Has anyone had this?

Hi all. Can anyone help with this? For the last few weeks I've been getting these very strange episodes. I'm sitting at my desk at work when suddenly my heart starts racing & I get really fast palpitations. Each episode lasts a few minutes. Never experienced this before (I don't have a pacemaker -yet).

My EP thinks my arrhythmia may be coming back & is investigating but with that I usually get a fast heart rate on exertion (I had an ablation for atrial tachycardia last July). These episodes I've been getting are totally different to what I've had before & quite alarming. Does anyone else get this sort of thing happening? I don't understand why my heart suddenly starts racing when I'm sitting at my desk.

Pookie...thank you for your replies the other day. Isotonic drinks are like sports drinks, so my EP said. They have salts in, they are like rehydrating drinks. I haven't tried any yet.
Also, you mentioned Junctional Rhythm...what is this? I think I've seen the name somewhere but I have no idea what it is. Please can you let me know? Thanks.

Best wishes
Janey

4 Comments

Tachycardia?

by agelbert - 2011-01-06 06:01:18

This info may help:
Definition of Tachycardia
The heart normally beats at a rate of about 60 to 100 beats per minute at rest. A rate faster than 100 beats a minute in an adult is called tachycardia. Most people experience transient rapid heartbeats, called sinus tachycardia, as a normal response to excitement, anxiety, stress, or exercise. If tachycardia occurs at rest or without a logical cause, however, it is considered abnormal.


Description of Tachycardia
The two main types of tachycardia are abnormal supraventricular tachycardias (which originate in the upper chambers of the heart, the atria) and ventricular tachycardias (which originate in the lower chambers of the heart, the ventricles).

The most common forms of tachycardias are:


1. Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, which generally has a rate of 140 to 200 beats per minute, develops spontaneously, and stops and starts suddenly, but may recur

2. Atrial flutter, in which the atria beat at 240 to 300 beats per minute, although the actual pulse rate is much slower, because not all of these impulses are translated into contractions of the ventricles

3. Ventricular tachycardia, a very serious arrhythmia initiated in the ventricles, in which the heart rate is usually between 150 and 250

4. Atrial fibrillation (see Health Profile on Atrial Fibrillation).

Causes and Risk Factors of Tachycardia
Sinus tachycardias are most likely to occur in those who are easily excitable, suffer anxiety, or drink a lot of caffeine-containing beverages. They may also been seen in people with thyroid disease, with fevers, or with certain drugs (especially asthma and allergy medications).

The occurrence of tachycardias under any of these circumstances does not necessarily imply underlying heart disease.


More severe types of tachycardia tend to occur in those who have underlying heart disease. They may be caused by an electrical disturbance within the heart without an anatomic deformity, or by congenital defects, coronary artery disease, chronic disease of the heart valves, or chronic lung disease.


Tachycardias may also occur in the course of a heart attack (or myocardial infarction).



Symptoms of Tachycardia
The main symptom is awareness of a rapid heartbeat, commonly called "palpitations." Depending on the cause and extent of the tachycardia, other symptoms may include shortness of breath, dizziness, actual syncope (fainting), chest pain, and severe anxiety.



Diagnosis of Tachycardia
Your physician will take a complete medical history and perform a physical examination. Blood tests may be done. He or she may perform an electrocardiogram (EKG) or use a heart monitor to assess your heart's electrical activity.


Treatment of Tachycardia
Medical treatment depends on the cause and type of the tachycardia. Sinus tachycardias usually do not require treatment other than therapy for the underlying cause, if any. A supraventricular paroxysmal tachycardia may respond to certain simple maneuvers that your physician will explain to you. This may involve holding one's breath for a minute, bathing the face in cold water, or massaging the carotid artery in the neck. In other cases, medication may be prescribed to slow the heartbeat on a continual basis.

If tachycardia is severe, or arises from the ventricle, immediate injectable medication or electric shock (electroconversion) may be required to stimulate the heart to return to a normal rate. In rare, severe and resistant cases of ventricular tachycardias, a defibrillation device (AICD, similar to a pacemaker) may be implanted surgically to help maintain a normal heart rhythm.


In elderly people or those with underlying heart disease, it is important to treat tachycardias within a few hours, if at all possible, because a prolonged rapid rate may result in decreased heart function and complications.

Junctional Rhythm

by agelbert - 2011-01-06 06:01:51

Junctional rhythm describes an abnormal heart rhythm resulting from impulses coming from a locus of tissue in the area of the atrioventricular node, the "junction" between atria and ventricles.

Under normal conditions, the heart's sinoatrial node determines the rate by which the organ beats - in other words, it is the heart's "pacemaker." The electrical activity of sinus rhythm originates in the sinoatrial node and depolarizes the atria. Current then passes from the atria through the bundle of His, from which it travels along Purkinje fibers to reach and depolarize the ventricles. This sinus rhythm is important because it ensures that the heart's atria reliably contract before the ventricles.

In junctional rhythm, however, the sinoatrial node does not control the heart's rhythm - this can happen in the case of a block in conduction somewhere along the pathway described above. When this happens, the heart's atrioventricular node takes over as the pacemaker. In the case of a junctional rhythm, the atria will actually still contract before the ventricles; however, this does not happen by the normal pathway and instead is due to retrograde conduction (conduction comes from the ventricles or from the AV node into and through the atria).

Junctional rhythm can be diagnosed by looking at an EKG: an EKG exhibiting it usually presents without a P wave or with an inverted P wave. Occasionally the P wave will be retrograde, meaning appearing after the QRS complex.

Question

by ElectricFrank - 2011-01-06 11:01:42

What kind of magazines are you reading when this happens? LOL

frank

Junctional Rhythm

by Pookie - 2011-01-07 01:01:53

Another member of this site who also has JR, wrote this to me (and I'm so sorry, but I don't remember who)



You asked about a Junctional Rhythm and I’ll begin by defining it as it was explained to me.

In a normal heart the sinoatrial node or SA node sets the pace for your heart beats acting as the hearts pacemaker. The beat starts in the SA node then causes the atrium to beat. It then passes from the atria through the AV bundle, traveling along fibers to the ventrical causing the ventricle to contract thus pumping blood to your body. This is the “sinus rhythm” in which the atria contract before the ventricles.


In a junctional rhythm the SA node does not control the heart's rhythm. The heart's atrioventricular node takes over. (nature’s backup system) With a junctional rhythm, the atria will sometimes actually contract with the ventricle and try to pump against the closed valve.

The electrical impulses start at the junction between the atrial and the ventricle areas of the heart thus the term junctional rhythm.

When you’re in a junctional rhythm you feel terrible and experience hypotension (at least I do) along with an overall tired “nasty” feeling. The symptoms you describe the lack of energy, the fatigued, dizziness, shortness of breath, pain in the chest all go along with it.

I was diagnosed with orthostatic hypotension but that was incorrect. It wasn’t until they found the junctional rhythm that the truth finally came out.

To see if you’re in a junctional rhythm you’ll have to be hooked up to an EKG and your pacemaker inhibited (stopped) while the test is run. The EKG would show no P wave or very little if your rhythm is junctional.

A Holter would not pick it up because the spikes from your pacemaker cover it up. Hence the need to inhibit the pacemaker for a short time.


- from Pookie --> my Junctional Rhythm was gotten rid of by turning the Optimization feature OFF - it's part of the Rate Response. And I added 250mgs of Magnesium to my diet and cut most of my caffeine out and now I have my life back:) .... well, almost.

Hope this helps,
Pookie

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