Wolff Parkinson White - do any other MN'ers have this?

[Tequilamockinbird]

I've recently been diagnosed with Wolff Parkinson White and had never heard about it before!

I've obviously looked into it now but just wondered if there are any other MN'ers with this?

Bump

Nobody?

Sorry I don't have this but I know a bit about it as am a nurse so have met/looked after patients with this and know a bit about the treatments etc. Probably not much help tho.... but will say one thing - dont google too much - just look at the British Heart Foundation website or patient.co.uk for info.

Thank you stagnant, I have been warned by my Consultant not to google it, not sure if that's a good thing or not really!

Do you know if it can be controlled with drugs? Or whether I'll have to have the catheter ablation? (I'm waiting for next consultant appointment to come through)

I have a friend who has this and her son. She had the ablation about 10 years ago and it changed her life! Her son was born with it (her 4th child all others clear) and he had a pacemaker as a young child in ds class at school and then had an op aged about 7 and is fit as a fiddle now. I have HCM which is simialr symptom wise but I am on medication as doctors not keen to do ablation as I have other health problems and they are erring on the side of caution.

Hi Tequila,
I know it's scary when someone tells you not to google something, + in my case just would make me want to google even more.... I think as healthcare professionals we say that all the time tho, not to try and protect people but just to avoid confusion.... there is SO much stuff available on all subjects health-related and I think the main concern is sites contradicting each other, causing confusion, but also with something like this you may find treatments in America, for example, differ to practice here.
I checked out the BHF website and couldnt find a great deal, although it was a fairly rushed look. The patient.co.uk website was a lot more informative, although in places quite technical. You could try phoning the BHF tho - they have a helpline number and may have a specific leaflet they could send you on WPW.
In answer to your question about the ablation - I think it depends on whether you are symptomatic or not... if you are not they may well adopt a watch-and-wait approach and just do regular ECGs/monitor your symptoms (if any).
If you are symptomatic, they may decide the ablation is the best way forward, the success rate for this is 95% according to patient.co.uk..... but I dont think is worth worrying/reading too much about the procedure unless you definitely need it. The only thing I will say is that patients that I have looked after following this procedure often say it wasnt nearly as bad as they thought it was going to be, and that probably the worse thing was having to lie still for what seems like a long time during and after the procedure.
Hope this helps a bit and doesnt seem like 'too much information'.
.

Thanks both.

It seems to be quite a rare thing and certainly nobody else in my family has it.

I will call the BHF Stagnant and see if they have any information they can send out to me.

I'm told that it is asymptomatic - I dont have any pain, dizziness, sickness etc, but I do feel the fluttering/thudding of these arrhythmias, sometimes a couple of times a day. I think this is possibly why the Consultant and GP dont seem all that worried about it!