Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome

My husband had wpw and had the operation, it was quick and he has felt sooo much better since then. We went to our state teaching hospital. a long drive but the university of Michigan hospital was so cool about everything. He had his done about 10 years ago
The doctor said that only 1 in 1000 don't work, and that 1 can be fixed with a pacemaker....no meds to take afterword, no more worries. We have been very grateful.
wife5047

I am a Registered Nurse and my son was diagnosed with wpw syndrome at age 13 in 8/2007. At first he just told me he felt his heart was going to come out of his chest and that it would beat really fast while he was at school. I just chalked it up to anxiety. It then happened at home one day while he was playing basketball. I grabbed my stethascope and had a listen while he was about to pass out and his heart rate was over 260 beats a minute and with a flick of a switch it went back to normal rate. That is finally when I realized something wasn't right. The cardiologist put him on Toprol XL 50mg a day, and that made him very tired. Stimulating the vagal nerve by pretending to have the largest bowel movement you've ever had helped put him back into a normal rhythym. We opted to have the cardiac ablation done because it kept getting worse and at 13, he was having way too many side effects of the Toprol and I didn't want him being on it for the rest of his life. Dr. Wilbur at Loyola University in Chicago did this proceedure, It was pretty simple except for him not being able to move for 6 hours afterwards. It was also on the left side of the heart so he had to be on blood thinners for 30 days. But I am so thankful to God and the hands of Dr. Wilbur, he has been symptom free and I feel cured forever. Please have this done if it is at all possible. But do research on the DR. Some have more success rates than other.

my daughter has wpws she have been informed by her consultant she has to go on wating list for the operation. we have been out of our minds with worry. it gave me great pleasure in ready your review and its making us feel at ease with the problem we are dealing with[/quote]

I was diagnosed in 5th grade with WPW. It was very hard to deal with at such a young age. I wasnt alowed to play with my friends at recess or anything, and I was a very active child. And I had to wait i believe about 5 to 6 months to have the operation. I am now a Senior in High School and i suggest to anyone with WPW if you are able too, GET THE Oblation. Your life will be so much easier and so much more fun. I am VERY greatful that i had it fixed at such a young age. And if you are scared, dont be. It is a quick and easy thing that doctors are able to fix. So dont worry!

I was diagnosed with WPW Syndrome at the age of 21 in 2008. I had the ablation done and it has helped alot! However i was told that my case was a difficult one and i had multiple extra pathways! My surgeon said he got all the pathways successfully except for one which apparently is on the outside of my heart! After the ablation i did have symptoms but they dissapeared once i increased my medication! Since then i have develped an anxiety problem and often have a strong heart beat that now occurs up to 5 - 10 times a day!

Does anyone know why this happens?

I am 28 now, I was diagnosed when I was born. i had several bad episodes during childhood. I finally had enough of being scared and at 18 had the surgery. He couldn't get rid of the pathway, Great...i was so upset. I also had terrible palpitations after the surgery but unlike the regular wolf palps..its was different for about a year too...I'm 28 and haven't had an episode in 10 years, I thank god..but now I'm recently married and want to have kids, I don't feel safe knowing I still might have this condition since it shows up on my EKG. I also am on Atenenol and have been for 10 years, you cant be pregnant and on atenenol. I went to the dr. today..hes gonna look at my past operation notes..hes a new dr.
I'm gonna do a stress test..hope all goes well...and for you all too...take care

Hi all,
I was diagnosed two weeks ago with WPW...after a lifetime of feeling progressively worse. I remember it starting when I was about 16 and getting terrible palpitations while playing sport. I assumed I was just unfit, even though I trained just as much and as hard as the rest of the team.

When I started to drink alcohol and go out dancing, I would always get attacks. I believed then that I was having anxiety attacks, as they can appear quite similar.

I ended up stopping sport altogether when I was about 24. Gym training would make me nearly pass out, and I just couldn't take the embarrassment of being so 'unfit'. Finally, last fall, at the age of 28, I decided to go back to team sport. I started complaining of the awful palpitations straight away, but again, put it down to unfitness and anxiety at not being godd enough.

