Heart Disease Community

Hi:

"I have been experiencing high heart rates randomly"

Worth mentiong here, as applicable, there is a condition commonly known as supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) or paroxsymal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), which has various causes (or triggers), though sometimes it can be deemed as "idiopathic", no known cause, cause unknown.

PSVT typically causes a frightening burst/surge in heart/pulse rate that begins/starts and ends/stops suddenly (hence the term paroxsymal), which can last for just mere seconds or it can continue on for minutes to hours to days. SVT can send the heart into speeds up to 150-200 BPM, and sometimes, even as high as 300 BPM.

Symptoms that may/can occur with SVT, PSVT includes chest pain/discomfort/pressure/tightness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness/dizziness, and in uncommon to rare cases, syncope (temporary loss of consciousness, which includes passing out or fainting). Sometimes there can be no symptoms at all.

Also, as applicable, premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), the most common type, which has various causes or triggers, cardiac and non-cardiac in origin, are typically harmless, be it isolated (single), couplets (2-in-row), triplets (3-in-a-row) or salvos (short bursts of 3 or more in-a-row), bigeminy (occurring every other beat), trigeminy (occurring every third beat), quadrigeminy (occurring every fourth beat), etc., etc.

However, the main problem or concern (even more so, much more emphasized for those with certain major or serious heart conditions) with PVCs is if/when sustained ventricular tachycardia (runs of PVCs over 30 seconds) occurs. Symptoms that may/can occur wih PVCs includes none at all or the same as with SVT and PSVT.

"I am of course seeing a doctor, but difficult to diagnose without being able to duplicate it while visiting the doctor."

"Hoping to provide my doctor with better information, I am considering wearing a basic heart rate monitor to wear all day......"

To start, you could consider asking your dictor about wearing a Holter monitor, or as necessary, to use for a much longer period of time, an event recorder, or at the very extreme, a insertable cardiac monitor (ICM) , to capture/record an elusive/transient heart rhythm disturbance/problem, be it a fast, slow or irregular pattern.

Best of luck down the road of life.

Take care,

CardioStar*

WebMD member (since 8/99)

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Be well-informed

Heart Rhythm Society

Patient and Public Information Center

http://www.hrspatients.org/patients


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Calming the HEART

Techniques at home (as applicable to the patient)

Tighten stomach muscles. As soon as the heart starts to race, tighten the stomach muscles. This will cause the abdominal muscles to put pressure on a group of nerves that will tell the heart's electrical coduction system to slow down.

Chill. Take a deep, long breath and slowly let it out. Sometimes relaxation is all it takes to stop tachycardia. And deep breathing is frequently one of the fastest ways to relax.

Use common sense. Anything that speeds up the heart, caffeine and cigarettes, for example, can trigger a rapid heartbeat. So common sense says that if one is prone to tachycardia, one should avoid any substance that might give the heart an extra

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Quote!

"Be a questioning patient. TALK to your DOCTOR and ASK QUESTIONS. Studies show that patients who ask the most questions, and are most assertive, get the best results. Be vigilant and speak up!"

- Charles Inlander, People's Medical Society

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It's your future......be there.

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WebMD/WebMD forums does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

The medical Holter monitor or Event recorder (for longer term testing) from the doctor is really the way to go. These small EKG like records that you can wear for 24 hrs or more. And when you have a symptom you record the time and then the doctors can look at the heart rhythm at that time.

Exercise HR monitors can often have abnormal high and/or low readings from misadjusted belt, static from clothing, and electrical interference. So, unless you have used one for awhile you won't know which is a true heart rate change and which is a problem with the HR monitor.

Also the exercise HR monitors don't always record the correct hear rates from some type of abnormal heart rhythms.