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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

My Method for Converting an Episode of Supraventricular Tachycardia

I have been a supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) sufferer for three years.  I have celiac disease and my episodes tend to happen on the heals of being glutened.

The first few episodes I had of SVT lasted for a very long time, and one episode had to be arrested with adenosine by paramedics, but I have since been able to convert my heart back into a normal rhythm by doing the following.

1.  Drink one big glass of cold water.
2.  Lie down or sit down (if you don't have a place to lie down).  I have converted before during sitting, but lying down is much more comforting.
3.  Then I take deep slow breaths while I think "slow down your heart rate and the heart will convert."

The idea behind this is that if I can get my heart rate down to about 110 beats per minute, my heart will find it's naturally slow path way and convert back to it.

I have had doctors tell me to do vasal vagal maneuvers to convert my SVT into a normal heart rhythm, but when I do them and they don't work, I get panicky and my heart rate shoots up even higher and then adrenaline feeds the the process and prolongs it.

I believe that all of my SVT's are caused by my vasal vagal nerve.  Most of the time, I am either on my period, which I am today, and did have an SVT episode today, or when I have been glutened, which I was over the weekend, or when my stomach ulcer is flaring.

The uterus, the stomach, and the heart are all linked to the vasal vagal nerve and the heart can be affected by an inflamed and irritated uterus or stomach.

The idea by the calm slow breathing is to calm down the vasal vagal nerve.  The vasal vagal nerve is also very affected by thought, and that is why some people faint when they see blood, or have other anxious moments.

The controlling of thoughts is very effective in treating SVT, in my opinion.  It is very effective to think of that vasal vagal nerve as the culprit, like a three year old that is having a temper tantrum.

Doing what you can to calm that nerve seems to go a long way to not only converting an SVT, but addressing anxiety and anxious moments in general, and visualizing your thoughts calming down that nerve can pull you out of a panic attack and SVT.

Now this is just my opinion.  I am not a doctor, but I have talked to six doctors about my SVT.  All of them have had ideas of how to convert, but the only person who was successful in helping me to understand what to do was a grocery store nurse in an Urgent Care satellite whose sweetness and calm nature was able to help me convert on my second SVT.

I have just done a lot of studying, and 100% of the time I've been able to convert since I started to visualize my vagus nerve.

Another important factor is to make sure you don't bend at the waist ever.  Today I did it, and whammo, I felt the thump in my chest, and the bunny kicking really hard, really fast in my chest after the thump.  I knew what I had done to cause it.

I have had over a dozen SVTs in my life and nine of them have been caused by bending at the waist.  Another was caused by a moment of intense anger, another by a near car accident, and another by eating past my stomach's capacity.

If you have SVT, you might get checked for a hiatal hernia.  If I had to make a guess, I would not have SVT issues without my hernia.

I hope this helps.  There is a lot of complicated SVT information out there, and I hope that I am able to offer simple relief, and calm, happy thoughts for those who suffer from this condition as I do.