My SVT Story [Part 1, The First Episode]

I had to look through my old posts and see how much I have mentioned my heart, and it seems to be like slim to none. I mentioned briefly when I was in the hospital for the first incident, but that's it. So let me try and explain some things.

In late 2015, I ended up getting slammed with cold after cold, which is highly unusual for me. I ended up with the flu in the end of February - I hadn't had it since I was in 3rd grade. I took meds and a few days after I finished them, I woke up feeling off. I had some chest tightness and I felt my heart racing. I thought maybe I was having an asthma attack. It was really early in the morning, so my doctor's office was not yet open. I decided to drive down with 1 year old Mason to the emergency room and get checked out. It wasn't busy at all, so they took me right back to a room. The nurse got my pulse with the little finger clamp thing and immediately yelled "her heartrate is 226" and the medical staff poured in. Everything moved so quickly from there. They gave me flecanide (a medication used for arrhythmia) and when that didn't work, they gave me a dose of adenosine (a medication that stops your heart).

Obviously, all of this is terrifying and they let me call my husband to get down to the ER. The nurse who brought me back initially was helping keep Mason occupied. Once they got my heart rate to slow down, they said it was beating irregularly. The hospital's cardiologist came down and talked to me. They decided to admit me for observation. They ran a ton of tests and did an ultrasound on my heart to look for any structural issues. I had one nurse that I didn't care for who kept fretting over me and she really freaked me out because she told me that extreme temperature changes would shock my heart into afib again. So I needed someone to start my car and either cool it or heat it, so that I wouldn't go into afib.

I was discharged from the hospital the next day and was told that I had atrial fibrillation. I was to take blood pressure medication and the flecanide daily and we would reassess in 3 months. If I was episode-free, I would come off the meds and that would be that. The doctor seemed to think it was caused by the flu and it was a one-time deal.

However, I was terrified when I got home that I would get my heart rate up and it would kill me. The cardiologist didn't really reassure me of anything or give me any information. So basically I was a big walking, talking time bomb of anxiety. I went to the ER two or three more times in March because I thought I was having another episode. I was constantly checking my heart rate to see how fast it was going. I was literally scared to get up and walk around. It was definitely a really bad time.

I went for my 3 month follow up with the cardiologist and he wanted me to stay on the medication and come back in another 3 months. He spent maybe 10 minutes in the room and handed me an information page on SVT, super ventricular tachycardia, and I left the appointment incredibly confused. I was diagnosed with afib at the ER and now he was telling me I had something completely different. I spent the next three months still pretty anxious and panicky to move too much or overdo it. But I didn't go to the ER for a while and for the most part, I was doing better than before.

I'm going to leave off there. Part 2 will be up soon!