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personal stories from people who have IST |
| naomi back to personal stories from people who have IST January the 5th 2004 was a day that would for the rest of the year change the life I once had, to the one which I have now become accustomed to. The day started out as normal got up, no problems, then I started feeling palpations, chest pain, dizziness, sweating, clamminess etc and thought this was extremely strange as I was sitting down doing nothing, I became concerned enough to go to our GP who then worried us more by saying get to the hospital now and wrote us a note to take there. Once getting to A&E I was hooked up to everything under the sun had so much blood taken I thought my body would cave in on itself and was admitted to coronary care for the night. (What a waste of resources I remember thinking I�m not old enough for heart troubles I�m only 23 this is silly) None the less despite my displeasure I stayed over night where my heart rate didn�t drop below 120ish and rolling over in bed would shoot it up into the 150�s, they called the intern who was on through the night and tried CSM (carotid sinus massage), Val-salva manoeuvre and nothing helped lower it and the more people that came into my room the more anxious I became elevating it more as I became more stressed by the mere presence of all these people trying all these different things, on me. Well I survived the night and met my EP in the morning for the first time. Here was this man who was apparently going to fix me and make me �normal� again. He was tall handsome and very thin and had such a calm disposition about him I felt so safe and sure this was the right doctor for me, I remember sitting up in bed ready to shake his hand and then my monitor went berserk and the next thing I know he�s barking orders at people get this and that. My heart rate had shot up into the 150�s right there and then, he was asking for adenosine, I remember packing it as I saw the crash trolley wheeled into my room, I knew I was in a single room but looked around anyway thinking it must be for someone else, They gave me the first shot and nothing happened then another dose and I felt this horribleness I thought I was dying I clung on to my partners hand as we both cried the monitor dropped from 150 to 48 in the blink of an eye and then as fast as it dropped it was back up to 150 again. The doctors then left and started on the first of many medications that we trialled in the hope to ease the unbearable symptoms of this IST. At the follow up visit we decided that an EPS was needed to see if it was an atrial tachycardia or if it was indeed IST, as at this stage numerous medications had now been trialled all with just a laughing result from the IST. The first EPS/ablation attempt went with out any result being achieved just a definite diagnosis of IST, and a continuation of more medication trials. Through the use of Inderal I developed a Raynaud�s like phenomenon and the use of the other medications gave me peripheral oedema and increased shortness of breath, it was then decided a second attempt at a sinus node ablation would be our hope of beating this. The second procedure used a brilliant mapping system that actually mapped the layout of my heart and then showed the EP were the focuses were and allowed him to target the specific offending areas, this EPS had limited success resulting in a transient junctional rhythm but I still had the tachycardia so it was back on more meds which proved to be our undoing. As a result of our most recent ablation the beta-blockers were allowing me to go into heart block and were aggravating my sinus pause/arrest to the point of major dizzy spells and were ceased because of this. I have trouble doing regular things that everyone takes for granted like going to the toilet as on a bad day this leaves me with some small dizzy spells as a result of my sinus pause. I still to this day remain tachycardic and am still achieving on rest the heart rates that were the problem in the first place. I am now though unable to take medications for my IST as they aggravate my sinus pause/arrest and I become very symptomatic from it. I also have new symptoms that I didn�t have before such as the sinus pause/arrest but also PAC�s and PVC�s fatigue to the point that I can�t hold my weight up and I literally spend the day on my bed as every time I get up I feel unwell to the point where I must lay down. I now have chest pain that leaves my left arm feeling weak and like it isn�t part of my body. Now these things might not be related to the dysautonomia but I never had them before and being the cynic that I am I connected the dots. I have gone from working full time agency as a nurse to not working at all and having to give up my uni studies for now until we get this sorted out to a manageable level. I am hopeful as I have a great EP who is generally willing to talk and listen to my numerous theories and speculations, and I am lucky to have him find me as it were. Currently I am awaiting my third EPS/ablation procedure as my tachycardia and IST are still there I am hopeful that I can beat this with a little intervention, lol. |
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| The content of this page was last modified at 11:11 GMT Tuesday 28 August 2004 |
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