PSVT & surgery?

[nicoleford12]

Hi, there. I am a 20 year old female suffering from PSVT. It was incredibly random how it happened. I went into the ER after having a fever of 104 for 5 days. On the 5th day, I noticed white puss balls on the back of my throat & just felt miserable in general, so I went to the ER. The nurse in triage took all of my vitals & admitted me into acute care. After being hooked up to a heart monitor for SIX HOURS before ever being seen by an actual doctor, although my male nurse was adorable, I finally got tested for strep, mono, H1N1, everything. All tests were negative for infection. Then the male nurse said, "Hmm, your heartrate is mighty high. I'll send the doctor in." After being checked out by the doctor, he said, "Wow. Your heart is going crazy & I'm very concerned about that kind of a rate." He sent me in for a CAT scan with an iodine contrast to check for clotting. The iodine contrast was MISERABLE, by the way. I felt like my body was on fire & that I was peeing myself, literally. It was awful. Anyway, once the CAT scan was done, they wheeled me back to my room & waited on the results. I was laying on the bed (mom was sitting on the chair infront of me) & I suddenly felt like my heart dropped. You know when you're on a rollercoaster & you drop to the bottom? Or you get some REALLY bad news? That's what it felt like. I turned around to look at my monitor & my oxygen level was at 0 & completely flat-lined. All of the alarms on the monitor were going off & flashing red. My heartrate had jumped from 154 to 282. EIGHT, count 'em, EIGHT doctors came running in & asked me to lay down & did an EKG. I remember one of the doctors saying, "I can see her pulse bulging from her neck." At this point, I'm thinking I'm dying & I'm waiting for them to shock me with those paddle thingies. They said my EKG was totally normal & I had some great P waves. Yay. Then I got some nice relaxing drugs through my IV & I was asleep in about 30 seconds. A few minutes later, doc came in & said, "Sorry, but you're sticking with us for a few days. We legally can't send you home with this kind of a heartrate." I was admitted into Critical Care for 3 days & I was the youngest patient in there by about 80 years. On my 2nd night in CCU, I woke up at 3am literally FREEZING. I was chattering, shaking, & my fingers were purple. I was incredibly nauseated & dizzy, even though I was laying in the bed. The nurse came in & asked me if I was ok because my heartrate had gone from 74 to 205. I got another EKG & all was normal. Got some more drugs & went back to sleep. On day 3, I was told that I could go home with a Holter monitor & needed to relax for a few days. I did just that but still had an episode of a racing heart about once or twice a day. When I was finished with my Holter monitor, I returned it & waited for the results from my PCP. Two weeks later, my PCP calls me in for a follow-up & tells me, "I'm putting you on Atenolol." He never told me the results of my monitor even though I asked. He told me that he didn't have "access to that hospital." Whatever. So I had another follow-up with a cardiologist. Once I was there, her PA was listening to my heart & said he heard some "unusual rhythms." Okie doke... then the cardiologist comes in, asks me how I've been feeling, if I'm addicted to caffeine, starving myself, getting too anxious or stressed, or if I might have "white coat syndrome." I tell her no to all of the above & as I'm sitting in the chair, I can feel my heart going nuts so I ask her to listen to it. She does & says, "Very interesting." She asks me if I've been fainting at all lately. I admitted that I did faint while shopping in Target but that I really don't remember much else. She shot her PA a very concerned look & said, "PSVT. Order an event monitor. No therapy till firm diagnosis & clear echo." At this point, I'm thinking I'm dying again. I ask her if I'm ok to exercise, have a Starbucks now & then, go to Disney & ride the rides, live my life in general. She says, "Yes. You are young & you have a young heart. It's likely that you've been living with this your whole life & didn't know until you were hooked up to a monitor. If you were 60, I'd be concerned. But you're 20 & your heart can handle it. We'll order a 2D Echo just to be sure." So a month later, I get my 2D Echo & I find "all results normal." YAY! Then, I had a few episodes while wearing my monitor & my cardiologist said my EKG strips were "totally normal other than the fast rate." So we have no idea what's going on with me. No family history of heart problems at all. I don't smoke, I don't drink, never done a single drug in my entire life, I exercise regularly, blah blah blah. No clue.

