Cheryl P. was a healthy young mom with a fulfilling career when she started to have unsteady heartbeats. Some days, her heart raced and she felt dizzy. She was tired all the time.
“I kept going to the emergency room,” says Cheryl, now 44. “And they kept saying, ‘You’re just anxious. Go home and be thankful you have a healthy heart.’”
But Cheryl knew she wasn’t just anxious. She kept looking for answers, even using consumer devices to track her heart rate. Eventually, she had a loop recorder (a device that records electrical impulses to the heart) implanted. Two days later, she collapsed at work.
Cheryl was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). The condition causes a fast heart rate when a person goes from sitting or lying down to standing up. Testing also revealed abnormal heartbeats. Cheryl’s local cardiologist wasn’t sure why.
Cheryl went to many different hospitals in search of answers and a way forward. Doctors tried to manage her symptoms with medications. But it didn’t work.
As Cheryl’s symptoms worsened, she couldn’t work, drive, or, on some days, even get out of bed.
“I felt like I would faint a lot of the time,” Cheryl says. “I was afraid to be alone.”
Out of options, Cheryl’s cardiologist suggested she call Temple Health’s Electrophysiology Program, hoping they might be able to offer answers.
Meeting the doctors that changed her life
At Temple, Cheryl met with expert electrophysiologists Joshua Cooper, MD, FACC, FHRS, and Isaac Russell Whitman, MD. With their willingness to look at her health holistically, Cheryl says, a full picture of her heart problems began to emerge.
Cheryl had more than one type of arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat caused by problems with the heart’s natural electrical system.) Her diagnoses included premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), which results from an extra heartbeat; and three different forms of tachycardia, an abnormally fast heart rate.
Cheryl’s arrhythmias were complex and challenging to treat, but she was finally in the right place: Temple’s specialists have decades of experience diagnosing and treating arrhythmias. And they work in one of the most advanced electrophysiology labs in Pennsylvania.
Initially, Dr. Cooper surgically placed an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) under the skin of Cheryl’s chest. The device can detect potentially dangerous abnormal heart rhythms and can correct them with a shock to save her life.
Then, Dr. Cooper and Dr. Whitman performed several cardiac ablations to address her different abnormal heart rhythms. The ablation procedures destroy the small areas of heart tissue that are causing the abnormal electrical signals.
Because of these ablations, Cheryl’s ICD has not had to perform its life-saving function. However, she has the reassurance of knowing it is there, just in case.
Cheryl valued how her Temple doctors considered her preferences when offering a treatment plan for her.
