Hi all.
My mother was hospitalised from a reason related to SVT when she was 40. She underwent SVT Ablation back in 2000, but unfortunately the condition relapsed somehow and she suffered an attack in 2021 and again this year 2026. Her latest heart rate spiked to 150 and her oral medication didn't have an effect despite her taking it an hour or two before the attack, needing doctors to administer stronger doses to her via IV.
She was instructed to only take the medicine when she felt uncomfortable, so she's not on a consistent dose. Doctors have advised her to now take the medicine regularly, or until she decides to do SVT Ablation once again.
As she's now 66 she's a little hesitant to undergo the surgery yet again, worrying about the 1% risk of death/stroke. But she also expressed strong worry about our upcoming trip to Japan, which I'm bringing her along for her first time there in Oct later this year - as it will be roughly 6 hours in the air for us and we are both concern of the odds of the attack on the plane, and again when we are in Japan. (The first doctor who I spoke to stressed that even if she's healthy it could still happened out of the blue). I am not particularly keen if there's any risk involve in her flying with her condition as the earliest date of the Ablation will be in November - and I'm willing to eat the cost of cancelling the trip and postponing it even if she protest against it.
May I ask for those who are older or who have relatives/friends around the same age:
- Have you ever encountered difficulties when you were flying? Was it consistent when you were in the air?
- What advice would you give to a fellow elderly SVT patient? Should they cancel the trip if it involves a flight? The doctors have advised us saying that SVT is not life-threatening, but I'm not sure given that I was scared enough to call an ambulance as her recent attack had chest pains. (Doctors have claim its possible enzyme leakage from the heart beating too fast, so a CT scan is scheduled early next month.)
- Have you underwent ablation when you were >60 years old? Did anyone do ablation again twice in their life?
Sorry if these are basic questions. Hoping for some viewpoints I could consider from a wider audience who have the same condition in addition to the medical advice I was given.