These comments are made for the purpose of discussion and should NOT be used as recommendations for or against therapies or other treatments. An individual patient is always advised to consult their own physician.
Paroxysmal atrial tachycardia
Question: I have been diagnosed 2 years ago with PAT’s (rapid heartbeat that returns to normal when I ‘bear down’). I have been taking increasing doses of tenormin and digoxin. After a few months, the symptoms pick up again and the dosage has been raised. Is this ‘normal’ that the meds should keep increasing? Are there some tests that should be run to see why it is getting worse every 4 months. Is there a cure or other recommended treatment. I am 30 years old.
Answer: PAT is the medical abbreviation for paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. This is a fairly common problem and is one of the cardiac abnormalities often seen in young individuals. These irregular beats and spells of fast heart rates can be caused by lack of sleep, alcohol, caffeine and other similar drugs. However, they usually occur without any clear cause. For some odd reason they seem to be more frequent in the spring and fall. Treatment is usually directed at prevention with digoxin and beta-blockers. Occasionally, calcium channel blockers are used. When one has the onset of the rapid heart beats different maneuvers directed at producing vagal nerve stimulation will often slow or break the fast beat back to normal. These include eye pressure, bearing down like a bowel movement, and immersing ones face in ice water. If your spells of PAT are frequent or incapacitating, other avenues should be explored. These include seeing a specialist in electroconduction of the heart. Occasionally, surgical treatment will cure these spells. This is done in a heart cathetherization by using radio waves to ablate the cause of the fast heart spells.
