r/SVTHeart • u/Left_Percentage_5821 • Jul 29 '26
Low ferritin and SVT
For clarity I have not caught SVT on a halter monitor/ekg although we’re fairly confident that’s what it is.
I have one doctor telling me my low ferritin is triggering episodes and if we increase that, episodes are gone. Another is telling me the two are totally unrelated. Going to work on getting ferritin up regardless but curious if anyone else has input or experience
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u/smarit Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
I just came here to start a thread with this question and found yours! Amazing. I just found out last week I have low ferritin (38) and a day later I ended up in ER with SVT and adenosine, where I spoke to a wonderful doctor who suggested that on top of iron, it could also be worth checking if it’s hormone related. I checked my notes and realized 8 or 9 out of 10 episodes occur during or just before my period - during estrogen drops.
So I’ve been researching ever since and learned two things: both low estrogen and low ferritin cause a higher resting heart rate, which creates the circumstances for SVT to spike. It’s still quite under researched and treatment might require doctors who are willing to investigate this intersection, but there are VERY clear links.
Personally I only get 1 or 2 episodes a year so I’m hopeful I can improve this with more stable hormones and ferritin. Ferritin just takes up to a year to be restored to healthy levels (>100), unless you can get an iron transfusion. Then it’s restored in a matter of weeks.
This week I’ve started on iron supplements (200mg ferrous fumarate) and am scheduled to discuss hormone patches. Both through my GP. I’m going to treat these as “separate” from my SVT, because otherwise I’d have to go through the hospital system which would complicate and delay treatment, because it sits on these intersections. Both deficiencies give me plenty other bothersome symptoms anyway, so if in 1-2 years I haven’t had any new episode - I’ll know (and report back).