Atrial Fibrillation

[lionne]

Well, the last 48 hours I had a Holter monitor on, so I kept pretty close track. My pulse has gone to 93 today, 107 yesterday, and the day before it was fine in the 80's mostly (which is pretty normal for me). Highest BPs were 141/91 today, 137/86 yesterday, and 132/88 the day before. Yesterday the main thing was dizziness much more than usual. So I asked them about that today and they said take an extra 25 mg of Atenolol on days that are that much worse. So I'll try that next time. So far today it's been better.

[randytburg]

Your B/Ps are a bit high...this could be a contributing factor to your a-fib. Any progress since March?

[lionne]

Definitely things have happened since March. Today I saw a specialist in A fib at OHSU with training in electrophysiology. He said it looked from the report of my Holter monitor like I have paroxysmal A fib and therefore cardioversion probably wouldn't do much good. So now I have a call in to the cardiologist who scheduled cardioversion this coming Monday. Her office called back and said yes the Holter monitor does show parosyxmal A fib and agreed that cardioversion wouldn't help much. Then I reminded them about the scheduled cardioversion and they said oh, didn't know about that. We'll get back to you. Haven't heard yet. So my question is - does cardioversion only help with continuous A fib? All this confusion on the doctor's part is worrying me.

[randytburg]

At best, cardioversion is a temporary fix, although for some people the return to normal rhythm can last quite awhile. Most disrhythmias do return however...hence the need for a more permanent solution. I empathize completely with your sense of anxiety over this problem. I've been dealing with it for 13 years or so now and every day brings a new challenge. Hopefully relief is just around the corner. If you are currently in an irregular rhythm, you can have the cardioversion done...you will immediately feel better of course...but it is likely the a-fib will return. It is unpredictable. Has your doc suggested a med to lower your blood pressure?

[lionne]

I have been taking a beta blocker from the very beginning of the diagnosis and the guy I saw yesterday said to increase it from 75 to 100 mg/day for exercise tolerance purposes. The only symptom that bothers me from the A fib is chest discomfort. Sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't - not sure if that correlates with going in and out of A fib. I recently had my first acupuncture treatment and was immediately relieved of it. The acupuncturist said he wished I could get off Coumadin so they could also treat with herbal remedies. So my hope actually is to cancel cardioversion (why take such a risk for minimal relief) and wean off Coumadin (the specialist said he thought I was in good enough shape to do that - to aspirin) and work with the alternative therapies? The only thing about doing the cardioversion now is that this is when it's most likely to be effective, not later when my heart has worn out more or fibrosis set in. I feel a certain anxiety over that aspect of the decision.

[randytburg]

Are you in a-fib right now? The procedure is relatively safe and simple...I've had it done 3 times I believe..and once chemically. The normal rhythm never lasted too long though. I've had the best success with Toprol, which has lowered my heart rate and decreased the incidence of the a-fib...and shortened the episodes. In the meantime, I am waiting for another ablation at the Cleveland Clinic in June. If this one is not successful, I will ramp up my efforts to remedy the problem on my own. After all, doctors cannot always fix everything! And at 49, I'm much too young and active to just throw in the towel and give up....there are too many Caribbean islands I have to explore yet!

[lionne]

How would you "remedy the problem on your own?"

[randytburg]

I am still convinced that there is a combination of nutrition and exercise which can greatly reduce the occurences of a-fib in some cases. It just takes a lot of time and effort of course, to find out what works best for each person. Anything that lowers blood pressure, increases cardiovascular endurance, minimizes the risk of coronary artery disease, and eliminates as many artificial chemicals and substances from the diet as possible, I believe, can be very effective. The problem is that this all takes much more time and energy, but if all else fails, what is there to lose?

[lionne]

Boy, I totally agree with you about doing everything possible to do healthy nutrition and exercise. I thought that even before I was diagnosed with the A fib. So far I've not had any times of recorded NSR since diagnosis, so I don't know if it's possible for me to revert naturally. I'm still in the very early stages of options. Have you tried acupuncture or Chinese remedies? Of course, if you're on Coumadin you can't do the Chinese herbal remedies, but I have no idea at this point whether I can come off Coumadin at some point any time soon. I did try acupuncture for the first time in my life and have been twice now, but I guess it's kind of cumulative in its effects. Not sure if it's helping yet.

[Kiddybee]

Greetings from England. I guess you guys are in the US of A. Been looking for a Forum like this for ages. Quite agree, not enough people on here. Anyway, had A-fib for about 4 years now the version that comes and goes - Para...whateveryoucallit. . Hit me like a ton of bricks. Always been reasonably fit. Regular football (sorry 'Soccer'). Early on found that exercise could actually get me back into rhythm. I would often get on an exercise bike or run up and down the stairs. Recently I felt there may be other problems developing as I was getting different types of palpitations so I stopped exercising until I could find out more. As a result the A-fib became more frequent. I have been prescribed Flecanaide which works really well. I take three tablets when I have an attack and it usually works within the hour. No particularly nasty side-effects except a slightly dry mouth sometimes and slight distrubance to the preipheral vision but worth putting up with.

SInce starting on the Flecanaide though (you might know it as Tambacor) The A-fib seems to need less stimulus to bring it on. I wonder whether I have got myself into an ever decreasing circle? I have had a 24 hour ECG which showed no additional problems so I intend to get back to exercising. I have cut right down on alcohol (not that I was ever too excessive) as this was the major cause however I find when I get really tired or stressed or sometimes just lying down to go to sleep can bring the A-fib on.

Seeing my specialist May 19th. He isn't too keen on me having the Ablation (come to that neither am I, sounds bloomin scary) so we'll see what develops.

Great to get on here and get it off my chest with people who understand. Hope you all find an answer.