Should I call an ambulance for this?

That would be all very well if an ambulance could be trusted to arrive quickly. Those days are gone.

Very sad what our ambulance service has become. I don't think cat 1 really exists anymore, the drama queen's have won, its their ambulance service now.

I had WPW and would have episodes of SVT at least once a week, usually around 280-300 bpm but sometimes higher. I only ever went to A&E with it a couple of times for adenosine when I couldn't get it to stop after 12 hours, and in those cases I took a taxi. I've just looked at the NHS guidance for my condition specifically and it says:

Dial 999 for an ambulance if:

• your heartbeat doesn't go back to normal in a few minutes
• you have chest pain that lasts more than 15 minutes – you may also have pain in your arms, back or jaw

That was me during pretty much every episode. Oops

I was diagnosed in childhood so don't remember exactly what advice the cardiologists gave, other than that it wasn't life-threatening and the list they gave me of things to do to try and get my heart back into its normal rhythm. Whenever I'd go into SVT I'd have to stop what I was doing obviously, and if I was with anyone I'd have to try to explain with them what was happening. They'd always freak out and start talking about ambulances and I'd bat them off and tell them it was fine, I just needed some time to try to stop it.

I had an ablation when I was 25 and wish I hadn't waited so long. I didn't realise how restricted my life was until I didn't have to deal with it anymore. I lost so much to that condition. I'm so grateful to the wonderful cardiologist who did it. I still have phantom sensations sometimes, such as when I do something like bend down to pick something up off the floor, which is the sort of thing that would trigger it, and my brain tells me I'm going into SVT even though I'm not.

The advice about making your own way if you can do, which I think most who work for the ambulance service would probably give - is that you'll arrive at hospital with the Drs that can give the medications/cardiovert the SVT much earlier - than you do by calling 999.

If you book in at A&E reception with a heart rate of 180 youre not going to be queueing very long at all. If you call 999 with a heart rate of 180 then realistically these days the fastest well get to you is about 30minutes, typically more like 1-2 hours, in busy periods not uncommon to see people waiting 4+ hours.

I work in a major city in England for UK ambulance service. As a reference for how bad it is now this week I was sent to attend an epileptic small child having a seizure. They waited for 50minutes for the ambulance still seizing. They lived about 8 minutes from hospital and could have easily have picked her up and put on back seat of the car. But they didn't because the bottom of every triage tool says to call for an ambulance -but none of them recognise the extreme waits for ambulances now. It's hidden in the statistics - because the family kept calling back (as all people waiting for very long periods will quite rightly do with actual emergencies) the service can put down the time from the last call made so it the job notes response time is just a few minutes!

If the family had been given an accurate estimate that at the time they called there was a period of extreme demand in the area and response times for cat1s were over 30minutes they might have made a different choice and might have had a better outcome - signs of a brain injury with us. Absolutely you should be able to call 999 in an emergency but unfortunately we're all tied up either queuing at hospital, with the worried well/the check ups/the chronic symptoms already seen Dr but think we can expedite their referral, and the regulars that absorb out entire capacity to respond in an emergencies - literally calling back again the second the ambulance crew leaves and the service is so risk adverse they will eventually send again - multiple houses getting 4-5 ambulance visits, every day - despite already having convictions for wasting emergency service time - each attendance can take up 1-2 hours generally - with no benefit to anyone.

I mention this a lot on here, but it's just because I've been a witness to so much avoidable harm. It's the best public service advice I can give - if you think you or someone youre with is having a life threatening emergency - and you can make your way to hospital, then can you really afford to wait for an ambulance?

It really is a such a common occurrence for me to personally witness, or colleague on station to have a story that essentially is " if they hadn't waited for the ambulance they would have had a much better outcome". And you hear that story thinking - today I've been sent to an infected toe, a sore throat, an anxiety attack, migraine, a cough... Not issued any treatment to anyone at all just given advice - yet someone was out their waiting having a seizure, had a stroke, chest pain barely breathing.

OP, I truly think it's not only inadvisable but also thoroughly irresponsible to make your own way to hospital. What if you collapsed in some poor taxi driver's car, or next to someone on the bus, or someone found you lying in the street? What do you think the effect on them would be? My mother used to do things like this because she "didn't want to make a fuss" (she said) and inevitably caused far more fuss and stress for others (and got far more attention) because she'd left it too late etc.
You've been told very clearly by a medical professional that you must call an ambulance and that you must not make your own way to hospital. Why did you expect anyone on here to tell you different? And why won't you just take the advice you've already been given?

DS has had some episodes of this. The purpose of calling an ambulance is mainly to try and get an ECG whilst it's still happening, although this does presuppose that an ambulance will arrive in a few minutes. You do still need to go to hospital though.

This is where chat forums aren't always a good thing.

A verified health professional has told you face to face...."You categorically must call an ambulance next time and if you're in SVT then you should never risk going on a bus or taxi to hospital yourself etc."

And here you are on the internet asking random strangers if you should make your own way to A&E 😑

What's the point? What makes you think the advice here will be better than the advice you were given face to face?

It's really telling how different medical advice can be (I'm guessing you're a paramedic?)

