From Cardiologists to Electrophysiologists.

Let's get a little sidetracked for a bit. Ever since I was in high school I would get these really scary heart palpitations, especially when I played tennis.  It was so scary.  In highschool, my coach sent me to the ER one day after practice to get checked after I had an episode.  The ER just said that my potassium was critically low, and my sodium was low.  So from then on, I ate more bananas and didn't think too much about it.  I mean, I was young so I didn't think it could be anything too serious or something to be concerned about. After high school  I lived with this for another 10 years or so.  When I started trying to have a baby, I decided to go see a cardiologist just to make sure everything was going to be ok.  The first thing they ask you is if you drink energy drinks.  They did an EKG and that came back normal.  So then the doctor ordered me to have a stress test done, and an echo of my heart.  Everything came back just fine.  So he then ordered me to wear a halter heart monitor for 48 hours to see if we could catch an episode on there.  Nothing.  The only thing that the monitor caught was when I took a flight of stairs, my heart beat an extra beat.  The doctor said this took place in the upper chambers of my heart so it was nothing to be concerned about.  He basically told me that I was "High-Strung" and that I needed to just chill out...

As time went on, I would continue to get episodes.  Some worse than others.  Not too often, but I still got them.  I knew this wasn't just anxiety.  I just dealt with it.  I mean, I'm young and they had already run all these test on me, what else was there to do?  So it was 4 years later since I had seen the cardiologist, and I was at the gym.  I was on the treadmill and did like a 20 minute jog or so.  I was feeling a little anxious and when I was done I was just walking around to cool off and lower my heartrate.  Then BOOM, an episode happened.  Since my heart was already beating so fast from running, it was so much more intense.  I sat on the mats and just tried to breathe it out like I usually do.  I really thought I was going to die.  I can usually break the episodes and I just couldn't break it.  One of the gym employees came to check on me and brought me some ice packs to cool off.  Finally after what seemed like an eternity, it was gone.  I sat on the mats for a while and just tried to relax.  When I felt ok, I immediately left to go home.  

All I could think about was how scary that episode was.  I just had a gut feeling that I needed to see another doctor.  What if that were to happen when I was pregnant or in labor!  I just couldn't bear the thought, I was now terrified.  This was NOT anxiety.  I knew I had something wrong with me.  I decided to get a second opinion and made an appointment with another cardiologist.  It was my dad's doctor and he is suppose to be one of the best in the business.   

So I meet up with Dr. Nadir Ali.  I was soooo nervous.  I had told my fertility doctor what was going on and he agree'd that it would be best to find out what is going on, especially because I could possibly be pregnant considering we were in the midst of a cycle.  (He didn't seem too worried though.)  So I sat there and explained to Dr. Ali what was going on.  He said that he would not be repeating any of the test I had previously taken, because at my age, nothing should have changed in a 4 year time span.  He said without hesitation.... "You have a classic case of SVT".  

SVT stands for Supraventricular Tachycardia.  This means that from time to time your heart beats very fast for a reason other than exercise, high fever, or stress. For most people who have SVT, the heart still works normally to pump blood through the body.  During an episode of SVT, the heart's electrical system doesn't work right, causing the heart to beat very fast.  Most episodes of SVT are caused by faulty electrical connections in the heart. 

What did that even mean?!?!  He asked me if I had ever been pregnant, and I said no.  Then he said that pregnancy puts a lot of pressure on the heart.   I just sat there so scared.  He drew some things up on a piece a paper for me and explained to me what SVT was. I asked him if this is something that I should be really concerned about and he told me that it is something that can be cured.  At that point, he told me that he was like the "plumber" of the heart, and I needed to see an "electrician" of the heart.... so now I was off to see an Electrophysiologist.