My Heart Condition

When I was five I was diagnosed with a heart condition called SVT. I remember the first day I realized I was having an attack almost like it was yesterday. My grandpa was in the hospital and my mom and I went up to my grandparents’ house to check on the animals. I ate a chocolate chip cookie and then went outside and ran with the dog. When mom was ready to go, I thought my heart was beating fast because I had been running, so I didn’t say anything. But the whole car ride to the hospital to see my grandpa, it still was beating fast. Finally when we got to the hospital, I said “Mommy, my heart won’t stop beating fast.” She put her hand on my chest and she got a scared look on her face. She went to someone at either the front desk or grabbed a nurse, I’m not sure, but she had them try to take my pulse. Next thing I know, I’m in a wheelchair and being taken into a room. They hooked me up to all sorts of monitors, wrote things in charts, had me hold my breath, asked me questions and then gave me a shot. And my heart beat went back to normal. I remember my mom finally sitting down when they said it was back to normal. I can’t imagine how worried she must have been. I remember her thanking God that we just happened to be going to the hospital that day. That was the start of many hospital trips. We saw a specialist who didn’t practice in the area so we had to travel sometimes but he would come into town every 6 months or so too. I remember being hooked up to monitors that I had to wear at home for days at a time. I’ve had more EKGs and Echo’s than I could count.

So the technical meaning of Supra ventricular tachycardia is a rapid heart rate (tachycardia, or a heart rate above 100 beats per minute) that is caused by electrical impulses that originate above the heart's ventricles. Supra ventricular tachycardia is also called paroxysmal supra ventricular tachycardia and abbreviated either SVT or PSVT. Supra ventricular tachycardia can be found in healthy young children, in adolescents, and in some people with underlying heart disease. Most people who experience it live a normal life without restrictions. So far I have done so. Throughout my adolescent years I had several attacks but I learned how to control it and I’m even to the point now that I can tell when one is about to happen. Sometimes I have been able to avoid them. I am reminded every day that I have it though through what feels like skipped beats and heart flutters that I experience every now and then.

It limits what medicine I can take and how much caffiene and salt I can have but it never limited what I could/can do. I was very active when I was younger and played basketball and volleyball. I was a little slower than some and got out of breath quicker but it never stopped me from giving it my all. There are some scary aspects to this condition though. If I were unable to get the attack to stop on my own, there’s a possibility I could pass out. There’s also a possibility of my heart going into cardiac arrest if my heart muscle is weakened. But those are things I don’t think about because as long as I take measures to keep my heart healthy, they aren’t things I have to worry about.

Now you know a little more about me than you did a little bit ago! Have you ever known anyone with the same heart condition?