What am I experiencing?

I have gone a little over five months now with no afib breakthroughs on 100 mg of flecainide twice a day. I have been very pleased with the medicine. However, recently I have been experiencing something hard to diescribe: it feels like my heart is slightyly fibrillating or speeding up slightly. But I am not sure. It lasts only a few miunutes and is so mild and minor that I wonder if I am confusing these sensations with normal sinus rhythm. These fluttertings are so unpronounced that I am not sure what I am experiencing. It certainly doesn't feel like the terrifying afib epsidoes I used to have that would propel me in panic to the ER.

I called my EP and he arranged for me to wear a 24-hour heart monitor. It showed that everything was normal, but during these 24 hours I did not experience these self-prerceived irregular beats. So I am still lin the dark as to what I have been experiencing.

Does anyone ever feel these slightly iregular beats, but they are so vague and minor you can't be positve that you are not in normal sinus rhythm.

Any ideas what I have been experiencing? I would definitely have an ablation if I thought I were having breakthroughs, but I am not sure what I am feeling.

What should I do?

Stan

I'll bet its just nerves. I've become so very aware of my heart beat that I feel every little flutter. Most normal hearts will have a few PAC's etc. in a days time, but folks just never notice them. I still struggle with it myself.

:-)

blessings,
MLM

Stan - I used to have those type symptoms and a sense of my heart quivering but I was in NSR. Since taking the extra magnesium, I have experienced none of this.

Have you decided to try the magnesium?

Jackie

Stan, I too, at times have those subtle little feelings that you are describing. Sometimes it feels like a little quiver. Usually, after I eat a substantial size meal and burp a few times that feeling will stop.
At times( with my doctor's approval) if those quivers become less subtle, I will take an additonal 25 mg of tamb..or just a tiny nibble of tamb.... that usually clears it up for me. I might have been exercising too vigorously or eaten something that causes gas. I hope you work through it, Stan.

Stan:
As Jackie said,you should try supplimental magnesium. If you continue to be bothered by it, ask your EP about an event recorder. Those are just the size of a deck of cards and you just wear it until you catch the event. They are always looking but don't record until you have the symptom and push a button. Then, depending on how the monitor is programmed, they can record in perhaps 20 seconds in memory and then 20 seconds in real time. You keep the recorder a month, or how ever long it takes to catch the event and then you transmit it telephonically.

Pam

Stan,

You are experiencing the heebie geebies.

From an expert heebie geebie,

Jim W.

Hey Jim - that's cute... is that classified under the "voodoo" medicine recently mentioned on another thread? or is it just human nature when dealing with the unexplained?

Jackie

When I went on 100 mg Flec BID, my usual "normal" skipped beats and occassional short bursts of fast beats were replaced by something similar to what you describe which is hard to describe but it was definitely not normal. My Cardio said no big deal. Well after a few weeks of this I went to 100 mg at night only and I take a 200 mg booster if I go into AFIB which is rarely. This irritates my doctor but works for me and I am back my "normal" skipped beats and all, just alot less often. Flecainide is a very tricky and potentially dangerous drug but can be very effective against Afib in some people. I have learned the "proper" dose, whatever that is, can be very, very diffierent from patient to patient. It can also be completely ineffective. I am well suited for it because of my very active lifestyle and its effect on my heartrate and function is tolerable the way I take it. Keep listening to your body, but don't stress out over it, we all know what that can do. good luck

Scott - That's very good advice. I have instructions to take an extra 100 mg. of flecanide should I experience breakthrough afib. This would be over and above the 100 am and pm. I tried using smaller doses and then taking the larger when needed, but it wasn't enough to stabilize and I was taking the extra hits far too often.

Your observation that each person requires a slightly different dose is acurate. If we all could just play with the doses, most likely we would find there are peak times when we need more - and other times, when less would be adequate. However, the docs don't want to and really, can't - take the time to fine-tune every patient.... some of us are just bold enough to do it on our own.

I'm glad that you have found a regimen that allows you to keep up your active lifestyle. Good for you!


Jackie

That's heebie jeebies, Jim, with a J! G for gibberish, J for jeebies.

Another Expert