So here's my question...what IS AVNRT???

I made this post first so I can have an outlet for any frustrations with this disorder. So now that all of that is out. What is AVNRT?

Basically it is an electrical conduction disorder in the heart. So there is nothing PHYSICALLY wrong with it, which makes it difficult to detect unless you go in for an EP study or by some grace of God it actually shows up on an EKG, which is actually rare even during an episode.

In normal electrical condution, a heart beat begins in the SA node, travels down to the AV node through a small pathway, down the bundle of HIS, then down throughout the ventricles, which then pushes blood to the body.

With AVNRT, the AV node has 2 pathways instead of one, and one pathway conducts electricity faster than the other, making it send an extra heart beat (dysrhythmias)

Once you heart loses control of the normal heart beat, then it becomes an arrhythmia (no rhythm)


The heart, just like the liver, is a very SMART organ and can attempt to heal itself, many times being successful. When it is NOT successful, your heart keeps trying to counteract the abnormal beat and can lead to tachycardia (a heart rate above 100 beats per minute, above 100 is too fast). Tachycardia puts strain on the heart thus affecting the whole body since the blood flow to the rest of the body has now become compromised.

In AVNRT, if one should be in a tachycardic episode for a prolonged amount of time, this can lead to PVCs (Premature Ventricular Contractions). Your ventricles are NOT supposed to make contractions on their own will, but will do so as a last ditch effort to restore a proper heart rhythm. These PVCs include bigeminies, trigimnies, and ventricular tachycardia (V-tach's)

 Normal Heart Rhythm

 AVNRT (looks similar to normal, which is what makes this difficult to diagnose off of an EKG)

 Bigeminy (note the couples holding hands, Trigeminy will have 3)

V-tach (note that these look like a 5 year old drawing mountains)

Any of these abnormal heart rhythms can send you into cardiac arrest and often feel like a heart attack. (cardiac arrest and heart attacks are 2 different things by the way)

Personally, I have a history of falling into V-tach episodes. The one that was caught on a monitor that started my entire journey was about 2 hours long, with an average resting heart rate (I was sleeping/resting) of 238 bpm. This is what got me airlifted to Albuquerque, New Mexico and got the ball rolling on a 3 year journey to find a diagnosis.

.....whew that was alot of work trying to find smaller terms for all of these so you all can understand!

Your heart is an amazing organ and works hard so you don't have to. Please take care of it as much as possible. Eat right, exercise daily, and de-stress as often as possible in a healthy coping manner.