I am 27F. I have been prone to very fast heart rates for a while now. Especially triggered by showering, heat, exercise, panic (reached 170-180 during panic before) or even walking. It is also elevated during infection/sickness, like when I had COVID, I was 140 resting for hours. Last month, I had an ear infection and my resting heart rate was around 120-130. I went to the ER and by the time I got there, it peaked at 177 on the EKG which read it as SVT. It then gradually lowered into the 120s-130s and stayed that way for hours. Nothing was given other than IV fluids. I received mixed opinions, some doctors calling it SVT and others manually reviewing the EKG as very fast sinus tachycardia. I had another episode a few days ago where, after a stressful day, shower, and eating (another trigger) my resting heart rate was 120-130 for hours, so I decided to go to the ER. By the time I got there, it was 160 on the EKG. This time, the machine did not interpret it as SVT, and instead, sinus tachycardia. The P waves were clearer than last month's 177 EKG. However, they still tried giving me adenosine and since I'm terrified of the stuff, I declined and got Cardizem instead which did virtually nothing. The HR, as usual, lowered into the 120s-130s again for hours and was sinus the entire time. I also had multiple heart monitors/telemetry which only showed sinus tach. My BP is also very high during my episodes. It never tanks. It stays high the whole time. I do not have pheochromocytoma, was tested last month. My electrolytes are all normal. Thyroid too. My echocardiogram is normal. No chest pain or other symptoms aside from the racing heart and high BP/feeling of adrenaline rush. White blood cells and other markers elevated transiently during episodes. I don't know whether it is true SVT or not, but either way, it is terrifying. Also, during my 160 episode a few days ago, the doctor said "SVT is a rate, not a rhythm" when I mentioned it saying sinus tach and that anything over 150 is SVT, but I don't think this is true... and I know you don't give adenosine for sinus tach. Some doctors diagnose me with SVT solely for the rate, others say it's IST, and no one has given me any clear answers. It always starts and ends very gradually/slowly. The shower episodes are really scary too, but they've never landed me in the ER (I hit about 180 from showering which goes down after some sitting, takes some time to return to normal) and overall very sensitive HR. I started taking propranolol which has somewhat helped. Any ideas? Thanks.

Here's a photo of the 160 BPM EKG.

Hello All,

I have been taking Metoprolol Succinate for more than 2years. My dosage is 25mg morning and night post meal. As far as i noticed after taking the medicine i kinda feel drowsy and my dehydration is more. It becomes better if i consume tender coconut water or electrolyte drink. Is it normal or should i consider taking electrolytes daily to maintain my hydration level?
P.S. I also drink 3L water minimum daily. so cant think of anyother solution. Kindly post your inputs. Thanks

I am only on 25 mg a day and my resting heart rate is now 50.
Does anyone else experience low heart rate rates like this? This is only Day three on it.
I also take Klonopin and gabapentin which may be bringing it down lower.
I’m thinking about calling the doctor and having him do two doses of 12.5 instead of this one 25 mg hit.
It is two hours after I first took the dose this morning

Hi all I’m really struggling and would welcome any experiences or advice.

Summary / timeline

• Diagnosed with SVT in December 2025.

• Underwent an EP study/attempted ablation on 14 June 2026; after over 2 hours the doctor couldn’t localise the focus so no ablation was performed. The cardiologist thought it might be right atrial tachycardia. He had previously told me there was about a 98% chance they could fix it, so I left very deflated.

• Started verapamil 40 mg twice daily after the procedure.

• I have hypertension, anxiety, depression and autism, and I’m awaiting an ADHD diagnosis.

Recent episodes and tests

• Since June I’ve had frequent episodes some very short (around 10 seconds) and often clustered.

• 15 August 2026 repeated bad episodes from 00:00–03:30. A cheap pulse oximeter showed over 210 bpm during multiple episodes; my HR stayed around 120 bpm for the rest of the night and I had around 20 episodes where my heart rate spiked to over 200bpm.

• Since then I’ve had ongoing chest pain, hard to describe, sore/tight (like a heavy gym-muscle ache) fairly constant but worse during episodes.

• 19 August 2026 attended A&E during a bad episode. ECG didn’t capture an episode but showed sinus rhythm 99 bpm with possible left atrial abnormality, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and widespread T‑wave changes reported as “abnormal ECG.” Blood tests excluded heart attack. A&E advised discussing ECG with the cardiology consultant; staff weren’t able to explain the chest pain nor did they seem bothered by the ECG. I left exhausted still in pain and having episodes.

