Barry Hooton
Living with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and an undiagnosed condition This story comes from two people – me, Anna (aged 17), a.k.a. “the girlfriend” and Barry (aged 23), a.k.a. “the mystery.” Its a long story, but perhaps may give hope to those who are also undiagnosed just like Barry. This story begins on June […]
Joseph Tanner
Living with Brugada syndrome (type 3) Sunday 16th March 2008, I had a cardiac arrest and died for 7 minutes. I collapsed at the finishing line of the Hastings half marathon. I had no clue that I had an undiagnosed heart condition, I always considered myself a healthy person. Before this fateful day, I would […]
David Hillson
Living with suspected arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) In February 2008 I was out running with a friend. It was bitterly cold and I had not run over the Christmas period so this run was my attempt to ‘get back into it’! I had always been fairly healthy, played football all my life (and rugby […]
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 […]
Fraser Thomas
Living with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy I am one of the few lucky parents as my son, Fraser, survived a full cardiac arrest while playing football last year. He had no previous symptoms or illness and was saved thanks to two medical students who happened to be playing football that day and also a mobile defibrillator that […]
Russell Goodman
Living with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and an undiagnosed condition A healthy way to start the weekend, get up Saturday morning and go for a run. This was something my fiancée Charlotte and I enjoy regularly, sick this one however was very different. After being out for just over an hour running the streets […]
Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)
Read the ICD Special Issue myheart newsletter If the bottom chambers (ventricles) of your heart are prone to going into either a dangerously fast or a chaotic heart rhythm (called ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation respectively), or if you are thought to be at risk of your heart going into these dangerous rhythms, then an implantable […]
Pacemakers
Pacemakers electrically stimulate your heart to make it contract and produce a heartbeat. They differ from implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) in that they do not have the ability to give your heart an electric shock. Pacemakers can be helpful if you have problems with the electrical activity in your heart which causes it to beat […]
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC)
The incidence of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is now thought to be higher than previously believed (affecting 1 in every 1000 individuals), due to the availability of better diagnostic techniques and general awareness of the disorder amongst the medical profession. ARVC was first recognised in the late 1970’s. It is anticipated that even more information regarding ARVC will be available in the coming years, to help us understand the natural history of the condition.
Brugada syndrome
In the western world it affects mainly young and middle-aged adult men. It has been associated with mutations in the same sodium channel that is affected in long QT syndrome, but this appears to account for only 1 in every 5 people with the condition. The sodium channel behaves abnormally in that movement of sodium ions into the cells is restricted. This results in particular changes on the ECG but no abnormalities in the structure of the heart. Other genes have been described as being involved in Brugada syndrome that produce calcium ion channels and a protein in the cell surface (membrane) that interacts with the sodium channel. They have, however, only been detected in a small number of carriers.