The episodes grew considerably worse, my t-shirt would physically pulsate with my fast heart rate. Finally I brought it up with the doctor when I went in about another issue. I had mentioned it to docs before but they brushed it off. This time I laid it out for her, how my vision had started to go brown during the episodes (this was just me almost passing out, but I didn't know that), how I couldn't stand up during an attack, etc etc... she listened and heard I had a heart murmur and orgainsed a cardiologist appointment for me in the local hospital.
I went into her the week after, and she noticed my murmur was very loud and that my symptoms had gone beyond the explanation of stress or anxiety. She send an urgent letter to the hospital.

While waiting for my appointment, I attended training. I was not to train, under her strict instructions, but I decided to go down and assist the coach instead. I took part in a couple of drills and immediately lost my breath. I fought through it, thinking still that it was just a murmur...

I finished training after an hour and a half and was feeling bad, the old familiar palpitations and light headedness. Ihad also been experiencing extreme tiredness, and hadn't been able to get out of bed til 3pm that afternoon. i knew something was about to happen. I had a real sense of foreboding.

That night, I got chest pains. I called the Caredoc and said that it wasn't an emergency, I knew I had a murmur and was waiting for a hospital appt, but I just wanted to run this feeling passed a nurse. Spke to a nurse, and she had a doc call me straight away. he ordered me straight into A&E.

I was in hospital for 5 days on bed rest while they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. yes, I had a murmur and a valve defect called Pulmonary Stenosis, but that was all - the valve thing is just symptomatic and not dangerous.

Then, just as they were about to discharge me, to my great horror, with no medication for what I felt was a debilitating condition - they gave me a stress test. Ran fine, as most of you will know - the running itself isn't a problem, it was the resting period that my heart started 'spiking'. the doctors came running back in and watched in amazement as I went from 100 to 190 bpm. They asked if this is how I usually felt after excercise... 'Oh no', I replied - 'it's usually much worse...'. The cardiologist smiled and said I was a very lucky girl.

So! That's my long story to diagnosis. I am on beta blockers now - cardicor, and I am utterly exhausted. But! I am getting the ablation asap, as my condition was considered to be at the more dangerous end of the scale. i am looking forward, very excited in fact, to a life without WPW. I am looking forward to being fit!

Good luck to all of you...xxx

Hi, every procedure has pro and con. I'm 51 now. I was diagnosed with wpw when I was 15 years old. I have a pacemaker and this current one is number 4.

I have 2 daughters by natural birth. They are very healthy. Non of them has heart problem. So.... wpw can also has pregnancy and normal birth.

Now I've AF. My cardio expecting it'll come. I'm not sure are all the wpws will have AF later (even after ablation). I'm still having wpw. It is type B and the pathway is anterograded from the Atrial to Ventricle. I'm not sure what kind of wpw that I had before the ablation.

Take care.

hi every1 im a 24 years old girl i was diagnosed with wpw i had its attacks since i was 4 years old i tried blockers it didnt work and i made 4 ablations yes 4! and everytime the attacks just return back its so stupid and i just do not know what else to doyellow

Hey everyone,

It has been very interesting reading your stories. It is comforting knowing there are others out there dealing with the same issues that I have been my whole life.

I am 29 years old and I have been dealing with WPW since I was a child ( 4-5years old )

During my youth I was placed on a drug ( i forget the name ) which seemed to decrease the episodes. After a while, my episodes were so infrequent I decided to stop taking the drugs, I was in my teens.

Things seemed to be promising as the episodes would only occure once every 3-4 months or so and were very brief ( 2-3 minutes ) and I could control them with Vagal assistance. I typically will hold my nose and put pressure on my head which will stop my heart from racing )

Now that I am 29, I have been medication free for well over 10 years...I still currently deal with the occasional episode but since I have had it my whole life I have been taking it very lightly when it happens as it only happens for 1-2 minutes before I can control it.

I found this website being curious about my 'long forgotten' syndrome and it has resparked my interest about getting this surgery done. I hope to speak to my family doctor soon to find out if my condition is serious enough to warrant the surgery.

Even though my condition appears to be mild and infrequent it would be very very satisfying to know I could cease the episodes all together and not have the burden in the back of my mind..