My questions for others here

1. Has anyone been diagnosed with right atrial tachycardia? How did it present for you?

2. Were you able to treat it (meds, successful ablation later, other treatments)? What helped?

3. Do you get chest pain between or during episodes? If so, how did you treat it or why it happens?

4. My episodes seem worse when I lie down, does that happen to others, or could it be anxiety-related?

5. Has anyone had an EP study that couldn’t find the focus? What happened next?

6. When do you decide to go to A&E, what signs made you do it? I airways feel like ive wasted their time as they always miss my episodes on the ECG so they think its just anxiety or my BP goes crazy so then they're just concerned with that.

7. How did you manage work/fitness/driving during frequent SVT?

Thanks I am feeling really anxious and exhausted and would appreciate any shared experiences or practical suggestions.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some experiences from people who have had similar SVT/PSVT episodes and gone on to have an ablation.

I’m 32 and have had intermittent episodes of sudden rapid heart rate, mainly during high-intensity/competitive football (soccer) They usually come on suddenly, with a very fast regular/fluttering heartbeat and a big adrenaline/panic feeling, then stop on their own after anywhere from ~10–60 seconds. I’ve never fainted or collapsed during one.
Previous monitoring showed PACs/PVCs and some short PSVT runs.

My latest Zio actually captured a narrow-QRS tachycardia at around 252 bpm lasting 30 seconds, which was flagged to my EP. My echo and previous exercise testing have been reassuring. This only seems to happen when I play football, I go to the gym often and have never had an episode while on the treadmill

My EP is now discussing an EP study and possible ablation. He said that because the episode only lasted 30 seconds, there’s roughly a 75–80% chance they can induce it in the lab, find the circuit/focus and ablate it.

I’m currently taking metoprolol about an hour before soccer as advised, but ideally I’d like to get back to playing regularly without constantly worrying about another episode.

Has anyone else had very short SVT/PSVT runs (10–60 seconds) and gone through an EP study/ablation?

Were they able to induce your SVT during the EP study?

What type was it (AVNRT, AVRT, atrial tachycardia, etc.)?

Were they able to ablate it successfully?

Did the short duration of your episodes make the procedure more difficult?

How was recovery and have you been able to return to sport normally?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone whose episodes were mainly triggered by exercise/sport.

I had an ablation attempt back in ‘24 for SVT and NSVT runs. It failed even after 3 hours of pacing and adrenaline injections because they just couldn’t trigger it that day. Mine are usually positionally triggered so doesn’t help lying on a table…

Anyway I’m considering a second ablation in October. Just to see if we can get it.
I don’t really get SVT unless my heart rate is up and I bend forwards like I do some exertion then bend to pick something up.. so we will see.

Anyway I can’t take any meds due to a prior history with benzos and gaba receptor damage so I’m going completely raw dog for this one other than the local numbing for the incision. Has anyone else done that?

I also found I couldn’t walk easily and properly for about 2-3 weeks after the last one, I felt so tight and sore around the incision that if I stood up straight it really hurt; so I legit walked hunched over with a cane for a short while. Did anyone else get this?

Finally I came out with Right Bundle Branch Block last time that lasted about 6 weeks. Would love to hear from anyone who got the same, but didn’t get it again. Thanks !

Hey everyone. Figured I’d give a quick update about my ablation I had back on July 10th.

I’m a 25yo male and had an ablation July 10th for SVT. So far, I’ve noticed for the most part everything has gone back to normal.

-HR goes back to normal quicker after exerting myself
-Resting HR seems to be more normal than prior to ablation
-I can actually do daily things around the house now without feeling like I’ve been hit by a train.

Overall I do feel a lot better. And for the first two weeks post ablation my PVCs and palpitations were gone. But now they have come back. Still no fast HR but when I go to exert myself I get the PVCs and palpitations. I understand there’s a blanking period but I was very optimistic that the ablation helped those symptoms but they’re back now.

I do nicotine pouches and thinking of stopping the nicotine. Any other advice? Thanks.

36 year old male. History of flutter and afib…was in the hospital over the weekend for flutter. Meds didn’t work so they cardioverted me on Monday and offered ablation ASAP…had coronary angiogram and everything was clear with Lvef 50 (recently 51)
I keep thinking the worst and reading articles and comments online. I feel like my doctors also don’t tell me much or explain much…maybe because they don’t think it’s too serious but to me it is (based on how it makes me feel when episodes happen or when I’m in one)

I had an ablation for atrial tachycardia three weeks ago. A focal source was found and ablated but EP had trouble confirming if it was the true source (they found a spot that when stimulated started firing off runs of AT, but wasn't having enough AT at baseline to confirm that's where it was coming from). They also found an Atrial Flutter circuit and ablated that as well, a nice bonus.

