Sudden Heart Racing Attack/Sudden drop afterwards - Please help

[shasta0863]

I'd like to first thank anyone who can give me some clarity and thank you in advance. Because I'm scared out of my mind right now. I'm 23 year old male, normal shape and good weight. Good blood pressure.

I've had this issue before, and I usually get them 1-3 times a year, usually at night.

Well not this time, and this was possibly the worst one yet. Earlier yesterday at school I got it. I felt like I was going to die because of how my body was reacting. It starts with a tough time breathing. And not that I was struggling to suck in air, it was just like my throat or maybe the chest was constricted in some way, but didn't 'feel' like it if that makes sense. After a little while of the breathing problems, I suddenly get this odd feeling come across my body. Almost as if the blood had been drained out of me and it's just so difficult to describe what this feeling is. This feeling like the previous times, results to the next stage. And that is HUGE heart beat increase out of no where. This last maybe a 45 seconds to a minute and half( the max speed of it ) then it slows down big time, almost to point where I feel like it's going to stop since it's so slow. Then it goes back to a regular, but still elevated heart rate. I then feel very weak after it, I have some problems being able to speak as I feel so drained and my hands are shaking a bit ( I assume from the adrenaline being pumped as I am panicking of course. )


And that is usually it, I will recover, feel very odd like I just suffered a heart attack or something as my body has this feeling like I just recovered from some severe trauma ( which it basically it did ).

This time was quite worse as after the initial attack, and my heart rate slowed down, it started to raise again and I got the same weird feeling inside my gut almost as if it was going to give me the same attack twice. It luckily didn't. After that I started to recover, still feeling odd inside and my pulse still a little bit elevated. At home 45min later, feeling a tad better. My pulse is still a tad high, not much and I feel bit strange inside still, but I'm better. By now, I feel sore in my chest internally, almost as if it's bruised.

Is this just panic attacks or anxiety? Or are these signs of something else? I wen't in before ( many years ago ) about this issue and my heart checked out alright and I've had ekg monitor once years ago that showed nothing. Things could show different now, who knows. But does this sound like Anxiety/Panic attacks or is it something else?

I recently read about Supraventricular Tachycardia, and quite upset as this seems like it is what I'm having. I really hoped it wasn't serious, but these are so traumatic I can't possibly think it's something as simple as panic attacks.

Any help to ease my mind, I'd so greatly appreciate it.

I've got a GP scheduled in a few days but I just wanted to get some opinions or thoughts from anyone. Greatly need it.

[MichelleP_3811]

Sudden jumps in beats from normal to 200+ is classic svt caused by an accessory pathway or in other words and extra muscle fiber in the heart that allows for the heart signal to get caught in a loop.  The oddness you feel before and episode is likely ectopic beats, pacs or pvcs.  They are extra beats in the atria or ventricles that are not dangerous but they can trigger and svt episode when they hit at just the right time.  It is not likely your anxiety is causing this though anxiety can cause a rise in ectopic beats and since ectopic beats are a trigger you may have more svt episodes when you are stressed so handling stress will help you have less episodes but in general it isn't something you can just get rid of without an ablation to correct or essentially block that muscle fiber from being able to pass along a signal.  Though these episodes may be scary they will not kill you.  It is best that you try to manage them as best you can by getting them to stop within a decent amount of time but as Tom stated he made it to his 50s and I to my 40s before we got ours ablated and our hearts are still fine so try not to worry too much about the health of your heart.  Just focus on staying as heart healthy as you can, and learning vagal maneuvers to try and stop the episodes when they start like bearing down and holding your breath or drinking a cold glass of water.  I suspect once you see the EP I would not doubt that you will be offered and ablation to correct the issue once and for all.  It may be prudent to do so but you are welcome to talk that through once you get to that bridge.  Until then hold strong and try to not panic when your heart gets riled up.  Staying as calm as you can will help it not feel so intense and staying calm in general may help you minimize the amount of episodes you could wind up having.  Take care and try to not worry.  You are on a good path to get this all resolved.  Stay strong.

[shasta0863]

I'm still waiting to get into the specialist.

Since the initial attack as described in my OP I've had occasional ( which I never really had before like this ) issues. Ranging from heart flutters to almost like my OP symptoms. Just recently I had a strange feeling come over me, almost like my extremedies begin to kid cold and I start to feel ghostly and my heart felt like it was beating oddly, like perhaps the electrical signals were messing up causing some issue. Now my left side on my chest feels weird. It almost seems since the original attack I had, has caused these sub-effects ever sense which has me worried.

