Drugs to avoid
In several heart conditions, particularly long QT syndrome and Brugada syndrome, certain medicines or drugs can cause problems and trigger dangerous heart rhythms. These should therefore be avoided. Unfortunately, sale there is a rather long list of these! However a compressive list is available on-line, which is regularly updated: For long QT syndrome: http://www.sads.org.uk/drugs-to-avoid Members with […]
Low potassium in the blood (hypokalaemia)
If you are ill and you vomit or have diarrhoea, your body loses some of its essential potassium supply. If you have long QT syndrome or Brugada syndrome, having a low level of potassium can make your condition worse. Therefore if you have vomiting or diarrhoea for more than one day, you should add a […]
Antony Eames
Tony Eames wrote his story to be included in the myheart booklet which was launched in November, 2013. I had my first episode of fainting at 4 years old. From then on I passed out regularly. Sometimes I passed out several times a day. During this time I was not allowed to do any school […]
Louise Dee
Living with long QT syndrome Hi, my name is Louise. It all started in 1990 when I was 8 yrs old. I woke up hearing an alarm clock and realised it was my mother’s for work, so I got out of bed and went to turn the alarm off. When I went into her bedroom […]
Lucy Patey
Living With long QT syndrome I have always been a fit and active person, participating in many sporting activities – two of which were hockey and horse riding, family passions that I inherited. During my teenage years I competed at top level both on horseback and on the hockey field. Looking back, I was given […]
Jonny Goode
Living with long QT syndrome I love Sport! Any kind of sport and ever since I remember I have spent most of my spare time either hitting a ball, pedalling a bike or running around somewhere. It came as a great shock to me when I was diagnosed with long QT syndrome at the age […]
Hayley Brown
Living with long QT syndrome I was 19 years old and had just failed my second driving test when my first and only attack happened. I ran through the garden and into the house where my mum was waiting nervously. I told her that I had failed and then went on to tell her I […]
Cervical sympathectomy
A cevical sympathectomy is an operation that can be useful for some people with long QT syndrome. It reduces the amount of adrenaline that is produced and delivered to the heart by certain nerves (the left cervical ganglia). The operation involves blocking or removing these nerves on the left side of the neck. These nerves […]
Coronary angiography and electrophysiological study (EPS)
Your doctor may suggest that you have tests such as coronary angiography or an electrophysiological study (EPS). Both these tests are performed in an X-ray laboratory that allows the body and any medical tools (such as cardiac catheter tubes or pacing wires) to be seen using an X-ray camera. You will be asked to lie […]
Exercise test (also called an exercise ECG)
This test is the same as the ECG but is recorded before, during and after a period of time spent exercising on a treadmill or an exercise bike. This allows the doctor to examine any changes in the electrical patterns that occur with exercise, and analyse any abnormalities. This test is particularly useful in detecting […]