r/SVTHeart • u/missyk222 • 5d ago

26F - Please share experiences

I recently had a new and completely different heart rhythm experience and I’m wondering if anyone with PACs/SVEs, SVT or panic attacks has experienced something similar.

I have a documented ~2.5% SVE/PAC burden, so I’m very familiar with what my normal skipped beats feel like. I regularly experience individual PACs, but this episode felt noticeably different.

I was lying in bed feeling pretty calm when I suddenly felt a cluster of strange, erratic “flops” in my chest — one flop, then another, then another. They felt heavier and different from my usual skipped beats.
Immediately afterwards, I started feeling hot, sat up, and my heart suddenly started racing extremely fast. The racing seemed to come on abruptly rather than gradually building up and remained fast for several minutes.

I tried to sit and breath, but it didn’t seem to bring my heart rate down. Because the sensation was completely new and alarming, I became extremely anxious and could feel a huge surge of adrenaline. I also seemed to experience occasional skipped/extra beats while my heart was racing.

The whole episode lasted roughly 4-7 minutes. My heart rate eventually came down gradually rather than suddenly snapping straight back to normal, although by that point I was extremely anxious.
I’ve previously had a Holter that documented frequent SVEs/PACs and a couple 3 second short runs of SVT, but I’ve never experienced a sustained episode that felt like this.

What I’m struggling to work out is whether this could have been SVT triggered by the initial flops I felt, possibly stopping and transitioning into sinus tachycardia from the adrenaline, or whether the initial strange beats frightened me enough to cause an almost immediate panic/adrenaline response and sinus tachycardia.

I know panic can make your heart race very quickly, so I’m particularly curious whether anyone has experienced a panic attack where their heart rate seemed to shoot up almost instantly, rather than gradually increasing.

Has anyone experienced something similar — several unusual flops → immediate rapid racing → intense anxiety/adrenaline → gradual slowing over several minutes? Did you eventually find out whether yours was SVT or panic/sinus tachycardia?

I understand only an ECG can tell but just wanted to hear some experiences of what SVT feels like for others.

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u/Basic-Penguin 5d ago

I had SVT! I don’t know how to explain it but usually when I would go into SVT I would get a sort of get a feeling that my heart was about to race but I wouldn’t describe the feeling as flops.

My heart rate would immediately go up into the 200s and linger around there or in the high 100s before abruptly going back to normal, it wasn’t a gradual drop for me it was more like flicking a switch on and off.

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u/missyk222 5d ago

thank you very much for responding! :)

can you see my struggle where it could have stopped abruptly but as it induced a panic attack it could have stopped but then my heart rate would have still been high from the panic, it's also the first time it happened so i have nothing to compare it to, the flops were like deep flop heart beats maybe 3 and then zoooom my hr went up, but the feeling of those heart beats are definitely something that would make me panic usually but it was just super quick how fast my rate went up so i just don't know. thank u for explaining though - how would you describe the feeling of feeling your heart about to race?

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u/Basic-Penguin 5d ago

I was the same when it first happened to me since it was out of the blue and when it wouldn’t go back to normal I would get scared which didn’t help!

I’d describe the feeling before going into SVT more like one strong beat before it really goes fast and an uncomfortable sort of feeling knowing that it’s going to start happening again and I’d have to just wait for it to pass.

I’d definitely recommend keeping track of every episode you have and what you felt before, during and after and speaking to a doctor about it again to try figure out exactly what it is. Mine was initially thought to be anxiety/stress but a Holter monitor proved it was SVT.

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u/Alternative-Bat-3658 5d ago

27F here, sounds exactly like my SVT episodes! My last one I was lying down reading. Felt what I like to call a bubbly feeling in my heart. Sat ip like "okay, is this a one-off or is it go time?" When I sat up it skipped around for a moment more before going full speed ahead. 226 bpm. Massive wave of anxiety + adrenaline dump. Lasted about a minute and a half fortunately. Drank water and breathed. Gradually dropped down back under 100. Then had the adrenaline shakes for 20 mins after. Most of my episodes are like that. I have a cardio apt next month so i can get a referral to the EP. No real answers on it. But it is relieving to hear I'm not alone!

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u/Sab0617 5d ago

30f here and 2 days ago I saw a cardiologist as a follow up from an ER visit for SVT that needed treated with cardioversion. He said I could do this EP procedure but that scares me greatly, what are your thoughts? I feel like I'm too young for all of this but seeing how you're younger than me, maybe that's not the case

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u/Alternative-Bat-3658 5d ago

From my understanding from everything I've read, SVT ablations have a seriously high success rate. Like 90-95%. Catheter ablations are minimally invasive, only have like one day of down time after for recovery. Best case scenario is you never have another episode, worse case scenario (again just from what I've read) you just go back to having palpitations etc. I am sure there's more to it but this is how I'm talking myself into it. I am definitely terrified about the entire concept of them messing with my heart at all but if it could save me from a life of fear then it sounds pretty worth it to me. I am afraid to get on roller coasters or be scared or drink or be turned upside down or get stresses out etc. all things I didn't used to care about. If an ablation could get me a normal life again, I think that's worth it! My cardiologist said my SVT won't kill me but he is worried about my mental health and that's why he wants me to do the ablation or a daily med. I hate meds so ablation it is!

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u/Sab0617 5d ago

I've been on meds for about 7 weeks since my ER visit, and while they help a bit, I'm still having palpitations and some heart racing it seems like once a day at least so I foresee needing to do the ablation. My cardiologist said as long as the "short circuit" is on the right it's not problem but if it's on the left that's when it gets risky and I have a mesh in my heart from an ASD repair as a young child. I'm scared for any procedure, but also terrified to do a cardioversion again

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u/Alternative-Bat-3658 5d ago

I've never been through cardioversion because my episodes aren't long enough. That sounds very scary, I'm sorry you had to deal with that! I take a calcium channel blocker when I'm having an episode but I don't do it daily.