Anyway, I got breast implants in 2008 & I'm ready for a new pair. An "upgrade" so to speak. I'm wondering if it's ok for me to undergo surgery again when no one knows what's wrong with me other than PSVT. Any takers?

[chuparosa]

Not sure what was unnecessary about my comments and I did not jump to any conclusions. 20 simply seemed very young to me and 2 surgeries at such a young age seemed very surprising and frightening to me. I wouldn't have had the courage, at 20, to have one surgery nevermind consider a second. Just my opinion. This is a forum of opinions. Meant no harm.

[nicoleford12]

Thanks for your response :) Of course, I am going to wait until I can find out what's going on before I go through a second breast surgery. I did fine with the first one (in & out in 20 minutes) but that was in 2008. I will wait till I know :)

As for the Atenolol, that's another issue in itself. My PCP that prescribed it... what a joke. I hadn't seen him since 2007, so this was my first time seeing him in 2 years. He asked me if I was on any medication & I told him no. He asked if I was on birth control & I also said no. I was on Depo for 2 years & it nearly killed me. I DON'T DO BIRTH CONTROL. I believe it messes with Mother Nature & I'm actually smart enough with my cycle to know when I should/shouldn't be having sex. Anyway, he asked me if I was in a monogamous relationship & I said yes. He asked me where my significant other is & I told him that he was on tour (he's in a well-known band). The doc asked me, "Oh, so how many girls do you think he's sleeping with over there?" I swear I could've slapped his face off but I just wanted to get the news on my heart & get out of there. He suggested that I get on birth control because he "doesn't want me to call him with regrets when I get pregnant." I told him NO THANK YOU. He then asked, "Is there any chance that you could be pregnant?" And I said, "Yes, but I am due for my period any day now." He made a note & then moved on. He then asked me if I had ever had surgery & I told him yes (breasts & wisdom teeth). He asked, "How big are your implants?" And that was my cue to step out...

Three days later, one of his nurses calls me & says that the doc has prescribed Atenolol & that I can pick it up later that day. I picked it up, read the informational sheet like 7 times, got freaked out, & decided to wait until I could be with someone to take it so I wouldn't be alone incase I had an adverse reaction to it. I hate meds. Anyway, I started taking it at night & it would literally put me in a coma. I slept for 18 hours each time I took it. I was really sluggish & felt like crap.

About a week later, I found out I was pregnant. REALLY exciting news for us as we were trying pretty hard to get pregnant. I called the doc, told him I was pregnant, & asked if I could stop taking the Atenolol. He said yes & hung up on me. I felt pretty good other than throwing up every hour & having a craving to eat grass.

Another week later, I miscarried. I made an emergency appointment to my OB to confirm the miscarriage. We talked about everything under the sun & when I brought up Atenolol, his face went white & he said, "You're kidding me. Who prescribed you that?" I told him that my PCP had given it to me. He then asked if my PCP had performed a pregnancy test first & I said no, he did not. Needless to say, my OB was ENRAGED & suggested that I sue my PCP for malpractice. He believes that the Atenolol is what caused my miscarriage & that it should never be prescribed without a pregnancy test first.

So that's another crappy thing on my Sh*t List.

PSVT has been pretty calm lately. Although I do have some pretty crazy PTSD when I watch Discovery Health Channel or hear anything go off that sounds like a heart monitor. Hello, anxiety attack.

[nicoleford12]

Thanks for your response. It's been a wild ride & only a month since my PSVT first started. I forgot to mention another experience that I had with it. I shot out of bed at 4am & ran to the bathroom to vomit, but no vomit came. I was extremely nauseated & my legs were shaking so horribly that I had to sit on the edge of the tub to prevent from fainting. My heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it. My hubby came running in to make sure I was ok & he rubbed my back to try to calm me down. Within 3 minutes, it was gone. Very bizarre.

I have a cardiologist friend who thinks that my PSVT was brought on by an infection. I told him about my gums being swollen, blood red, ***** white balls on throat, 104 fever --- he said, "You know, I see this a lot in infants. Their hearts will start to race to try to fight off infection. It's possible that your body was doing the same." Good point, I suppose. I've never felt PSVT before until I was sick in the hospital. He also said the PSVT is most common in thin young women, but that's just a statistic.

