Last friday we found out my younger brother has PSVT or Paroxysmal Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. What is this? Well, its when the electrical pulses that tell which parts of your heart to beat at certain times get really mixed up and go really fast. My brother, who is thirteen, said it feels like a base drum pounding really hard and fast in your chest. It happened after he ran a few laps in PE when he felt this. He went pale, even his lips were colorless. My mom picked him up and took him to the ER where he was hooked up to leads, and EKG's and had his blood drawn. This process as very scary for him, of course, but he never stopped being his hilarious self. They turned on the heart monitor but he wasn't quite hooked up yet so all he saw on the screen was a flat line. This freaked him out a bit and he turned to my mom and asked, "have I flat-lined?" with a look of terror on his face. After they drew his blood he said, "I feel lopsided".
Turns out the only ways to lower your heart rate are quite funny! One way is to lie on your back and put your feet in the air. Another is to make the muscle movements as if you are about to poop (my friend Loser likes that one a lot) and another is to splash cold water on your face. Naturally my brother was slightly horrified to find out he would have to do these in public if this happened again. He then asked, "isn't there some sort of needle I could stab into my thigh or something?!"
So if you ever see someone doing these, don't judge. In fact you might want to call an ambulance for them.
Tachycardia... Ahh... Noooooooooo....
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