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Pots and atrial flutter. Dual diagnosis. Do I have ablation?!?
Hi. I am new here. I have recently been diagnosed with pots type dysautonomia and also a form of super ventricular tachycardia most probably atrial flutter, so far as they can tell from the stress test ecg.
The tilt test didn't show "true pots" they said as no sustained increase in heart rate. Instead my heart rate went up and down. Each time it went up my blood pressure dipped and I felt faint. Then my body seemed to recover for a while till it all started again. However...I had been given beta blockers the day before in the hospital and they really affect me so the cardiologist thought the tilt may not have shown a true picture.
From my description to them of my symptoms they also believed that in addition to the pots I was suffering a separate arrhythmia. I have instances of extremely rapid heart rate where the heart misses a beat then races like the clappers, then misses a beat and goes back into a much slower rhythm. It doesn't come down gradually, it's more as if a switch has been hit. The cardio who admitted me to the hospital said this sounds like some form of super ventricular tachycardia. So they stopped my beta blockers for a full day before this time, unlike with the tilt test, and did a stress test.
As soon as I stood my heart rate shot up to 162 and the tech said "wow, she's straight into SVT". They got me on the treadmill and heart went up to 176 at slow walk. Still in some form of SVT. Then they made me cough - heart dropped straight into normal rhythm. I was very panicky during this test due to a lift mishap before it and did tell them this may skew the results some.
Two days later an electrophysiologist came to see me. The ecg shows probable atrial flutter and if not that then some form of arrhythmia coming from my atrial mode. As it was so significant he believes this is separate to the pots. He wants to ablate as he says atrial flutter gets worse ( mine has been) and Meds can only control it for so long. I said I was nervous because of ablation making pots worse and he said "I'm not ablating the pots, I'm going to ablate your atrial flutter."
So...do I go ahead? He has booked me in for the EP exam and I am very scared to make the pots worse but also this atrial flutter makes me feel vile as my heart goes up to 170-180 bpm with an attack. I also have low blood pressure so the beta blockers to control the atrial flutter are making me feel awful. They think my increased heart rate on standing of up to 124-130 from the pots type syndrome are on occasion then triggering the atrial flutter. I normally only get seconds or minutes in flutter, before it ends but it can happen four, five plus times a day and on occasion has lasted longer.
Any advice?
The tilt test didn't show "true pots" they said as no sustained increase in heart rate. Instead my heart rate went up and down. Each time it went up my blood pressure dipped and I felt faint. Then my body seemed to recover for a while till it all started again. However...I had been given beta blockers the day before in the hospital and they really affect me so the cardiologist thought the tilt may not have shown a true picture.
From my description to them of my symptoms they also believed that in addition to the pots I was suffering a separate arrhythmia. I have instances of extremely rapid heart rate where the heart misses a beat then races like the clappers, then misses a beat and goes back into a much slower rhythm. It doesn't come down gradually, it's more as if a switch has been hit. The cardio who admitted me to the hospital said this sounds like some form of super ventricular tachycardia. So they stopped my beta blockers for a full day before this time, unlike with the tilt test, and did a stress test.
As soon as I stood my heart rate shot up to 162 and the tech said "wow, she's straight into SVT". They got me on the treadmill and heart went up to 176 at slow walk. Still in some form of SVT. Then they made me cough - heart dropped straight into normal rhythm. I was very panicky during this test due to a lift mishap before it and did tell them this may skew the results some.
Two days later an electrophysiologist came to see me. The ecg shows probable atrial flutter and if not that then some form of arrhythmia coming from my atrial mode. As it was so significant he believes this is separate to the pots. He wants to ablate as he says atrial flutter gets worse ( mine has been) and Meds can only control it for so long. I said I was nervous because of ablation making pots worse and he said "I'm not ablating the pots, I'm going to ablate your atrial flutter."
So...do I go ahead? He has booked me in for the EP exam and I am very scared to make the pots worse but also this atrial flutter makes me feel vile as my heart goes up to 170-180 bpm with an attack. I also have low blood pressure so the beta blockers to control the atrial flutter are making me feel awful. They think my increased heart rate on standing of up to 124-130 from the pots type syndrome are on occasion then triggering the atrial flutter. I normally only get seconds or minutes in flutter, before it ends but it can happen four, five plus times a day and on occasion has lasted longer.
Any advice?
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