Listen to Your Heart

Vanessa Waters, 59, woke up one morning in the fall of 2014 as she would any other morning. She began getting ready for work and suddenly noticed a tightness in her chest and immediately knew she needed to call 911.

The ambulance arrived and took her to a local hospital. While there, she was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), a condition in which one feels a faster than normal heart rate. From there, Vanessa was referred to Dr. Claudio Schuger at Henry Ford Hospital.

Dr. Schuger began with administering an electrocardiogram to measure the activity of Vanessa’s heart and was able to confirm the SVT’s that Vanessa was experiencing. Dr. Schugar also diagnosed premature ventricular contraction (PVC), a condition in which one experiences extra and abnormal heartbeats. When the time came for Dr. Schuger to perform an ablation on Vanessa’s heart, she was not experiencing symptoms at the time, so Dr. Schuger decided to prescribe her medication and monitor her symptoms from there.

Over time, Vanessa noticed that the medication managed the SVT’s but her PVC’s got worse.

By October of 2017, Vanessa scheduled an appointment with Dr. Schuger due to the concern with how many extra and abnormal heartbeats she felt. He gave her a Holter Monitor to observe her heartbeat and determine a new treatment plan.

Next, Dr. Schuger decided to schedule another ablation in early March of 2018 and, luckily, that was what did the trick.

Peace of Mind

Vanessa’s advice for anyone experiencing the same symptoms would be that you should be in tune with your body. “Listen to what your body tells you and what you’re feeling,” says Vanessa.

The heartbeats she felt caused a great deal of fear and frustration. But now that Vanessa has gotten treatment to control what she was feeling with the help of Dr. Schuger, she feels much more at ease. Vanessa has peace of mind knowing that her heart is beating regularly and that she has built a relationship with a doctor that is only a call away.