Amiodarone? ?

I am new to this forum. 57 year old female, nonsmoker who is very active. I ran two 50K last year and I rock climb. BMI is 21. Hypothyroidism and Htn that is well controlled. Last year I started with palpitations that where diagnosed as afib/flutter. I was put on warfarin and flecainide. My palpitations increased and rate increased. In ED I was in flutter thatt converted to NSR after 1 hour. Ihad a cryoablation in May. Palpitations and afib returned at 4 months post ablation. EP scheduled another ablation but put me on Amiodarone. Said I needed to be on it for the ablation. Ablation was scheduled for Nov but cancelled due to chest congestion. I'm so confused about everything. I read conflicting things. Worried about why I've been put on Amiodarone. I felt so healthy until all this??

Hi Patti,

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you've had a rough go of it.

I'm confused by your EP's plans. It makes no sense to put you on a heavy hitting drug like amiodarone prior to an ablation. The usual procedure is exactly the opposite. And prescribing amiodarone at all for someone your age and health status is really... questionable.

I think you need to put another ablation on hold and seek a second opinion.

How many Episodes of AFIB have you had, and are you converting back on your own without getting Cardioverted?
Your HR can be controlled with Drugs, either Beta-Blockers, or Calcium Channel Blockers. Sounds like there is no need to rush into this 2nd Ablation. Was the chest congestion caused by the Amiodarone? If so I would stop taking it.

I agree with Carey, can you provide more info?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2017 11:04PM by The Anti-Fib.

Agree that amiodarone makes no sense, especially in the context of a follow up ablation. That drug does not clear renally. It builds up in all the body’s tissues and thus takes months to “flush out”. It would almost be contraindicated prior to an ablation because it would mask AF during the procedure, making it seem successful when in fact it might not be.

Second opinion, for sure.

Thanks for the replys. I am so confused. I always self convert. The longest run of AF was about 10 min. On Amiodarone no arrhythmia. Scheduled for December. I guess I'm impatient and want AF gone. I called and told cardiology I wanted to stop taking it and they convinced me to stay on it. I really want AF gone!! That is why I'm willing to do another ablation. On flecainide I went into flutter with a rate of 120-130. That lasted a couple hours. Thats why I'm on the Amiodarone. EP says its standard to be on an antiarrthymic with ablation. This whole thing is so confusing. I'm afraid to wait because I dont want anymore changes in my heart or for AF to become persistent or permanent.

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Patti Starr
I am so confused. I always self convert. The longest run of AF was about 10 min.

Being confused is not the time to make major decisions. Please take a step back, slow down, and get a second opinion.

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EP says its standard to be on an antiarrthymic with ablation.

That's simply not true. Please seek a second opinion.

"This whole thing is so confusing. I'm afraid to wait because I dont want anymore changes in my heart or for AF to become persistent or permanent."

Sounds like you are confused because you are getting info that is not appropriate for your situation. If you are self-converting and episodes last less than 10 minutes, and now maintaining NSR on the Amio, then you are not in a situation where Urgent Ablation is warranted. Again I agree with Carey. AFIB is a progressive condition, but usually does not progress nearly as quickly as your worrying about. AFIB cannot progress if you are in NSR while on the Amio.

Also Ablations are a skilled endeavor. Carey had 5-6 Ablations, because the first several were not very well done, and he later had to find a better Ablation Doctor. Have you tried any supplementation with Magnesium? Athletes can get electrolyte imbalances, and Mg helps stabalize this.

Taking 400 magnesium oxide.

Hi Patti,

I recommend when using an oral form of magnesium to switch from oxide form to Chelated Magnesium preferably Mag Glycinate or Bisglycinate, Mag Taurinate, or Mag Malate. Consider as well including a topically applied liquid source of magnesium such as Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate start with from 5 to 15 sprays right after a morning shower and rub it in good on areas of the skin largely free of hair. The Mag Chloride Hexahydrate form dose not leave a tacky residue at all and is quickly absorbed in a minute or so.

You can get that in a product called EASE from Activationproducts.com. It comes in 250mil spray bottles in a slightly more concentrated form and in a one gallon jug in a slightly less concentrated form to use in full bath and foot soaks for 20 minutes to half an hour that are highly relaxing to the whole body including the heart.

