Heart attack 8 yrs ago. A-fib 3 yrs later.
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I had a heart attack 8 yrs ago. A-fib started 3 years later. When it first started I got it often. Every day or two. Was prescribed metoprolol for my condition. Episodes decreased to once a week or so. Mine starts with a flutter and then this awful feeling in my body. It's not the actual a-fib that concerns me but the after effects. I am done for about 3 days after. Dizzy, faint feeling, shortness of breath big time. I have to move very slowly and cannot exert myself . Scary feeling. Have passed out once just recently. Have never had ablation or anything done even with my numerous hospital visits. What's with that. I am on all the heart drugs since heart attack. I hate my condition as I cannot plan anything cause if I have an episode I can count on being down for 3 days. Had an episode yesterday and here I am on the couch again. Am 63 and have retired early cause I can't work with the threat. Would appreciate your comments. Thanks
0 likes, 16 replies
diana95576 mike85289
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mike85289 diana95576
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Bob37393 diana95576
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Hi Diana,
As you may see from this thread I replied to Mike about helping Danisha with a problem she had in using a beta-blocker to control blood pressure.
?Whilst I cannot diagnose a condition I did find data from medical professional publications on the internet that assisted physicians in making a diagnosis or excluding one.
?Danisha sent me her EKG and what stood out immediately was her extremely low heart interval, QT.
?Following my own experiences with heart rhythm irregularities I have been tracking my own adjusted interval QTc which attempts to work out what my heart interval would be at 60 beats per second.
?Danisha's EKG machine had printed out her QTc which I immediately recognised as being interpretable as being in the Short QTc zone as shown in the attached table I sent her.
?I have been diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation but my problem is due to having a longer than normal QTc.
?I now understand from researching Danisha's predicament that a beta-blocker was likely to have been inappropriate for her condition but due to rarity of Short QT syndrome is unlikely to have been picked up as an issue.
?What is critical in people with Atrial Fibrillation is their QT interval measurement at a particular heart rate derived from their EKG (ecg).
?Would you know what yours was?
?I've attached a QT measurement from my own EKG monitor showing vertical cursor lines delimiting
my own QT interval at 63 bpm.
Regards
Bob
diana95576 Bob37393
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Bob37393 diana95576
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Hi Diana,
?Yes, it would be useful to know if you can establish your QT at a specific heart rate before or around the time you went on medication.
If you had an EKG on a machine that automatically works your heart intervals out for you (as in Danisha's case) it would just a question of reading your printed out QT at your recorded heart rate and your corrected QTc (estimated for your heart rate of 60 beats per minute).
?Values will be quoted in milliseconds (msec) as in Danisha's (attached image with no values)
?Both values would be help in figuring out your risk of Atrial Fibrillation and how it might be affected by medication.
Bob
BJStar3 mike85289
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shirley67620 mike85289
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i fully understand how you feel. A-fib is horrible and the longer I suffer with it the more difficult it is - just wish they could sort me out. Two Ablation, last one 7 weeks ago and still dreading the flutter I am getting more or less daily in case it goes further and on several occasions it has.
Fearing I might need a third Ablation but aware that for approx 10% it is not going to work.
all the very best x
moira23432 mike85289
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Hi Mike, Have you checked out the medication you are on to see if they interact together, also check out the side effects of all the medication and I would suggest if you find anything write it down or print it out and go back to the doctor. I have AF and have found that if they change your pills or give you new ones this can sometimes cause the dizziness and fainting feeling, I now check everything out before taking any new medicine. Sorry have run out of time. Hope this helps, you shouldn't be feeling like this, I think all tend to have blind faith in Doctors we need to query things more often.
Bob37393 mike85289
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Hi Mike,
?I've been exchanging messages with a Danisha on Patient.
?She was on Metropolol but was having serious problems with either too high or too low dosage.
?I established that Metoprolol reduced a critical heart interval (the QT interval) which exacerbated her already borderline QT.
?From my own drug experiences I couldn't advise her to continue or withdraw from Metoprolol but suggested that in emergency she took her ecg trace which she sent to me together with a QT graph I had also sent.
?Metoprolol has a patient warning:
Warnings
Heart Failure
Beta blockers, like Metoprolol, can cause depression of myocardial contractility and may precipitate heart failure and cardiogenic shock. If signs or symptoms of heart failure develop, treat the patient according to recommended guidelines. It may be necessary to lower the dose of Metoprolol or to discontinue it.
mike85289 Bob37393
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Thanks Bob. My doc has taken me off metoprolol and put me on sotalol. Much more expensive though. I'm a Canadian so at 65 I get my meds for free. Two more years. So far still having a-fib but maybe not as often.
