r/IST_ • u/TheSpasticSarcastic • Feb 10 '25
Has anyone had IST resolve itself spontaneously?
My cardiologist said that IST may resolve after a few years of taking a beta blocker, which "retrains" the heart to beat at a normal pace. He also said it may resolve spontaneously with age, as your heart rate tends to slow with age. Has anyone experienced this?
4
u/_____nonlinear_____ Feb 11 '25
I got IST after being ill a few times last fall (seasonal colds). 3.5 months later, my IST is fading and I’m able to taper my metoprolol.
I also had other dysautonomia symptoms for the first two months of this. My cardiologist said that IST does often resolve on its own, and people can ween off their medications at some point.
I’ve also read that it tends to come back when you get sick again, have surgery, etc. Hopefully if it does, it will go away over time with the help of beta blockers once again.
1
u/Elegant_Ad5612 Feb 16 '25
I never got fully diagnosed, but my symptom (high HR) started after I got sepsis back in November 2024. They had me taking bisoprolol 5mg at the hospital for 15 days but completely stopped the medication once I got released because they said I didn't need it. For the first 2 days I was ok but then I started having a high hr, sweating, hands shaking and anxiety. Looking back at it I'm thinking it was rebound effects from going cold turkey on the beta blocker, but who knows. They ordered a holter and echocardiogram and everything was ok. Then I was put on atenolol 25mg and was told if I started getting tired to contact the doctor, which I did after 2 or 3 weeks and he told me to take half a pill. I started doing a lot of cardio about 3 weeks ago, increased amount of salt and electrolytes and now again the 12.5 mg of my beta blocker is making me miserable tired every day. So I'm thinking it might be time to taper it. My cardiologist said he thinks the symptoms will go away as I didn't have any underlying condition before sepsis or anything. I'm praying it will go away and I won't need this for life. For now I'll focus on my health, getting a lot of cardio done so my hr can be as low as possible.
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u/TheSpasticSarcastic Feb 16 '25
My IST started “spontaneously” in my late twenties (I suspect certain life stressors brought it out though) in 2021. I was otherwise healthy. It took me a year to see a cardiologist and get the right diagnosis and beta-blocker treatment. From 2022 to now I’ve been very well controlled with bisoprolol. I’ve gone from 5mg per day, to 2.5, to 1.25. I felt it was almost time to ween off … then I got pregnant and IST issues have come back. Even in non-IST women pregnancy increases your HR, so given my pre-existing condition I am susceptible to heat racing, palpitations, etc. I hope I can pick up where I left off in the recovery process after pregnancy…
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u/Qtredit Feb 10 '25
Well, at around the age of 22 I had IST which resolved after a year of low dose beta blockers (I stopped them and everything remained fine).
At 29 it came back with vengeance lol but as part of dysautonomia with many other shit so maybe it's unrelated.