Atrial Fibrillation
Discussion
I have AF, wonderful thing it is. Adds to the copious number of pills I take daily, digoxin is the one to watch though.
Is it permanent or part time?
It's great to watch the medical staff in action. The number of times I have told them electronic BP machines won't work but they still persist, ten tries later and a lot of muttering the old mercury and stethoscope appear as if by magic.
When I first got it along with cardiomyopathy, I had to go to heart classes with the older generation to do some workouts. Through the class and at the end they checked your pulse rate to make sure that it wasn't too high and that you went back to the base level when you had finished. After a couple of weeks they gave up with me, as when doing intensive exercise pulse was 40's, when resting it was 120; tbh you could pick any number, a bit like bingo
ETA: mine is always there, so no triggers [although alcohol can affect the medicine]; it can and does make you feel really s
te at times. I have also had a recent scan and been told that I have dilation of both atria; I can't tell what that means but apparently it's to be expected after long term AF according to my cardiologist.
You can have intervention, ie stop and restart heart etc but the success rate for me was <20% so didn't bother. However I have been warned that some folks end up with a pacemaker if the medicines fail to work. Sorry, full of early morning pessimism.
Is it permanent or part time?
It's great to watch the medical staff in action. The number of times I have told them electronic BP machines won't work but they still persist, ten tries later and a lot of muttering the old mercury and stethoscope appear as if by magic.
When I first got it along with cardiomyopathy, I had to go to heart classes with the older generation to do some workouts. Through the class and at the end they checked your pulse rate to make sure that it wasn't too high and that you went back to the base level when you had finished. After a couple of weeks they gave up with me, as when doing intensive exercise pulse was 40's, when resting it was 120; tbh you could pick any number, a bit like bingo
ETA: mine is always there, so no triggers [although alcohol can affect the medicine]; it can and does make you feel really s
te at times. I have also had a recent scan and been told that I have dilation of both atria; I can't tell what that means but apparently it's to be expected after long term AF according to my cardiologist.You can have intervention, ie stop and restart heart etc but the success rate for me was <20% so didn't bother. However I have been warned that some folks end up with a pacemaker if the medicines fail to work. Sorry, full of early morning pessimism.
Edited by carinatauk on Friday 13th September 07:49
I have it , stopped my driving career dead in its tracks .
Mine is fast AF , the heart races but doesn't pump very well , resulting in fast pulse but extremely low blood pressure.
I have had cardioversion done twice ( stop and restart the heart ) the first time it maintained good rhythm for about a month and I felt great the second time only 3 days .
I have heart disease and an enlarged ventricle and I am on pretty high dose beta blockers along with the usual anticoagulant meds .
I have been told that I have to live with it as any further intervention is outweighed by possible problems as I also have had a stroke in the past .
Along with osteoarthritis in knees, hips and back I am now officially classed as disabled.
Breathlessness, not tolerating hot weather and limited mobility can be very wearing at time .
My lowest BP to date has been 72/38 . If I feel crappy it's usually because my BP is low , I have a routine to follow and if it stays low then I have been ordered to seek help ( urgently! )
Spending a minimum of 8 hours in A+E each visit soon gets rather boring especially when each time they hook you up to a drip you know that it's going to be at least 6 hours of boredom. As others have said digoxin usually means it's not going to be a quick visit .
But the NHS paramedics, nurses and doctors are wonderful people doing a wonderful job .
Mine is fast AF , the heart races but doesn't pump very well , resulting in fast pulse but extremely low blood pressure.
I have had cardioversion done twice ( stop and restart the heart ) the first time it maintained good rhythm for about a month and I felt great the second time only 3 days .
I have heart disease and an enlarged ventricle and I am on pretty high dose beta blockers along with the usual anticoagulant meds .
I have been told that I have to live with it as any further intervention is outweighed by possible problems as I also have had a stroke in the past .
Along with osteoarthritis in knees, hips and back I am now officially classed as disabled.
Breathlessness, not tolerating hot weather and limited mobility can be very wearing at time .
My lowest BP to date has been 72/38 . If I feel crappy it's usually because my BP is low , I have a routine to follow and if it stays low then I have been ordered to seek help ( urgently! )
Spending a minimum of 8 hours in A+E each visit soon gets rather boring especially when each time they hook you up to a drip you know that it's going to be at least 6 hours of boredom. As others have said digoxin usually means it's not going to be a quick visit .
But the NHS paramedics, nurses and doctors are wonderful people doing a wonderful job .
Apologies for forgetting to return here.
