What is wpw?

If you’ve ever been to the doctor and heard them say “WPW” and wondered if you had somehow turned into a walking pizza wrap, then you’re not alone. In fact, WPW refers to something far less tasty but potentially just as complicated: Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

So what even is that?

Well, in fancy medical terms, it’s a congenital disorder that affects your heart’s electrical system. Essentially what this means is that there are extra pathways in your heart that can cause an abnormal heartbeat (aka arrhythmia) when they get activated.

Here’s the TL;DR version for those of us who don’t understand doctor-speak: sometimes things go wrong with our hearts’ electrical wiring and we end up with some serious problems.

Symptoms

The crazy thing about WPW is that for many people who have it, they won’t experience any symptoms whatsoever. For others though, symptoms may include:

  • Rapid or fluttering heartbeat
  • Shortness of breath
  • Dizziness or lightheadedness
  • Fainting spells
  • Chest pain or discomfort

Fun times at the old homestead, amirite?

It’s also important to note that while these symptoms can be markers of WPW specifically, they could also indicate other problems with your ticker so if you do start experiencing them regularly (or irregularly?), best practice would be to book an appointment with your GP ASAP.

Potential Complications

While often considered benign for those without any clinical manifestations like rapid palpitations leading onto hypotension(Don’t Google this on its own!), in severe cases where episodes become hemodynamically unstable causing blood pressure drop resulting into loss of consciousness (Huh?!) amongst other presentations which may require actual emergency interventions including Electric Cardioversion therapy or Ablation(surgery where tissue thought to be causing the issues is removed), WPW can lead to some serious and even deadly long-term complications.

Causes

WPW is usually caused by a genetic mutation that disrupts the normal development of your heart’s electrical system while you’re still in utero.

But there are other factors involved too: caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and cocaine use (Side note-just say no kiddos🙃! ) have all been linked with increased risk of arrhythmias in general so if you’re getting jiggy with any or all of them{{Seriously?}}, then you might want to consider rethinking things if they start interfering with your regular beat {{Like Not break into dance at every possible occasion potentially leading onto sudden onset tachycardia???}}.

Diagnosis & Treatment

If your GP thinks that you may be suffering from WPW symptoms then they might refer you for an electrocardiogram (ECG) test; it’s pretty simple stuff where doctors attach conductive pads to different parts of your body before flowing a tiny amount of electricity around to get pictures(There’s really not much more than this)- think upping contact points on electric outlets only for humans😀!

These ECG results will give docs insight into what exactly it looks like when electrics run through your wondrous self 🧐!In case Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome shines bright as day on these tests ({Also literally as well considering the trail colors ranging from blue,violet,warm colours used by professionals} I know who said doctors don’t believe in aesthetics?)

Depending upon frequency seriousness symptoms-presentations(risk stratification helps categorize how severe-ischemic strokes(TIA-like events) needing prophylactic blood thinners etc.).Your doctor may opt for close monitoring rather than immediate treatments.Since medications(if chosen)may help alleviate symptoms but come with their own pitfalls like delayed-slow nerve conductions leading to secondary constriction in your bronchiole or blood pressure(BP) dysregulation.So choices can have side effects beyond managing WPW🤔(who knew right?).

Ablation

For those with more severe cases, an ablation may be the way forward.A tiny catheter is inserted into a vein before being pushed up towards the heart. They then use radiofrequency energy via this catheter tip designed to get rid of smaller tissue which cause issues thus normalizing regular electrophysiology of our hearts(Normal almost always sounds like a magical unicorn for physicians).

Is it invasive?- Yes!

Is it freaky?- Definitely!

But weird fact incoming➡️!Ablations have proven pretty successful with most cases left symptom-free post procedure(It’s obviously not that deep y’all…no biggie!).

Final Thoughts

While WPW might sound like some fancy new pizza roll you’ve yet to try out {{Nice double pun huh?:’) 🍕}}, It’s really a potentially serious condition affecting people all around the world everyday whether we know about it or not.Most however remain asymptomatic and as such don’t need any special medications other than perhaps healthy lifestyle choices- so make sure you listen closely to what your body is telling you and opt for that check-up if anything feels funky.Practice good habits and stay safe($Group Hug$)- until next time folks.

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