anyone else get irregular heartbeats?

Just wondering if anyone else gets an irregular heartbeat? I know I can't blame everyone thing on crohn's but I just got diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia and saw one thing that made me think there might be a link to autoimmune conditions. Anyone else have something like this? I've gotten irregular beats for as long as I can remember but just recently it started happening a lot and even though they say it's not serious, it's very annoying and gives me yet another pill to take. (that apparently isn't working yet.)

I had PAT and five years ago had an ablation. It completely worked and I have NO irregular heartbeat anymore!

My husband gets this when he's flaring. His resting heart rate goes to about 100, and if he's dehydrated on top of that, it can be even higher like 120. The docs called it a sinus tachycardia (also a type of SVT), and they just say it is because of the pain and stress the body is under and that it is only a problem if it continues unabated for a long long time. Thankfully for my hubby, his flares haven't continued for years on end - usually no more than 30-45 days, and he still has to recover from them, but it gets better once he starts responding to medication and the flare gets under control.

In fact, just recently, my hubby had sinus tachycardia with his recent flare up. We saw the doc for it, and they just blew it off, as part of the pain and stress his body is under, and him not being able to get enough rest at night. He recently saw a cardiologist, and that's exactly what the cardiologist told him as well. He just finished a stress test, and we're waiting on results from that just to make sure nothing else is wrong.

The cardiologist said that if it gets to the point where it crosses 150bpm, then, he would consider putting him on a beta blocker or calcium channel blocker to lower the heart rate. But he didn't want to do that because these beta blockers can also lower blood pressure and my husband's BP is just fine.

So, from what I understand, it really isn't too serious, and yes it can be attributed to a crohn's flare up. It is rather irritating and feels bad, but most doctors just seem to shrug it of.

Oh, I must say that A-fib is more serious than the other types of SVT - because of the increased chance of stroke I think. I would ask the doc what type of SVT you have.

PV

Crohn's symptoms began mid-1975, Dx'd early 1976, only med offered was asulfadine which I couldn't tolerate, resection early 1978, blessed w/a 20 year remission, Pentasa and Imuran have pretty much kept me in total or symptomatic remission since 1998.

Episode of strong, erratic heartbeat 07 March 2010. Had had a very few rare sensations of gentle heart "flutter" for maybe a year prior. Strong, erratic heartbeat episodes once a month April to July 2010; none lasting more than 1/2 hour maximum.

Then, end of July episode of strong, erratic heartbeats lasting 3-4 hours. Trip to ER by ambulance, ER doctor started on coumadin and a calcium channel blocker (diltiazem). Family doctor ordered a 30 day event monitor (glorified, wireless Holter monitor). One "critical", one serious" event, plus quite a few other arrhythmias, whilst on the monitor. I was aware of only the two important episodes and totally unaware of the milder ones.

Cardiologist Dx'd Atrial fibrillation, upped diltiazem, suggested an anti-rhythmic and ordered a 21 day event monitor. Continued episodes until I agreed to the anti-rhythmic (Rythmol). No episodes since 3rd day of Rythmol. Currently tapering off diltiazem due to disrupted sleep, constipation, edema and shortness of breath. Toprol (beta blocker) started to replace the diltiazem. Constipation and edema relieved w/the taper off the diltiazem and looking forward to being completely off of it.

Hypertension has never been a problem, finding BP is definitely lower but still w/in "normal" range w/current meds. Just found out that Pulse Pressure is also something to be watched. Pulse Pressure is the difference between the systolic and diastolic pressures. Ideally it should be in the 40s.

Gumart1- I have seen them use beta blockers if the PVC's or PAC's are causing issues such as shortness of breath or chest pain. My cardiologist initially prescribed me xanax as he thought stress exacerbated my problem although it was about a year later that I was diagnosed with Crohns disease. After my diagnosis and my issues with SVT, a different cardiologist told my PVC were benign as long as I was asymptomatic and that the skipped beats can be expected with Crohn's disease. If I start having multiple skips, I usually try 1/2 xanax first as this seems to calm my intestines.