Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT)
This heart condition causes your heart to beat abnormally fast at any time. This condition is completely unpredictable which can cause a lot of inconvenience. Mine is normally triggered when I bend down (nightmare when my husband wants to ben.... no we won't go there!).
My first episode of SVT happened when I was 18 years old, I remember vividly being in a service users home (I was a community carer, not an escort!). I bent over to get something out of the fridge and BANG, my chest felt like I had boxer was doing a touch of speedball training! I only found out 6 years later that in SVT my heart was actually beating at 265 BPM!
From 2008 until 2014, I was under a cardiologist (keep it clean guys, keep it clean!) and for those 6 years I was "suspected" to have SVT. They couldn't formally diagnose me until they had recorded an episode on tape. Totally makes sense but that also meant I couldn't have any treatment until this point. On multiple occasions, mainly when I was doing my weekly shop, an ambulance would be called due to an attack brought on from bending down to get something from the bottom shelf. Now, when this happened two things always happened when an ambulance was called:
Number one: From 2012 onwards, I was always doing the shopping on my own with my daughter.
Number two: The SVT would always stop by the time the paramedics hooked me up to an ECG!!!! This meant every time we failed to catch it for evidence to diagnose me!
The sad part about being alone with my daughter so many times when this happened was that, by the time she was just over two she had become so accustom to these paramedics and ambulances that she would willingly go to a paramedic to be put in the ambulance with me. The worst day for me as mum though, was the day I went to collect a prescription. I went to the counter and they invited me to take a seat whilst they prepared my prescription. I took a seat and my daughter at just over 2 years old sat in the seat next to me and said.... "mummy?, are we waiting for an ambulance?" My fucking heart shattered into a million pieces that day! At 23 years of age I had a 2 year old daughter that accepted that this was normal!
In 2014, I was fitted with my one hundredth heart monitor, this time it was fitted for 2 weeks. Hallefuckinglujah we caught an episode on tape! When it was analysed even the Doctor was shocked to see how fast my heart had been beating. Finally I was put on the waiting list to have a catheter ablation, and started on beta blockers whilst I waited for surgery.
The first beta blocker I was given was good ol' Bisoprolol, this gave my THE most horrific nightmares so I barely slept. After a week or two I couldn't tolerate anymore and was changed to Propranolol, this caused insomnia and I was managing to sleep about 1 hour a night. Not ideal when I was working full time and looking after a two year old! At this point I said no more I'll just wait for the ablation.
Ablation day came and although the consultant explained he had struggled to stimulate my heart in to SVT in order to burn the electrical pathway, once he had it was successful and he was happy. He said if you don't experience SVT in the 6 weeks post ablation you won't experience one again. FAB! Oh hindsight wouldn't you have been a fabulous thing to have before all of this?! One week post op is when I was taken to hospital with PoTS symptoms and my journey with PoTS began. Then 3 months later (over 6 weeks post op) I had another SVT attack! FANBLOODYTASTIC! So not only have I developed a chronic illness due to the trauma of the operation but the SVT was back so there was absolutely no point to the operation and had I not had the surgery I would have been living with only one heart condition rather than two.
On Tuesday this week I decided to hang up my student hat for the day and enjoy a day with a friend! We have become those friends that only have days off together probably once every 6 months due to various commitments. So Tuesday we thought we would have an Ikea day. LOVE an Ikea day! My husband... not quite so happy when I say I'm going to Ikea, he says you buy things we don't need... he doesn't lie! And he wasn't wrong on this occasion either! I bought meatballs though so I think I just about managed to stay in his good books?
It was so nice to walk around Ikea after such a recent relapse of PoTS, I mean it would have been more enjoyable if child number two hadn't developed the shits and had me running back and forth to the toilet praying she wasn't leaking liquid ass out her nappy!
A nice day, was very suddenly turned on its head when I had an SVT attack as I walked into the Ikea cafe. I had Flow feel my pulse just so she could feel just how fast my heart beats in SVT but that sent her into a panic, insisting I sit down right away (practically shoving me into a chair actually!). I don't want attention being drawn to me so I sit in the chair with my head in my hands, hoping if I couldn't see anyone they couldn't see me?? No such luck, to the side of me I hear "Shall I call you an ambulance?".
Now I couldn't even bring myself to lift my head out of my hands because I would have given her the look. Lets bring this into context, I am simply sat in a chair with my head in my hands and that is it, I could of just found out my fish died and she's asking me if I want an ambulance. Do I want you to ring a fucking ambulance Jackie?! (Honestly I appreciate the concern) but you know she's that person that rings 999 because she's stubbed her toe isn't she?! I wasn't unconscious, I wasn't gasping for air or turning blue, I wasn't even clutching at my chest. I kindly declined the offer of the ambulance, and proceeded to go and get our meatballs for lunch as Flow gets hangry!
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