The topical form generally has a significantly higher absorption rate power to 30% or so than does most oral Mag.

I use both still everyday inspite of not having had a single blip of any arrhythmia now for many years. Like many Afibbers I turned out to be a genetic magnesium ‘waster’ and it took me relatively large of doses of magnesium to raise my intracellular Mag stores to a more effective level and I still required an expert ablation process to truly put the genie back in the bottle and seal up the lid for the long term ... as do the vast majority of afibbers in our long Forum experience.

Please download, read and add into your daily practice the Strategy Protocol you will find in our Yellow bar link titled ‘AFIB Resources’ at the top of this page and learn how to use magnesium, potassium and taurine as well as a few other supplements that can very much help quieten one’s Heart to some degree ... at times a highly significant degree ... and dedicate yourself to that program fir a good six months to one year as well as including other life style risk reduction methods such as weight loss if you are atcall over weight above your body height BMI, treat any sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes and hypertension as well as examine your exercise program to make sure it is robust and regular but not too extreme on the aerobic endurance front, and learn good relaxation and anti-stress habits as well.

If after that full 6 months to one year of dedicated effort to applying all these ‘Self-health’ steps that apply to you to your life, you still are getting even just modest breakthroughs of true arrhythmia like AFIB, AFlutter or ATachycardia ... then do not procrastinate another moment before partnering with the single most experienced ablation EP you can find and realistically access, being willing to travel to find the right EP in order to start that expert ablation process as soon as is practicsl.

Also even after a successful ablation process restores durable NSR we highly recommend continuing with all the good ‘self health’ protocols, better diet. and electrolyte repletion you have learned here as permanent daily good habits in your life to greatly help stack the odds of a very quiet heart going forward.

But like Anti-AFIB said too, the early stage and very short duration and frequency of your arrhythmia at this point gives you the benefit of more time to adapt to these heart supportive protocols you will learn here and you may well be one of the lucky ones with truly long term success keeping the beast at bay ... you will never know unless you give a sustained college effort to the task. If you are highlybsymptomatic and with longer duration episodes or persistent AFIB then don’t wait more than 6 months max or less if you do not get a major reduction in your AFIB burden from the Strategy and other protocols here before moving to that expert ablation process.

This overall plan of action combining the best of both Integrative preventive medicine along with the very best of Electrophysiology is by far the best process we have seen for restoring long term freedom from Atrial arrhythmia via durable restoration of NSR, most often achieved by combining both phases tonines life.

At your stage of the game Patti, it is far more important for you to take the time to learn more about all this and work on your self health efforts while also carefully vetting all of the best ablation options you can realistically travel too, should these natural effort protocols not prove fully successful in taming your AFIB.

Hope that helps give you a tried and true game plan Patti ... and welcome to the forum with some added peace of mind in the meantime.

Shannon

Patti:

The second Ablation, is it an RF Catheter Ablation? Did the Dr. describe what he was going to do in the 2nd Ablation vs the 1st Cryo-Ablation?

Patti,

There are data that suggest that endurance exercise may promote afib in those who are prone to it <[www.afibbers.org] While exercise may be good for the plumbing, afib is an electrical problem (conversely, many afibbers who are unfit may benefit by adding some moderate exercise). I know, chronic fitness was my path to afib. While remaining very fit, I no longer train or compete with endurance cardio (this detraining, combined with magnesium to bowel tolerance has allowed me to have a very low afib burden over 13 years after having a 2.5 month episode in the beginning - now 4 episodes in 4 years with around 4 hours total out of rhythm). If you feel you can't live without doing this, adopting the training protocol my friend, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, uses may be of benefit <[naturalrunningcenter.com] He uses an approach by Phil Maffetone <[philmaffetone.com] which limits intensity and builds mitochondria.

George

Thank you for all the thoughtful responses. I appreciate all the advice. I have decided to take a step back and get myself together before any additional procedures. I need to work on stress management more than anything. I stopped the Amiodarone. Guess I'll see what happens. Thanks again. Peace

I think you definitely made the right decision. :-)