I also can't tell how much of my own anxiety or panic attacks are contributing to these episodes which is even worse. The unknown here is the problem.

If anyone saw my EKG above I'm not sure if anyone else thought it was odd or not that the machine would of thought I had synus rythm. The doctor said it wasn't that when he viewed the charts. I'll feel better once I get into the specialist and really figure this out.

[tom_h]

It's very normal to feel anxious or some panic when an episode.  I believe I felt that with every single one of the hundreds... perhaps over a thousands of SVT episodes during the 54 years that I had it.  But even the most severe panic attacks won't raise your heart rate to the typical levels seen with an SVT episode.  As I've told others, you really need to use common sense in determining what is occurring with your body.  SVT starts and ends abruptly.  It can occur while you sleep, while under physical stress, while you dine, watching TV, while having sex.  Listen to your body, and determine what exactly is going on.  If you do you'll soon know that what you're feeling is not anxiety or a panic attack.  My wife suffered from severe anxiety neurosis for many years, and would tell me how her heart would "race" during an attack.  Ilistened to her heart during one episode, and was surprised to see that it was about half of my topical SVT rate.  The problem is as littlegreenman said is capturing an event.  Most often an EKG at normal sinus rates will show nothing at all; just a perfect waveform.  Some physicians will stop there and diagnosis it as a panic attack.  The key to getting proper treatment is to capture SVT waveform.  A 30 day monitor is a valuable device to accomplish this.  Another method is to get to an ER or call the EMT's to get them to hook you up to record the event.  Once they have evidence, appropriate treatment can be administered.  Follow the steps above and learn how to terminate an event on your own, and your on your way to learning to live with it.  You can also do what Michelle, he and I did, and that was to get rid of it permanently thru cardiac ablation.

[shasta0863]

Thank you for your replies. It helps me more than you know. And thank you little for the steps they definitely brought me some comfort.

Here is my UPDATE:

He has determined from me telling my symptoms that it isn't a simple panic disorder or anxiety. He feels that anxiety or panic attacks could be attributed to this event. The event setting me off into a panic attack, which I'm sure is happening. The severity, and lack of better words, the fact I feel like I'm about to die during these episodes, especially when it goes from 200+ bpm to a point where I felt it was about to stop, is definitely a concern for me.

He believes it is SVT and as a preliminary thinks I will be fine, and it's nothing dangerous that he believes. To be safe, he is sending me to a Cardiologist ( an off branch actually that specifies in the electrical aspect )

https://imageshack.us/a/img62/5371/imag0386r.jpg

^ This is my EKG. As you might notice, it says Sinus rythm, possible old inferior infarct. He said this wasn't the case and was just triggered because it has the same abnormality those usually in their 70+ have if these have scarring. He said the dip, located on numeral II and left of the label aVL is too narrow, and if I truly had the triggered issue the machine stated, it would be much wider. He stated everyone ekg will be different and this is just my unique imprint. He said at my age and health, that this is definitely as he describes. I hope so.

This also matches an ekg I took years ago that I forgot about that noticed the same thing.

[littlegreenman1]

I don't "do panic attacks." I don't think panic disorder questions belong on the heart rhythm forum. Yours sounds like a classic SVT.

Here's what to do -

FIRST: don't panic. You're 100 times more likely to die driving like an idiot trying to get to the ER than from the condition. Yeah, first - chill.

SECOND: learn how to control it. You Googled SVT, now Google up some Valsava, Vagal Nerve Stimulation... learn that.

THIRD: Go see your primary care physician and have him order a 30 event monitor.  I know - he's going to want a 24 hour recorder first, and he's a doctor and I'm not and that's the way the process goes and it will find nothing. Unless you happen to have an event on the day. Then you'll go back and get the 30 day monitor. So, go down that path.

FOURTH: Get diagnosed. If it is SVT and only hits you a few times a year. I'd do *nothing*. (See "SECOND") I'd bet there's been hundreds of millions  who died peacefully of old age with (not because of) SVT.

[CFS56]

it could be a heart rhythm issue but it also could be a panic attack.  I have had panic attacks off and on for most of my life and sometimes the symptoms can be very dramatic, it took a lot of convincing to make me believe that was what was causing my symptoms.  That said, it's too easy to write things off to panic attacks.  You need to get checked out by a doctor and see what is going on. But your age, the fact you don't pass out when these episodes occur and when the tests were done they were all normal, is definitely in your favor.  Good luck.