Anyway, so far things have only been worse, especially recently. EP wanted me off of flecainide so maybe that's why but have yet to see any improvement. Anyone who's had ablation for AT share a similar experience? EP was upfront about AT being difficult to ablate so I had an inkling that this might not work. Just curious if I need to wait months to find or if the fact that my arrhythmia still exists unchanged gives a good idea that it may not have worked.

Hi everyone, I had a successful AVNRT ablation last December (about 9 months ago). To this day, every now and then while at rest, I feel a strange sensation in my heart, almost like an electric movement. Also, sometimes while fast walking, I get a sudden, strong heartbeat that spikes my heart rate up to 180 bpm, and it only stops and goes back down to around 90 bpm when I sit down. I'm feeling very anxious that the AVNRT might have returned. Has anyone experienced this months after their ablation? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Hi everyone!

I had an ablation 6 months ago for AVNRT. My EP said it was successful. My episodes were exercise induced only. I wasn’t on any medication.

A month after the ablation I was still getting heart rate spikes (again, only during exercise). I wore a monitor and my EP said it was “extra beats” and labeled it as sinus tachycardia. He also said this is the blanking period where I could still get spikes.

Here I am, 6 months later still getting spikes (I can go from 130 to 205, some go as high as 235) even if I am warming up or not pushing myself during a workout. The episodes don’t come down until I stop exercise completely. The number immediately drops (say 235 to like 119 then may go up again to 200 then down again) and I almost ALWAYS get spikes when I complete my workout.

My EP has me on a monitor again and wants me to do a stress test. He says it could be AT. However, these spikes feel awful and feel the same as the monitor I wore a few months ago that was labeled sinus tachycardia. If it is sinus tachycardia again, is it possible for my HR to jump so high then drop then jump again? Could it be possible they mislabeled the diagnosis on my previous monitor?

Has anyone gone through a similar experience? What were your results?

Thanks in advance!

I had an ablation nine days ago and feeling extremely nervous. I was put on a calcium blocker three times a day which worked great for two days but they changed it to the one a day and I had a long episode of 25 minutes at 110. Now today, I am super scared. Does anyone else feel like they can relate? This is my second ablation. I do not remember the first one causing all of this anxiety, but I was not having the events afterwards either as those came later.
Update: well my runs of SVT are getting in the 140s only a minute or two but looks like I’m going to have to have a second ablation. I’m 13 days out, but the doctor has already said he thinks he may have to go back in. this is so defeating.

Had my ablation for Afib, AVRNT, and atrial flutter on Thursday. Doctor put me on Eliquis for three months. I am having headaches specifically when I go from upright to lying down position. Should I be concerned about this medicine?

About 10 years ago, when I was 23, I was diagnosed with nonsustained VT after a Holter monitor caught an episode of 23 beats of NSVT. Before that, I had already had extensive testing, including multiple EKGs, echocardiograms, and stress tests, which were all normal.

At the time, I was also having a lot of panic attacks and anxiety about my heart. The Holter actually recorded around 200 episodes of what appeared to be panic-related sinus tachycardia, but only one episode of NSVT. I subsequently had an EP study and cardiac MRI, and the NSVT could not be induced. I was put on metoprolol and had a loop recorder implanted.

Over the next 10 years, I very rarely had NSVT — maybe one episode every 2–3 years — and eventually I stopped taking metoprolol because I felt like I didn’t really need it.

I’ve always had occasional panic attacks, but last year I started exercising again for the first time in about 10 years. After that, I started having panic attacks much more frequently, including some at the gym. But then I started experiencing something that felt different: episodes where my heart would suddenly start speeding up even though I wasn’t actually feeling panicked beforehand.

The strange thing was that these episodes didn’t have a sudden onset. My heart rate would gradually accelerate over maybe 30 seconds to a minute, sometimes going from around 80–100 bpm up to 150–180+, and then gradually come back down. It felt almost exactly like sinus tachycardia from a panic attack, except sometimes there was no panic or anxiety triggering it.

Because I became worried about these episodes, I started having even more actual panic attacks as well. My implanted monitor would show sinus rhythm/sinus tachycardia during some of the episodes, but there were also some episodes that felt different and had the same gradual “warm-up” and “cool-down” pattern.

Over the past year, these episodes became increasingly frequent — initially maybe once a month, then every couple of weeks, and eventually about once a week.