OK, some history. At Uni I went from being an athelete to not being able to walk to the toilet, for a few months. I played rugby with a chest infection, ended up with myocarditis and pneumonia.
About five years ago, I started telling my wife my heart wasn't behaving - she poo poo'd it. Then one day lying on my chest, she went "what's that?"
"My heart"
"You're going to a doctor"
I ended up getting a Cardia device to help me record my heart. It means I have evidence.... Yesterday I washed two cars, walked the dogs, went for a bike ride, helped clean the house, entertained guests and didn't have any issues.
This morning, just after the guests left, I registered a peak of 231bpm (second highest I've recorded), with an average of 215. I can't get over 186 on the bike (resting rate of ~50bpm).
I can't get a handle on what causes it - I've cut out salt, massive reduction in booze, I had just eaten a small breakfast, but I hadn't bent over to put pressure on the vegus nerve. I'm not massively stressed now (last month saw ~375 hours worked), and I'm tired, but I've had worse. I'm hydrated.... argh! Anyway, enough moaning. I took my 'pill in the pocket' and it settled down over an hour.
Anyway, look after yourself people.
OK, some history. At Uni I went from being an athelete to not being able to walk to the toilet, for a few months. I played rugby with a chest infection, ended up with myocarditis and pneumonia.
About five years ago, I started telling my wife my heart wasn't behaving - she poo poo'd it. Then one day lying on my chest, she went "what's that?"
"My heart"
"You're going to a doctor"
I ended up getting a Cardia device to help me record my heart. It means I have evidence.... Yesterday I washed two cars, walked the dogs, went for a bike ride, helped clean the house, entertained guests and didn't have any issues.
This morning, just after the guests left, I registered a peak of 231bpm (second highest I've recorded), with an average of 215. I can't get over 186 on the bike (resting rate of ~50bpm).
I can't get a handle on what causes it - I've cut out salt, massive reduction in booze, I had just eaten a small breakfast, but I hadn't bent over to put pressure on the vegus nerve. I'm not massively stressed now (last month saw ~375 hours worked), and I'm tired, but I've had worse. I'm hydrated.... argh! Anyway, enough moaning. I took my 'pill in the pocket' and it settled down over an hour.
Anyway, look after yourself people.
Thankfully (as far as I know) I don't have AF or other probs, but I'll put in my 2 penorth for others to comment on. What I'm about to say may have no relevance whatsoever...… I have a suspicion that telling the population to reduce salt, reduce fat etc may be causing problems. The body needs a certain amount of salts and minerals, also fats for the brain to operate (alzheimers?). About 25 years ago there was a product being pushed as the one to use (Lo salt) which my Wife and I started using instead of regular Sodium chloride salt (can't remember, but Lo salt may have been potassium based? Anyway, after a couple of weeks of this my Wife said "I feel strange every now and again, as if my heart's missing a beat?" "Funny you should say that- I've had the same" said I. We quickly came to the same conclusion, gave up lo salt and never had it again. If I ride my bike in hot weather I was getting cramp after about 70 miles, I now take an electrolyte tablet to mix in the water bottle, not had the problem in last 2 years.
Caffeine! Forgot about that. Gave it up last year. For rides, I use an electrolyte replacement tablet in the water - works wonders when you're a sweaty mess like me.
One other bit - weakness in the left arm sometimes. The cardiologist was doubtful, but I did finally get an abnormal trace when I had it - the systolic peak was 50% under normal. The other thing is what I call butterflies. It feels like nervousness or butterflies. The Kardia device records it as hesitations in the start of the diastolic phase.
Still wish I could figure out what starts this all off....
One other bit - weakness in the left arm sometimes. The cardiologist was doubtful, but I did finally get an abnormal trace when I had it - the systolic peak was 50% under normal. The other thing is what I call butterflies. It feels like nervousness or butterflies. The Kardia device records it as hesitations in the start of the diastolic phase.
Still wish I could figure out what starts this all off....
It appears (if the link below is correct, that I may be correct to think these is a connection to electrolites
I did a google search and it turned up (amongst others).
https://www.livingwithatrialfibrillation.com/3094/...
Which probably explains the 'missed' beats my Wife and I experienced when we had the lo salt!
I did a google search and it turned up (amongst others).
https://www.livingwithatrialfibrillation.com/3094/...
Which probably explains the 'missed' beats my Wife and I experienced when we had the lo salt!
I suffered similar symptoms to the OP for about 8 years - I avoided most types of exercise as my heart didn’t return to normal until I’d slept that night! I pretty much gave up alcohol/caffeine and a number of other things, but nothing made any difference. I worked out that adrenaline was a major trigger, along with any half strenuous exercise; even a few flights of stairs would start off my high heart rate.
