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From: Janet Ayers
In 1970, as a freshman in college, I experienced a very rapid heartbeat of 280 beats per minute. Our family doctor started an IV and my heart resumed its regular pace. This condition continued and I was given a "pass" for an immediate IV at any hospital I might be near. As time progressed, I learned not to squat down to retrieve something from the floor, as it might trigger the rapid heartbeat; other wise, if I couldn't get my heart to a regular beat, I went to the hospital for another IV. Within a few years, my family doctor started a prescription for a pill form of verapamil. I went from 80mg to 240mg per day and eventually "maxed out". In 1980, at the age of 40, I was told about Dr. Lemery at the Mid-America Heart Institute at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. He was pleased to see that my weight was in the right range, my blood pressure was "text-book perfect", and I took no other medications. He accepted me as a patient and diagnosed my condition as Supra Ventricula Tachycardia. I was then part of a project and received a Radio Frequency Ablation using a new set of cathetors designed by Dr. Lemery and produced by MedTronics. The procedure was a "cure" for my heart condition. About ten years later, I was suffering from the flu, when I experienced my first vaso-vagal attack. I had diarehha and was vomiting, and I called out to my daughter. She arrived within seconds and found me passed out on the floor with fluid running from my mouth, but I was not breathing. My husband rushed in and pulled me up and I started breathing again. The fainting continued everytime I got the vomiting-type of flu. If someone is with me and can hold me up, I still faint, but breathing is not interrupted. The last time it happened, I became severely dehydrated withing 1 hour and the ambulance crew could not stabalize me to transport me to the hospital. The local doctor came to the house, administered a shot(?), and I was then sent to the ER, where I was admitted for 24 hours. I am now 52 years of age and still have no other medical problems or conditions. I am submitting this in the hopes that it helps someone who is researching other situations for the VV Syndrome. As an educator, my spelling is incorrect for medical terms, but I hope this information is helpful. If you would like further notation or medical records, please contact me by mail, as our school's e-mail is terminated May 31, 2005 for the summer. My address is Janet Ayers, P.O. Box 484, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845.