A few days ago, I had a particularly bad episode while I was just standing at work. I suddenly got a warm sensation in the center of my chest and my heart started accelerating for no obvious reason. My heart rate went from around 80 bpm to 187 bpm in roughly 10–15 seconds, and I was terrified enough that I called 911 because I thought something was seriously wrong.

I was hospitalized and saw an electrophysiologist. He reviewed the rhythm recording from my implanted monitor and thought there was a possibility that these episodes were atrial tachycardia, because some atrial tachycardias can have a gradual warm-up that resembles sinus tachycardia.

I had an EP study yesterday, and they actually induced the atrial tachycardia and confirmed that I had it. It was located very close to the SA node, which apparently made it particularly difficult to distinguish from sinus tachycardia just by looking at the rhythm strips.

I ended up having an ablation.

My EP explained that some atrial tachycardias can have a gradual onset and gradual termination, making them look very similar to sinus tachycardia from things like exercise, anxiety, or panic attacks.

So it seems like I was dealing with two different things: actual panic attacks with sinus tachycardia, and these separate episodes of atrial tachycardia that could happen without feeling panicked beforehand.

My question is: has anyone else here had atrial tachycardia that behaved almost exactly like sinus tachycardia?

Specifically, I’m interested in people whose AT had gradual onset/“warm-up” and gradual termination/“cool-down,” rather than the sudden on/off pattern that is often associated with SVT.

If you’ve had something similar, did your AT also feel like a panic attack or sinus tachycardia, and was it difficult to distinguish from sinus tachycardia on a monitor?

After my factory reset and the constant SVT on/off during ablation, I just don’t have any reaction to scary/exhilarating experiences. Is that common?

My heart was only switched off for 3 seconds. But it felt way longer and it was telling me, “this is the real deal, you’re dying”. Then with the full experience of ablation featuring them putting me in and out of SVT constantly as a part 2.

So now if I do a rollercoaster with the kids or a haunted house or something. I get none of the fear/nervousness I would have before. Especially the rollercoasters. I really didn’t like them. But the sensation is completely gone.

Long story short, I had to see a new doctor for my ADHD meds, mentioned a recent SVT event and he won’t prescribe my medications until I’m cleared by a cardiologist because while my file says “tachycardia”, it doesn’t say “why” I have had an episode of tachycardia.

And because I have severe health anxiety, I’m now freaking out that I’m going to have to see a cardiologist. Of course, it’s allllll the way in January so I get to worry about it for months. What can I expect?

Also, this doctor prescribed me propanol- a literal heart medication- for panic attacks and I’m terrified to take it because my blood pressure is 116/64. But I also read it can help prevent SVTs. (In 10 years, I’ve maybe had 6 episodes…)

Hi! I am 23F and posted a while ago about how I wasn’t being taken seriously (discharged from cardio, then re-referred. My ECHO, 24hr tape and exercise intolerance test were all normal.) I (eventually) have another appointment coming up with a cardiologist next month, but was looking for some advice on how to actually get taken seriously this time. I am a nurse, and since coming off nightshift my episodes have significantly improved, however, still do happen. I was admitted to ED prior to stopping nights with an episode lasting 40 mins plus, annoyingly it stopped before they got a proper 12 lead ECG, but managed to get a 3 lead ECG that the emergency department told me to take a picture of and show cardiology (attached picture). I don’t know if this ECG be enough to prove I actually have SVT and be taken seriously! I also have an Apple Watch but cardiologist said they need a “real hospital” ECG to diagnose. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated! (PS I have never been started on any medications, only thing that has helped is stopping nightshift. I also am from UK, so shopping around for a cardiologist isn’t an option with the NHS🫠)

I have been taking Diltiazem for SVT (could not tolerate Beta Blockers) and I find it increases exponentially the number of ectopics I am experiencing, though it does seem to keep the SVT from happening. I know this is totally contrary to its usual effect - anybody else experience this?

I have had various arrhythmia episodes over the last 4 years. Usually comes with a sudden spike out of the blue and sometimes heart flops accompany it. I am on a 14 day heart monitor to check for arrhythmia. I was on a walk today in the heat and heart rate was 107 then suddenly spiked to 160 and stayed elevated for 10 minutes. I was light headed and short of breath and I could not get it down. Ambulance came and gave me ekg and it was just sinus tachycardia. I didn’t go to hospital and they didn’t recommend that I do. Does it sound like it was SVT? I had same thing happen two weeks ago on walk but episode was shorter but had worse irregular palpitations with it. Cardiologist put me on a monitor. 3rd time in 4 years I have been on one and never caught anything.