Bob37393 mike85289
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I was diagnosed with atrial flutter which was identified as having been resolved into atrial fibrillation after treatment with GTN infusion and diuretics. Now on beta-blockers, flecainide, diuretics and anti-coagulants.
Can you say what features of your ecg have been interpreted as AF?
Can you also say where you are on this treatment path?
Regards
Bob
DLee mike85289
Posted
Heart attack and bypass surgery 20 years ago.
Ruptured arterial plaque 14 years ago resulting in 2nd heart attack & 2 stents.
Type 2 diabetic....controlled with 2 pills daily.
Diagnosed with V-Tac and Congestive Heart Failure 4 years ago (Ejection Fraction 30%).
Had Defibrillator/Pacemaker implant and it has saved me from Cardiac Arrest once 3 years ago.
Developed A-Fib recently and so far the only symptom has been shortness of breath.
Had to have Electrical Cardioversion 6 weeks ago.
Other conditions include deteriorated spine....stenosis, bone spurs, degenerated discs.
Had total joint replacement for both knees in the past 12 months.
At age 69 I know that I sound like a broken down old Senior Citizen....but I don't see it that way.
Have exercised most of my life and still work. I'm not overweight and don't have any visible signs of illness.
I certainly don't move as fast or lift as much weight as when I was younger. Since the knee replacement my life is pretty much pain free. I plan to keep moving as much as possible and try to stay injury free. If I were to just give up and give in to my illness.....I know it would be downhill fast for me. If you are able and your Dr. says it's safe.....my advice would be to start walking daily.
diana95576 DLee
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Good morning it’s so nice to hear such positivity in everything that you said.. You said one thing that really sticks in my mind and that would be if you were to give up and give in you go downhill fast that is one thing that I try not to do but at times it’s really hard with a fib,knee issues,back issues etc I have a list a mile long but thank you for posting this . Sometimes it seems easier just to say hell with it all but you know you can’t that’s the easy way out .it was so nice to read on a new day and a New yYear thank you and Happy New Year..🎊🎈🎆
DLee diana95576
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Diana...As most probably do, with a new ailment, I try to learn as much as possible about the diagnosis. That's how I ended up on this site. Nothing better that reading what others are experiencing.
Afib being new to me and my only symptom being SOB, it's hard to understand how others seem to have warning symptoms, flutter or other sensations. Some have written about going into and out of Afib over a short time span. Also, the 2 or 3 days lingering affects. Makes me wonder if you start out with minor symptoms and gradually progress. Or are some doomed to have bad symptoms from the start? Happy New Year too.
DLee
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In reply to my own question above:
"Makes me wonder if you start out with minor symptoms and gradually progress. Or are some doomed to have bad symptoms from the start"?.
As I continue to read on the subject, it dawned on me that since I already am paced (80 bpm) and have been on an Antiarrhythmic drug (Rythmol) for 4 years....could be preventing many of the other bad symptoms I keep reading about. I hope this is the answer as what some are describing....I don't wish to experience.
Bob37393 DLee
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Hi DL,
?>Makes me wonder if you start out with minor symptoms and gradually progress. Or are some doomed to have bad symptoms from the start?
?Following two adverse reactions from treatment for a diagnosis of essential hypertension I was monitoring myself from time to time with pulse oximetry and EKG (ecg) recordings whilst being completely drug free.
?I got to the stage in 2016 when I thought I was getting dodgy readings from my EKG monitor (trace of 13th March 2016 attached). I had absolutely no feeling whatsoever of having heart of any other health problems for that matter.
?However, after a short period of a few weeks later in the year I started feeling very uncomfortable after eating and put it down to heartburn. I didn't think it was a heart rhythm irregularity.
?Having felt persistently unwell for over 24 hours I slipped on my finger pulse oximeter and it measured an unchanging 163 beats per minute but my blood oxygen saturation was acceptable at about 94% SpO2 although it should have been higher. I checked immediately on the internet and the signs were unequivocal - it was Supraventricular Tachycardia.
?I was driven to A&E where I sat down with no appearance of requiring emergency treatment whilst waiting for a triage doctor. I was hooked up to a 12-lead EKG and was immediately diagnosed as having SVT, transferred to a wheelchair and rushed through to the Resuscitation Unit. The rest is another story.
?I only found out recently that the upgraded model of my personal EKG monitor is equipped to interpret A/F. An image from the improved EKG model showing A/F is also attached.
?I don't think there is much doubt that I missed the signs of having periods of A/F on 13th March 2016 which developed rapidly over four months to 31st July 2016 when I was admitted to hospital as an emergency.
?So in my case I did have instrumental evidence of being in A/F months before a potentially fatal episode of SVT which turned out to be Atrial Flutter. The run up to my experience of intolerable symptoms requiring emergency treatment was completely symptomless.
Regards
Bob