Hey guys!
This wasn’t exactly what I had planned for my first post back but I thought I would do this post to explain what happened to me yesterday (Friday 6th April) and answer some other stuff too.
So what happened?
To put it simply I suffered a heart problem known as Supraventricular tachycardia (or for short SVT) which is an abnormally fast heart rate of over 100 heartbeats a minute, I walked to fetch some dinner and had a chat with my dad when it hit me.
At first I noticed my heart rate had shot up and and I was breathing faster than normal however I thought it was nothing more than a panic attack which I get a fair bit, so as I’ve practiced many times before I tried to control my breathing and failed.
After a couple of minutes my chest began to tighten and was becoming fairly painful so I got on the phone to seek advice, first I tried the non emergency line but there was a que so my dad told me to call 999 (the UK’s emergency line) which I did.
Speaking to the operator and explaining my symtoms he told me a unit was on route to my address, a few minutes later a rapid response paramedic was at my door and within minutes he told me my heart rate was 270 bpm… 170 more than is deemed normal for an adult male.
First we tried a few things to see if we could reset my heart rate by blowing into a syringe however nothing was really working so an ambulance was sent and I was packed off to A&E with lights and sirens blaring.
Within less than 5 minutes of being taken into resus and being surrounded by doctors I was laid flat on my back and they tried a method to reduce my heart rate by raising my legs in the air and it worked!
For another few hours my heart rate sat comfortably around 100 – 110 bpm and I was eventually allowed to go home.
What caused it?
Supraventricular tachycardia can be caused by many things however it’s known that stress, caffeine and heavy smoking can be the main triggers and with my recent stress levels and feeling worn out this was the most probable cause.
Can I happen again?
Simple answer, yes it can happen again at any time however there are ways to prevent them happening again and I’m waiting to see a cardiologist to see if we can prevent it from coming back.
Is it because I’m overweight?
While being overweight doesn’t really help me it isn’t really the cause and it’s been known to affect anyone no matter age, gender or if you are healthy or not.
Finally I want to thank everyone that sent me messages, I am now feeling a lot better and will continue to try and manage my stress levels a little better… Maybe I just need to give a few less fucks about meaningless things?
And thank you for reading, if you made it this far you are a beautiful person! I’ll be back soon with more content hopefully better than this
Kev.
