups compare and then of course I would use your story with the needle. This is my road to riches!
LikeLike
I’m was wondering the same thing and thinking I should have my wife keep a sewing kit handy just in case
LikeLike
That sounds mighty frightening.
LikeLike
It terrified me the first time it happened. It’s not so bad now that I know what it is. I don’t have the panic attacks any more that I used to get when it first started about 10 or 12 years ago
LikeLike