Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome

A little over three years ago, I left my mom's house and was on my own. I hadn't known at the time in a few months I would be diagnosed with a heart condition, that would take the life of both of my uncles. It is called (Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome) WPW. This past April I had a surgery that was supposed to fix it and take it away. In rare cases it will come back and for me I was one of the rare cases. A few days ago, I was told signs of WPW were starting to show. If it comes back to its full power again, I will have another surgery. A lot of doctors and many people have no idea what this is, and I want to share with you so that you will know.

WPW (Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome) is a heart condition in which you are born with that progresses as you age. Weight and not eating healthy can make it progress a lot faster. What WPW does is change how the electrical charges of your heart get around. The electrical charges take the different passage than the usual passage for them and it causes extra beats in your heart that are fast. Think of the pathways as your way home with WPW your heart decides it's going to send your electrical charges through a short cut which in returns causes your heart rate to speed up. This can cause tightness, anxiety, chest pain, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, shortness of breath, and almost always heart palpitations.

In order to test to see if you have WPW your doctor might do an EKG (Electrocardiogram) which is where they put little stickers on your body and connect wires that test the electrical charges of your heart. Another way is a halter monitor this is a portable EKG that you carry with you for 24 to 47 hours that monitors your heart during regular activities. There is quite a few more ways to test to see if you have this like a event recorder or Electrophysiological study. Once there is a diagnosis there is a surgery known as a cardiac ablation which they go in and burn where the extra electrical charge is coming from in order to prevent it from causing further problems. There are other options such as medications, and a shock to the heart. I hope now that you know a little more about this rare heart condition and are able to understand it.