Does NSVT feel like PVCs?

[andie3330]

Hi

Does anyone know what NSVT (4 or 5 beats) feels like? Does it feel like a very long PVC pause?  And, can you feel NSVT beats on your wrist pulse or is it like a PVC where there is not enough blood in the ventricle to make a perceptible pulse.

I usually notice the PVCs that I have. But, the other night I was taking my wrist pulse, which was about 70 BPM, but then I felt 5 quick beats and then my heart rate was back to normal.  I didn't feel anything different in my chest, I only noticed the difference in my wrist pulse.  If you notice PVCs, would you notice NSVT?

I would really appreciate any insight you might have. Thanks for reading my post. Andrea

[Momto3]

It feels something like this (the string in the middle is the nsvt)

0 0 0 0000000000 0 0 0 0 0

[andie3330]

So would you say that if I didn't feel anything unusual in my chest and that I just felt a momentarily fast but regular wrist pulse, that doesn't sound like NSVT to you? My wrist pulse was: 0     0     0     0     0 0 0 0 0     0     0     0     0

[Momto3]

When I have nsvt, it is not always strong.  It feels as though my heart is tumbling with no real rhythm.  It's as if my heart is tumbling after itself, like a bowl of jiggle jello.  Then, all of a sudden, it catches itself and goes back into a pattern.  When I listen with a stethoscope, there is no real pattern, just all jumbled.  If I place my hand over my heart, or check my pulse, it's the same thing.  Kinda tumbly, jittery, no rhythm.  There are no real beats until it kicks back into gear.  

[Brokenheartof4]

Hi! For 3 years I have been trying to find out what rhythm my heart went into when I had a major heart event. I came out of it before paramedics arrived. When I described it people said maybe afib. I wasn't convinced. But had no idea what it was. I've been searching for years trying to figure out what I experienced was and this sounds exactly like it. How are you now?

[Momto3]

Hi Brokenheartto4
I’m not sure your question was directed to me, but just in case… I am doing well, thanks.  After years of chronic PVCs, I had 2 ablutions in 2003, and now I only have occasional episodes.

You indicated a “major heart event.”  Are you referring to the arrhythmia, or was there something else going on?  I know it’s frustrating, but without a rhythm strip or some other way to verify the arrhythmia you experienced, you may never have a clear answer to what occurred at that time.  Did you have an echocardiogram, or did you wear any type of monitor to try a capture a subsequent event?  

[andie3330]

Thank you so much for your response. I'm going to call my cardiologist tomorrow, but I'm trying not to worry until then.  

From other posts I've read, it seems that NSVT is relatively benign in a otherwise healthy heart.  Is that what your doc says too?  I guess I just wonder if NSVT is likely to become sustained VT - or do the two conditions have different causes.

[Val46]

I CLEARLY feel the NSVT beats in my chest cavity.  My doc says that she can feel them in my pulse.  They are very strong and feel like the normal pvc's, just sequentially irregular strong beats.