My son has SVT Questions

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My 20 year old son was just diagnosed with SVT. He wore an event monitor for a month. It doesn't seem to be too severe as his only symptoms are a feeling of chest discomfort and the rapid heart beat. It has never lasted long.

I am waiting for the cardiologist to call me any words of wisdom, questions to ask him. I am an OB nurse so this is out of my realm!

Specializes in Cardiac.

My dh has this...it always happens in the mornings when he turns or leans a certain way. I understand the whole re-entry thing, but why does it always happen when he moves that certain way???? We went through every type of vagal manuever, and finally found that just taking a deep breath and holding it works almost instantly. Still-it makes me very worried. DH is 35 and this just started about 1 year ago...

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Specializes in acute care.
PegRNBSN said:
The EP told us that the extra pathway was the most probable cause of his SVT. He told my son he would recommend an ablation and would probably use cryo in his case. He said if he thought there was any danger of being too close to the AV node he does not do the ablation.

He basically told my son it was up to him if he wanted it treated or not. If he could stand living with it he could do nothing. He did tell him it was more likely to get worse than better or stay the same.

He left the office thinking he didn't want to have anything done, but that night he went running and had an episode that lasted 20 minutes. Although he knew it wasn't life threatening, he gets so anxious and I think curbs his activity that he now wants to have it done.

We are going to schedule it over his semester break so he has some time to reconsider if needed

Thanks for the info and concern!

Peg

Sounds like you got some good information. It sounds like he's making a good decision to have it done, if it's interfering with being active etc. That's not conducive to getting the proper amount of exercise for a healthy lifestyle.

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SVT is one of those things that many people treat as a nuisance. However, it also tends to get worse (i.e. more frequent and longer episodes) as time progresses. Eventually, most people get sick of dealing with it and wind up getting an ablation.

I'm glad he may get cryo. The fact that your EP is using it speaks volumes. It's painless and is MUCH safer than traditional RF energy (although RF really isn't that dangerous, really).

Good luck!

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I have had PSVT since I was 17. I'm on verapamil and considering an ablation before I have kids

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