What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Long QT Syndrome?

Major Signs and Symptoms

If you have long QT syndrome (LQTS), you're prone to developing a sudden and dangerous arrhythmia. Symptoms or signs of the arrhythmias that people with LQTS tend to have often first appear during childhood and include:

• Unexplained fainting. This happens because your heart isn't pumping enough blood to your brain. Fainting may occur when you're under physical or emotional stress. Some people will have a fluttering feeling in their chest before they faint.
• Unexplained seizures. Those around you may mistake your fainting from LQTS to be a seizure due to epilepsy. In children, fainting may be seen as a hysterical reaction to a stressful situation.
• Unexplained drowning or near drowning. This may be due to fainting while swimming.
• Unexplained sudden cardiac arrest or death. This means that your heart suddenly stops beating for no obvious reason. People who have sudden cardiac arrest will die within minutes unless they receive treatment. Most people who experience sudden cardiac arrest die. In about 1 out of 10 patients, sudden cardiac arrest or death is the first sign of LQTS.

Other Signs and Symptoms

Often people with LQTS 3 will develop an irregular heartbeat during sleep. This may cause them to have noisy gasping while sleeping.

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