'Arrythmia storms'

[misdee]

excuse my spellings. Peter raised concerns today about his 2nd epiisode of bad VT since xmas. the person testing his ICD said it could be a spate of arrythmia storms, and they could pass quickly. has anyone else on here experienced similar states of irregular heartbeats all in a short perios then been fine for ages afetrwards? his last lot of these was early 2005, then towards the end but he was very ill then and fighting a virus.

he has an ICD, which shocked him last night to get him back into rhythm again. i think it paces as well, but he has all his info with him att he hospitalso cant check.

ICD's automatically incorporate a pacemaker.

How is he now misdee?

he is fed up. stil lat harefield,

i dont think he is coming home tonight

How worrying for you all. You cope incredibly well.

I've never heard of the expression 'arrythmia storms'.

neither had i, which is why i was asking

me thinks they are fobbing him off.

Misdee, my Dad ha episodes of these VTs (up to about 220-240, I think). He is on full-dose beta-blockers to (try) to keep it in check until he sees specialists at UCL next month. They are thinking he has something called ARVC, which is very rare. From what I've learnt over the last couple of years, arrythmias can be present as a symptom of many heart conditions, or even can exist for no reason. But I do know they are common in a heart which has cardiomyopathy (which is what they think is wrong with my dad) - is that something Peter has?
Dinny x

Oh God, misdee, I hope he feels better soon!

sending you every best wish and hug going

dinny, Peter has dilated cardiomyopathy. he has had it for 5yrs in april, and is still in end stage heart failure

yes, have a feeling this ARVC is something in the same 'family' - the heart muscle turns all fibrous and can't pump properly. and that in turn causes arrythmias

is DC thought to be familial?

it can be. my dd's have all been checked and appear to be clear, dd1 does have a leaky mitral valve, and both dd1+2 have murmurs, but thats nothing.

misdee, i have something similar, supra ventricular tachycardia, was born with an extra nerve inside my heart which short circuits from time to time. it will all of a sudden go from normal rate, stop for a second, then start beating at around 200bpm. this can last for a few seconds, a few minutes, even a few hours sometimes. it stops as quickly as it starts and goes normal again, if i can get it to stop naturally. if i have to take verapamil, it slows down gradually back to a normal pace which is actually more scary, its a really odd feeling your heart gradually beating slower and slower.

while the svt is happening, i tend to go very pale and my lips go blueish, and to answer your question, as soon as its stopped, i'm fine, back to normal, almost instantainiously. it doesn't happen very often nowadays but is more likely to occur when i'm ill or under stress. i tried beta blockers, but they actually made it worse not better. hope this helps in some way, i really do sympathise with what you, peter and the girls have to live wiht every day at the moment.

glad the girls look like they're OK, Misdee. am terrified of my dad being diagnosed, in a way, as until then I'm not letting myself think about the implications.

I didn't know Peter had gone back into hospital - how long ago did that happen?

have you had an ablation/s, Lucykate? my dad absolutely hates his beta-blockers too.

i haven't had an ablation but have been offered one. atm not having any problems with it, but if i do in the future, will definatley have one done

he was rushed in at 1.30 this morning as the ICD went off. just heard he is on his way home

oh, excellent - so glad he's on way back to you! hope you have a peaceful night