I was given all sorts of tablets, which usually just resulted in me feeling lousy, and was told it could be because I’m tall and thin (6’3” and 80kg), but I wasn’t just going to accept a lack of diagnosis and live with no exercise, or fear of spending most days with a heart rate in to the 200’s!
I finally convinced my specialist to give me a simple stress test, which is effectively running on a treadmill whilst wired up - and all was good until I stopped, and then my heart rate jumped up. They spotted straight away that I was suffering with SVT - I was booked in for ablation pretty quickly afterwards. Had a pretty horrible operation which I was awake for (!) and they luckily managed to stem the additional flow of blood in to my heart which was causing the SVT.
Touch wood, I’ve been absolutely fine since - although mentally have struggled a bit with exercise as the anxiety of it returning is pretty bad! The operation was 10 years ago, and apart from the odd flutter, which I think I’m just sensitive too, it’s been good as gold!
So in short - I would ask for a stress test, so they can see in real time what’s going on. All of the 24hr ecg machines they gave me didn’t pick anything up!
Would be interesting to see if the latest Apple watches are successful in spotting the trigger as they supposedly can detect AF.
I was given all sorts of tablets, which usually just resulted in me feeling lousy, and was told it could be because I’m tall and thin (6’3” and 80kg), but I wasn’t just going to accept a lack of diagnosis and live with no exercise, or fear of spending most days with a heart rate in to the 200’s!
I finally convinced my specialist to give me a simple stress test, which is effectively running on a treadmill whilst wired up - and all was good until I stopped, and then my heart rate jumped up. They spotted straight away that I was suffering with SVT - I was booked in for ablation pretty quickly afterwards. Had a pretty horrible operation which I was awake for (!) and they luckily managed to stem the additional flow of blood in to my heart which was causing the SVT.
Touch wood, I’ve been absolutely fine since - although mentally have struggled a bit with exercise as the anxiety of it returning is pretty bad! The operation was 10 years ago, and apart from the odd flutter, which I think I’m just sensitive too, it’s been good as gold!
So in short - I would ask for a stress test, so they can see in real time what’s going on. All of the 24hr ecg machines they gave me didn’t pick anything up!
Would be interesting to see if the latest Apple watches are successful in spotting the trigger as they supposedly can detect AF.
Don1 said:
It's worth a thought. The flutter sounds like my butterflies....
That's what I thought I had - occasional "butterflies"However, on Christmas day 2019 I felt a bit unusual - couldn't really put my finger on it, but it felt like a weird kind of indigestion, (I also suffer from acid reflux). I took some Gaviscon and went on my Christmas day photography trip to London with my son - while I was relaxed in the car, I felt weird, and when I was trudging round London, I felt fine.
Boxing day morning at 2:00am and I knew something wasn't right - called 111 and they called the paramedics. Paramedics arrived at about 3:00am and hooked me up to an ECG and recorded close to 200bpm while relaxed on the sofa
An hour later, I was in A&E, still with 150+bpm and lots more wires stuck to various hairy bits of my torso and limbs (why does NHS use the stickiest substance for ECG tabs?...)
Somewhere around the middle of the day, my heart rate just switched back to normal - causing much head-scratching
I was kept in overnight and at 4:00am, I was woken by a worried-looking doctor, as the mobile ECG I'd had plugged into me for the last day was showing 150+ bpm while I was asleep (sadly, I don't remember the dream, but I think it may have been a good 'un...)
Fast AF diagnosed and I was put on a very low dose of beta blockers and some blood thinners - it took a couple of weeks, but everything settled down nicely and I now only get the very occasional flutter
Moral of the story - don't just do the usual PH bloke thing and assume that "the occasional flutter" will not turn into something worse - while I was in hospital, I was told of more than one poor soul who had suffered a heart attack due to fast AF - all while sleeping
Don1 said:
Apologies for forgetting to return here.
OK, some history. At Uni I went from being an athelete to not being able to walk to the toilet, for a few months. I played rugby with a chest infection, ended up with myocarditis and pneumonia.
About five years ago, I started telling my wife my heart wasn't behaving - she poo poo'd it. Then one day lying on my chest, she went "what's that?"
"My heart"
"You're going to a doctor"
I ended up getting a Cardia device to help me record my heart. It means I have evidence.... Yesterday I washed two cars, walked the dogs, went for a bike ride, helped clean the house, entertained guests and didn't have any issues.
