Nothing Lasts Forever, Including Ablation !

Hello to fellow Afibbers !
I was one of the early submitters to this forum. From 2002 to about 2004 I posted in the first few forums. As I recall one or two of the early forums were lost due to a hard drive failure back then although I think some of my posts from 2003 are in forum #3.

Anyway a quick bio on my afib history.

I was diagnosed in 2002 with lone afib. It was bad enough to put me out of work for a while. In August of 2003 I had a PVI ablation at NYU with Dr Larry Chinitz.
It was very successful and I’m more than happy to say I got about 16 years of normal sinus rhythm and a great life to go along with a a normal heartbeat.

Fast forward to June of 2019 and in the past month I’ve been getting PAC’s or PVC’s ( not sure which just yet. ) They are getting so frequent that they happen anywhere from every 3 beats up to every 13 or so. Along with this unwanted news I’ve also had dizzy spells which I believe might be related.

63 years old, great health otherwise. Lots of physical activity and eat healthfully.
Appointment with cardio Dr next Thursday.

Question for all, I’ve read that frequent PACs can be benign, so am I being reasonable not wanting to go to an ER ? It doesn’t feel like an emergency but just wanted opinions.
Ok thanks much and although I was hoping to not return here, it’s really good that you all have kept it going !
Sammy

If the symptoms are bad enough yes I would go to the ER, at least to get an EKG, and a diagnosis. Otherwise, you could go into your Dr's Office or some place they can do an EKG, to determine if it is indeed just PAC's.

No, I would not go to the ER, if I was just having PAC's. I have had many days where I get just what you described: A PAC every 3rd beat beat or longer, going on for hours all day long. The PAC's probably increase the risk of going into AFIB, although the PAC's themselves are relatively benign if you maintain NSR. If frequent enough, PAC's may cause some symptoms like dizziness or shortness of breath.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2019 11:54PM by The Anti-Fib.

Quote
Sammy
Along with this unwanted news I’ve also had dizzy spells which I believe might be related.

63 years old, great health otherwise. Lots of physical activity and eat healthfully.
Appointment with cardio Dr next Thursday.

I think you can wait until next Thursday but in general dizzy spells are a reason to head to the ER. They're actually one of the few reasons to head to the ER with afib. Dizziness is a precursor to fainting, and don't underestimate what damage you can do to yourself when you pass out. Peoples' lives are changed by falls around the home. Fractured hips, head injuries, all sorts of really bad stuff. It happens far more than people realize.

I agree with Cary. If it is causing you to be dizzy then a trip to the ER might be a good idea. You might also try your local ambulance service or fire station as they have 12 lead EKG's and could get a reading for you if you feel you are out of rhythm.

Thanks for the advice. Went to ER today. As I thought, I was diagnosed with PVC. All other bloodwork, xrays etc came out normal.

So my next question is, how common is it to have an ablation just for PVC or PAC ? It looks like I’ll be guided towards Metoprolol which I really did not care for when using it back in the day.

Any help is appreciated !

S

I'm not clear on why you're going to an ER.

You're experiencing PACs or PVCs? Do you know which it is? Do you know how many you're experiencing per day?

Unless they're really excessive neither of them are considered good reason for an ablation. It seems to me you would benefit from wearing a monitor for a week or more. Find out what your heart is doing and get a proper plan of action. Do you have an EP?

Sammy's post reminds me of my initial interface with Afib.

My dizzy / faint-like episodes (two of them) occurred while driving. Was able to get a quick appointment with a cardio... and didn't have to go the route of an ER visit.

These symptoms are potentially life-changing... so anyone experiencing them, please take prompt action.

/L

Yes it’s the dizziness which has been happening quite often and finally got me to the ER.I think over the past 2 years I had a number of incidents which I now can attribute to PVC and never suspected.
When you have a successful ablation for afib I think you begin to feel just a bit too confident about your ticker...I think I was.

So.I Finally got to see a cardio doctor today. I’m back on Metoprolol after not taking any of those nasty meds since 2003. Unfortunately they don’t seem to help the problem..at least so far.
Will ablation be in my future once again ?? I’ve been reading mixed opinions about ablation success for PVC on patients with no other heart issues.

Either way, keep ticking...

S

Ablating PVCs is rarely done. It's only considered when they become really excessive (>20% or about 20,000 per day) or they're of a dangerous nature or accompany other significant heart disease.

Quote
Sammy
Thanks for the advice. Went to ER today. As I thought, I was diagnosed with PVC. All other bloodwork, xrays etc came out normal.

So my next question is, how common is it to have an ablation just for PVC or PAC ? It looks like I’ll be guided towards Metoprolol which I really did not care for when using it back in the day.

Any help is appreciated !

S

Interesting article about PVCs. He suggests getting your potassium score above 4.

[theskepticalcardiologist.com]

Checked my bloodwork and Potassium is 4 so that seems like a pretty good number.

Just a quick apology to the R&D community who spend years coming up with meds we take. In a previous post I referred to the meds used for heart arhythmias as " nasty meds."
Well, one week after I went to the ER I can say now that Metoprolol is very clearly helping my situation.

The reason I was down on usage of Flec and Metoprol was that they were ineffective as well as giving bad side effects when I was using them for my original Afib issue in 2002.
I suspect that having PVC is way less of a burden on the heart as opposed to an acute afib incident. So the meds have a better chance of being effective on PAC/PVC. Just an opinion....

The dosing and scheduling right now seems to work at 7am-25MG, 3pm-25mg and 10pm-12.5 mg. Still a fairly low dosage considering 400mg is the max dosage per day set by the powers that be ( I think I read that number.)


Cheers
Sammy

You may want to try the homebrew magnesium bicarbonate water for PVC's. It makes a difference! Specifically, magnesium bicarbonate water is absorbed in a much better percentage than pills or tablets, without bowel disturbance. Here's the link. [www.afibbers.org]