I have SVT and prolonged QT. By heart rate has seen 300bpm and my cardiologist always said any episodes with pulse rate 180 and over 3 mins or over call 999.

I've had adenosine and I've had adenosine that didn't work and I had to be cardioverted. If I left it 20 minutes I would (and have) collapsed. I couldnt drive for a year until it was under control.

im on meds for life and have an implant in my heart but will occasionally get spikes roughly once a year which my verapramil won't touch and it does not go away until I'm in hospital so waiting the 20 minutes wouldn't do a thing for me.

I guess the advice is different for each patient and perhaps the type of SVT maybe?

Adenosine isn't carried by UK ambulance services. We try the typical things like drink some ice cold water, hand stand, blow into a syringe... If those don't work drop you off to see the Drs.

Personally I'd only recommend ambulance if you feel very unwell in episode/like you might collapse/short of breath etc. Our response times are typically 2-3 hours for cat2 which chest pain/palpitations with dizzy/collapse/sob will code as - so if someone can run you upto a&e you'll be seen by the Drs much earlier than by 999.

Yes I would call an ambulance Not likely but they can give you Adenosine to slow your heart rate on the way if necessary
My friend had an ICD fitted for SVT

Jumping on a relatively old thread as I have been diagnosed with SVT recently so just did a search.
I’ve been having short episodes for a year or so now but put it down to perimenopause. The episode that got me diagnosed lasted an hour and heart rate was over 200bpm
FWIW the dr at the hospital said if an episode lasts more than 20 mins to call an ambulance.

I have had this for thirty years and the only time I went to A&E was to get it diagnosed. Some of these posts are a bit concerning although @SleepyRich is reassuring. I even had a job interview once with SVT! I do get it more 'mildly' I guess, pulse about 140 but it carries on for several hours before going away. I do think stress/caffeine/alcohol make it come on so have tried to reduce those but not completely successfully obviously.

I don't believe many would ask a patient to drive themselves in, normally we'd ask if there's any family/friends or a taxi that could take you.

If a patient is alone/so sick they cannot stand or they're unconscious etc they'll just have to wait their turn. Many of these patients unfortunately die before we arrive (or the excessive delay means they arrive too late at hospital for the treatment window - stroke window for treatment is 4.5hours, heart attack about 12hours - but every minute means more brain or heart will die). That's why the pressure is on to get the ?heart attack patient to hospital whilst they're still walking/talking and get the tests/treatment before things progress.

To highlight how bad it is/why people need to call 999 'just in case' we go on escalation once or twice a week now where hospitals are told they have just 45minutes to take a handover from ambulance staff after this the patient gets left in the front of the nurses station without any handover regardless of how sick they are - we are not allowed to clinically override the plan - so the confused patient whos had a stroke, waited the 1-2 hours at home for the ambulance, waited in the carpark for 45mins, then gets left in front of the nurses station without any handover to hospital staff. It's only done when demand is at an extreme level but clearly with demand increasing it's going to become more of the new normal.

but the other way round - if you drive yourself in a medical emergency and have an accident you will be in deep shit with the insurance.

Yes also this, my cardiologist says the 3 minute rule too.

It's there for a reason OP.

OP I have SVT. It absolutely CAN be life threatening, I have no idea why no one's told you that it isn't?

I've had to be put back into a normal sinus rhythm via cardioversion when adenosine didn't work. My heart also stopped (rare) when I had an SVT run that ended in a VT.

It's rare, but if left to its own decides there's a risk of ventricular tachycardia and then VF. Then you're on deaths door.

I have an implant in my heart now and I'm on meds for life. I also have a second heart condition called prolonged QT and the two although separate heart conditions, can aggravate each other. I normally manage at home but probably once a year I have a bad SVT run and my husband calls 999. If your SVT is anything like mine (up to 300bpm) then 999 is absolutely the right way to go.

I would think the very opposite. You don't mess around with heart, or anything immediately life threatening and don't have the luxury of hours waiting for an ambulance, you get to hospital ASAP. The ambulance service has become a glorified taxi for people who can wait for hours.

Of course the advice is to call an ambulance. It’s the same for my daughter. But it takes them 45 mins to rock up by which time I’ve already called ahead, parked up and she’s in resus with an iv in.

they always tell me we should have gone by ambulance because it’s arse covering. But the reality is it’s much quicker for me to drive

now if she had episodes of syncope with it then I would wait for an an ambulance

My husband has AF (usually around 200 bpm too) and they’ve also advised him to go back to a&e every time he has an episode lasting a few minutes or more. They said he should be calling an ambulance as it’s safer than making his own way there, however every time it’s happened so far he’s been close by so I’ve driven him there and they take him straight through

It is quite serious, and although not as serious as ventricular tachycardia, it can cause symptoms if very fast, prolonged, low Bp etc.
Definitely ambulance is appropriate- unfortunately they are slow atm

@MisunderstoodNettles well the fact that you feel fine is all that matters and you've got some great advice for the future if you ever need it which hopefully you won't!!

@MisunderstoodNettles how are you?

Excellent advice

Can I just suggest, and I'm not gonna even deny that I have not RTFT in future please ring 111?

I work for the ambulance service and the 111 staff will absolutely direct you to what you need based on your symptoms and medical history. I hope you're feeling okay now.