When I was 17, I graduated high school a year early & moved out-of-state to attend college. I missed home a lot & was miserable at my new school. I began a cycle of anorexia, where I got down to 79 lbs. I'm only 5'2", so I can get away with being fairly thin, but I know 79 was TOO thin. I would go days without eating anything other than yogurt. I often wonder if that did any permanent damage to my heart.

[nicoleford12]

Oh & as for the infection, I wondered the same thing. I was sick for 5 days with that kind of fever. My gums were blood red & swollen & I couldn't even get up to take a shower. I was tested for everything & all was negative. It's possible that I waited to test too long, since I didn't go to the ER until the 5th day, & the infection was on it's way out.

[nicoleford12]

You didn't even ask why I wanted to undergo a second surgery for my breasts. It's better to ask than to jump to conclusions...

[cindy707]

Hi i read your post and want to say first off to chuparosa without offending her that the second line of her post was un=necessary...to each his/her own in this world and what may work for Nicole may not be your thing but that isn't why any of us are here....we are here to address the medical issues that nicole has and she definately has concern that is warranted on going thru a major surgery with what is going on.  Nicole i pretty much agree with ireneo on this one.  I wouldn't even consider untaking a major surgery of any kind at all until this is fixed or modified for you.  I 100% agree that you seriously need to find another heart doc that you can count on and not have you racing all over the place.  For any hospital to tell you "its not legal" is totally baloney...they were probably looking out for your best interest however.  Anyone can sign out of any hospital signing out AMA or against medical advice.  I doubt i have ever read a post that was more confusing and erratic as yours was in regards to your treatment and what was said to you.  Whatever city you live in you need to post it on this site so that other members can possibly recommend a tried and true heart doc in your area.  You need a doc to do an EP study of your heart to see if you are a candidate for an ablation.....altho atenolol is a great beta blocker and actually pretty good for our system because being 20 i would think you may want a permanent fix on this one.  You have all kinds of docs and medical facilities givng you mixed signals, mixed diagnosis, mixed everything.  Do yourself a favor my friend and find one single heart doc that does it all.......diagnoses, EP Mapping, Ablations, Surgery, all of it so that you can move on with your life.  Don't even think about the surgery until you know whats going on because going under a general anest. can do some tricky things to our bodies and why take the chance?  Good luck and let us know how you do okay?  As far as what was at the back of your throat it could have been absolutely anything, strep, dental, reaction to food......but i do agree w. chuparosa on that one...if there was a fever somewhere in your body you had something there that didn't belong there......

[chuparosa]

What a minute... You had a 104 degree fever with white spots on your throat and no infection?!

I was also blown away that at 20 years old you are ready for a second round of breast surgery. Wow......

[ireneo]

I'll start by saying I've had PSVT all my life. The highest recorded rate I've had was 198 and that was after my ablations. My feeling is that anything over 200 should be dealt with, not just tell someone "you can handle it." At those rates you will feel terrible and have the chance of passing out. That can be dangerous especially if you happen to be driving at the time.

So, I would recommend getting another opinion. PSVT can be handled, improved, possibly cured if the cardio is interested enough to try. I had long episodes of PSVT where all I could do was lay down and wait it out. For me that was normal. I went about my business of living: worked, got married, had 3 kids. It wasn't until 10 years ago (I was 47) that a doctor cared enough to say, "Hey, I wouldn't live like that" and he sent me to an EP cardiologist. My heart still takes off racing now and then but usually it lasts less than a minute. All I have to do is stand still and wait. It kicks back to normal and away I go. Please - go see someone else.

As for the surgery - they need to know about the arrhythmia. They don't like surprises during surgery. They may hold off on it until your heart rate is controlled some how.

And I've had iodine contrast twice now in the past year. I didn't think it was so bad. Just very weird. It felt like someone was pouring warm water over my hoo-ha. LOL As for feeling warm, I have hot flashes so it's no big deal for me. :-)