I was recently diagnosed with a Long Q Rhythm. I'm wondering if there is anyone else out there with this problem.
My Dr. recommends Beta Blocker and no more racing. He also commented that I've had this condition all my life so I'll probably be ok.
I would like to PM with anyone out there who is swimming with a similar situation. I am feeling very conflicted and would like to talk to someone in the same boat.
I read the paragraph about the sisters who swam in Nationals with a Long Q diagnosis, in fact that article motivated me to go to the electrophysicist (sp) and get this checked out by a specialist.
An update on my LQT Journey:
First of all my original Doctor refused to do the peer review with my insurance company to enable me to get genetic testing and then dumped me due to non-compliance with meds. This really didn't bother me too much, Dr. P and I didn't seem to communicate very well so it was probably for the best.
I took Gulls advice and tried to contact Dr. Zipes. I managed to trade e-mails with the head of the department @ IU Cardiology, he recommended Dr. Chen. Today was my initial appointment with Dr. Chen! I was amazed by everything we accomplished during my appointment today! Believe it or not they have a deal with one of the genetic testing companies. They took the blood today and said I'd have the results in 3-4 weeks! I took an Ecko-exercise stress test. I stayed on 20+ minutes maintaining target hr for over 7 minutes. The tech said I was their record for the year so far. I could have gone much longer but the tech said we had gathered enough information. The bad news from the test is that my QT interval stays long while I exercise. The complete results will be available next week I guess.
I am currently wearing a 48 hour halter? moniter. If I experience any fast heartbeats, flutters, or heart pounding I'm supposed to note it on a log. Dr. Chen told me I should do anything I would normally do except swim with the device. I took a decent 45 minute run tonight and felt good. I sweat quit a bit and ended having the red lead slide off my chest. I hope it doesn't hurt the results.
I feel so much better now that I've made some progress toward learning about my LQT heart rhythm. After 2.5 months of dead-ends and disappointments I'm finally starting to get somewhere!
An update on my LQT Journey:
First of all my original Doctor refused to do the peer review with my insurance company to enable me to get genetic testing and then dumped me due to non-compliance with meds. This really didn't bother me too much, Dr. P and I didn't seem to communicate very well so it was probably for the best.
I took Gulls advice and tried to contact Dr. Zipes. I managed to trade e-mails with the head of the department @ IU Cardiology, he recommended Dr. Chen. Today was my initial appointment with Dr. Chen! I was amazed by everything we accomplished during my appointment today! Believe it or not they have a deal with one of the genetic testing companies. They took the blood today and said I'd have the results in 3-4 weeks! I took an Ecko-exercise stress test. I stayed on 20+ minutes maintaining target hr for over 7 minutes. The tech said I was their record for the year so far. I could have gone much longer but the tech said we had gathered enough information. The bad news from the test is that my QT interval stays long while I exercise. The complete results will be available next week I guess.
I am currently wearing a 48 hour halter? moniter. If I experience any fast heartbeats, flutters, or heart pounding I'm supposed to note it on a log. Dr. Chen told me I should do anything I would normally do except swim with the device. I took a decent 45 minute run tonight and felt good. I sweat quit a bit and ended having the red lead slide off my chest. I hope it doesn't hurt the results.
I feel so much better now that I've made some progress toward learning about my LQT heart rhythm. After 2.5 months of dead-ends and disappointments I'm finally starting to get somewhere!
