Should I be worried about my fast heart rate?

[heyheyheyyy]

Hey!

im not using this as a replacement for medical advice- im going to see my consultant in the new year and will ask for clarification then. But just wondered in the meantime if anyone had any experience or knowledge about this? Just on the off chance anyone could offer any reassurance or wisdom

basically I’ve had multiple episodes of SVT and am waiting on an ablation. I’ve had lots of awful attacks this year- I can think of at least 10 instances in the last 6 months where my heart was beating at around 200 for long periods of time (6-8+ hours in some cases) before we could get it to go back to normal

Some doctors I’ve spoken to have said fast heart rates are harmless and that my heart beating that quickly won’t cause any damage. Others have said the opposite and that it can cause the heart to become thicker (or something along those lines) and if it’s going at 200+ for several hours then it can be extremely damaging and could cause heart failure

basically I don’t know if this is something I should be worried about or not - I’m going to speak to my consultant in the new year when I see him, but in the meantime I just wondered if anyone had any knowledge or experience about this or could offer any reassurance? The episodes are awful when they happen, and I hate it so much but it’s always reassuring when it goes back to normal again, but now I’m slightly concerned more on a long term basis in case these episodes are damaging my heart but every time I speak to a doctor they each say different things.

im wondering if it was more that it would cause damage if it was going that quickly for days and days at a time, and actually 8 hours in the grand scheme of things is not too dangerous? I don’t want to be worried about nothing and I don’t want to be be a drama queen, but at the same time I’m slightly worried from a long term point of view in case this is causing damage to my heart? But realistically if you ran a marathon or went to the gym your heart would beat 200 ish for hours so surely it can’t be too dangerous because otherwise athletes etc would have damaged hearts wouldn’t they?!

just wondered if anyone had any knowledge or reassurance at all before I see my consultant?

TYSM😊

Hi, I’m not an expert on this, but my brother had it. He had an ablation and has since been fine. Before the ablation, he hd a plan about what to do when he had an attack. He had to go to ED if it went on longer than a specified period and they got the heart rate back down again. Is this what you are doing?

if you are doing everything you need to, there’s probably not much point in worrying about if your heart might get a bit thicker or slightly damaged. I think it is only worth worrying if there is something you can do about it. Although that is easier said than done. Ask yourself if your behaviour would change depending on the risk to your heart. If you wouldn’t do anything different, there is no point in worrying about it.

Something to consider though, is who has been giving you this information? Doctors have different levels of knowledge about different things. A GP, an ED doctor and a cardiologist will all have their own ideas about risk depending on what they read/ studied/ worked in and when that was. I would listen to and trust a cardiologist more than an ED doctor in this circumstance.

Thank you so much, that’s really helpful.

yeah, I do similar. I try to get my heart back to normal by doing the valsalva and if it doesn’t fix it then I give it 30 mins - 1 hour. If it’s still not gone back to normal after this then I seek help

i know that things like alcohol and caffeine can cause problems but I avoid that anyway. Unfortunately I get episodes even without a trigger, it’s so frustrating.

I’m so glad your brother has been well since getting the ablation! X