Ventricular Tachicardia stimulated by vibration?

[Steve C]

Hello,
I am 56 years old and have been having episodes of VT over a number of years and 7 years ago I had an ICD implanted and prescribed Sotolol. I was diagnosed as having ARVC (ARVD in USA). Over the past 2.5 years the incidents of VT have increased considerably and I have had quite a number of shocks. In October 2005 I had ablation and was fairly well until last July. Last July I was pulling a hosepipe in the garden and went into VT and received a shock. Since that time I have had to be very careful not to exert myself. I have to walk very slowly and vehicles with hard suspension will trigger eptopic beats and then VT. The VT seems to be triggered by vibration rather than physical exertion.
For some time I experienced "discomfort" in my chest whenever I moved my left arm to my right side. My cardiologist was puzzled because the defibrillator was recording a huge number of incidents of AF however it was never seen on any routine ECG. Last August my cardiologist arranged for the defibrillator company representative to check the devise and settings. He found that the above mentioned arm movement was being recorded as AF and concluded that I have a faulty atrial lead. This discomfort was programmed out by altering the atrial lead sensitivity.
Please could you advise if the VT is triggered by my heart vibrating, the ICD vibrating or the faulty lead?
Have others had the same experience as me?
Many thanks
Steve

[Steve C]

Hi Mariop,
Thanks for your reply, you have given my somthing to think about.
When I said that vibration sets off VT in me I mean the external vibration of being driven along a bumpy road in a car with hard suspension and vibration from walking. This has happened to me several times.
Thanks for the  web site, I will have a look at it.
Regards
Steve

[mariop]

I also have this condition (ARVD) and I'm just beginning to research it.  My understanding is that the focal spots regrow and ablations become useless.  Obviously in your case it worked for 8 months and now it seems they are back.  The  method of treatment is drugs; and we know they all have their own side effects.  I'm on quinidine gl, ( three weeks) which appears to work for now.

My understanding is that exercise or stress accellerates the infiltration of the heart muscle by the fatty/fibrous tissue which creates those firing spots.  That is the reason why doctors do not want you to do any strenuous exercise.

As for triggers of the VTs, I've been told by my EP that they cannot be induced from outside the heart; it is all chemical, and not much is known about it.

Also the vibrations you experience maybe due to the settings of your ICD; your chest could be receiving some of the pulse of your pacemaker.  Anyway, you may want to post your question at this board since those people there all have ICDs.