This morning, just after the guests left, I registered a peak of 231bpm (second highest I've recorded), with an average of 215. I can't get over 186 on the bike (resting rate of ~50bpm).
I can't get a handle on what causes it - I've cut out salt, massive reduction in booze, I had just eaten a small breakfast, but I hadn't bent over to put pressure on the vegus nerve. I'm not massively stressed now (last month saw ~375 hours worked), and I'm tired, but I've had worse. I'm hydrated.... argh! Anyway, enough moaning. I took my 'pill in the pocket' and it settled down over an hour.
Anyway, look after yourself people.
There are way, way more qualified people on here than me, however just be careful with a rate that high, call for an ambulance ASAP. You can’t maintain a HR like that for long, as your heart isn’t getting sufficient time to refill before contraction. In my experience it’s much more likely to be an SVT at that rate rather than fast AF. OK, some history. At Uni I went from being an athelete to not being able to walk to the toilet, for a few months. I played rugby with a chest infection, ended up with myocarditis and pneumonia.
About five years ago, I started telling my wife my heart wasn't behaving - she poo poo'd it. Then one day lying on my chest, she went "what's that?"
"My heart"
"You're going to a doctor"
I ended up getting a Cardia device to help me record my heart. It means I have evidence.... Yesterday I washed two cars, walked the dogs, went for a bike ride, helped clean the house, entertained guests and didn't have any issues.
This morning, just after the guests left, I registered a peak of 231bpm (second highest I've recorded), with an average of 215. I can't get over 186 on the bike (resting rate of ~50bpm).
I can't get a handle on what causes it - I've cut out salt, massive reduction in booze, I had just eaten a small breakfast, but I hadn't bent over to put pressure on the vegus nerve. I'm not massively stressed now (last month saw ~375 hours worked), and I'm tired, but I've had worse. I'm hydrated.... argh! Anyway, enough moaning. I took my 'pill in the pocket' and it settled down over an hour.
Anyway, look after yourself people.
No, anti fungals (athletes foot cream), of all things. Strange for a topical treatment to have such an effect. Been hospitalised twice with this, I have an enlarged heart on one side which is the cause apparently. Been on 7 tabs a day since diagnosis for years now, still train weights, run and cycle, live a pretty normal life, fingers crossed this lasts but I'm under no illusions, I will most likely always be between hospital visits for this regardless how far apart. Stay healthy guys. Gbn
My story started in December, I was prescribed Fexofeanadine instead of Larotadine. I live in France, but in the UK, it is not recommended for over 65s. On New Years Day, my pulse went bonkers - 190bpm, but with huge gaps.
I drove down to Spain on 3rd January, but by the 7th, I could not walk a long distance. My treatment down there was exceptional (but a tad expensive) and I had Cardioversion on 15th as the consultant was concerned that would have a heart attack if left as I was not being helped by the drugs. As soon as I stopped taking the Fexofenadine, I started to feel more normal. After one shot of Cardioversion, the rhythm was back to normal.
Now back in France, I have been told to continue taking a low dose of Amiodarone and Edoxaban on weekdays. I am not very happy about this as I am able to exercise normally.
Has anyone successfully come off these drugs post Cardioversion? (I suppose that the unsuccessful might not be reading this
)
I drove down to Spain on 3rd January, but by the 7th, I could not walk a long distance. My treatment down there was exceptional (but a tad expensive) and I had Cardioversion on 15th as the consultant was concerned that would have a heart attack if left as I was not being helped by the drugs. As soon as I stopped taking the Fexofenadine, I started to feel more normal. After one shot of Cardioversion, the rhythm was back to normal.
Now back in France, I have been told to continue taking a low dose of Amiodarone and Edoxaban on weekdays. I am not very happy about this as I am able to exercise normally.
Has anyone successfully come off these drugs post Cardioversion? (I suppose that the unsuccessful might not be reading this
)Jesus. Not my side, but good luck to you.
Last night was interesting. Woke in my left side, with my heart thumping madly, but I could only feel it on the left half of my body. For those fighters amongst you, it felt like a body shot each pulse.
Today I had mostly lost the power in my left arm, until I had NS drugs and pain killers.
What's that about Italy having 24.5% death rate with AF and Covid? Sod that. I'm surviving.
Last night was interesting. Woke in my left side, with my heart thumping madly, but I could only feel it on the left half of my body. For those fighters amongst you, it felt like a body shot each pulse.
Today I had mostly lost the power in my left arm, until I had NS drugs and pain killers.
What's that about Italy having 24.5% death rate with AF and Covid? Sod that. I'm surviving.
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