Good news; 2 month Post ablation report

This is from Dr. Natales Nurse educator:

David.

Your transmissions have been great so you can come off the Multaq. No need to tapering it off. But keep the Multaq around just in case you go out of rhythm. We will keep you on the Xarelto until then 4-5 month mark. Before stopping the Metoprolol check with your local Cardiologist and make sure it is not needed to control your blood pressure.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
===========
Nurse Educator
Center for Arrhythmias and Atrial Fibrillation St. David's Medical Center
3000 North IH 35 Suite 720

Congratulations!

______________
Lone paroxysmal vagal atrial fibrillation. Age 62, female, no risk factors. Autonomic instability since severe Paxil withdrawal in 2004, including extreme sensitivity to neuro-active drugs, supplements, foods. Monthly tachycardia started 1/11, happened only at night, during sleep, or when waking, bouts of 5-15 hours. Changed to afib about a year ago, same pattern. Frequency increased over last 6 months, apparently with sensitivity to more triggers. Ablation 6/27/13 by Steven Hao.

Hi - that is good news... one at a time and eventually, you'll be off many of those drugs.

Be well,
Jackie

Jackie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi - that is good news... one at a time and
> eventually, you'll be off many of those drugs.
>
> Be well,
> Jackie


It will be a Hallelujah moment when that day comes.

Next, I want off this Metoporol ER; I will wait 2-3 weeks before I do this. If needed, I will switch to a different blood pressure medication. I only take 12.5 mg 2X a day; hopefully I will not have a hard time coming off it. I have to get my Cardiologist okay 1st.

I was taking a small dose of Amilodipine for BP before my AFIB episodes; 2.5 mg a day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2014 09:06PM by smackman.

So glad for you, David.

I found that it was not easy for me to come off Metoprolol. I got jittery, but hopefully you'll do just fine. If you do get jittery, try taking 200mg of l-theanine up to three times a day. That has helped me. GABA is also great to help you sleep if getting off the metoprolol causes insomnia. I take 1000mg of GABA along with 200mg of l-theanine every night as I have severe insomnia and it does help.

Blessings,
Nancy M

Windstar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So glad for you, David.
>
> I found that it was not easy for me to come off
> Metoprolol. I got jittery, but hopefully you'll
> do just fine. If you do get jittery, try taking
> 200mg of l-theanine up to three times a day. That
> has helped me. GABA is also great to help you
> sleep if getting off the metoprolol causes
> insomnia. I take 1000mg of GABA along with 200mg
> of l-theanine every night as I have severe
> insomnia and it does help.
>
> Blessings,
> Nancy M

My dosage of Metoprolol ER is 12.5 MG 2X a day so it is a small dose. I already feel a "little" jittery from stopping the Multaq. I took my last Multaq 36 hours ago. I tried the l-theanine and it did nothiing for me.

I will probably have to have some type of blood pressure medication but I do not want it to be Metoprolol ER. My blood pressure today was 142/86 on the 1st try and by the 3rd try it was 132/78 so my BP is not really bad but I am taking Metoprolol ER. I was told to discuss this with my Cardiologist. I will wait a couple of weeks until I know I am "weened" off the Multaq.

I was taking 2.5 mg of Amilodopine before I was put on the Metoprolol ER for my AFIB issues.

Good news Smackman. I wish I had the same good news. I saw my local EP today for my three month checkup and my pacemaker showed that I was in afib during the night on the 15th of April for 30 minutes. I thought I had been in NSR for over a month, but since I am still having afib I will have to stay on Sotalol for 4 more months to see if I'm AF free. After that, we'll see about Coumadin.

Wishing you continued NSR,
Jean

That's a great report Smackman! You are well on your way to getting off all of your AFIB drugs. You have got to feel good about that. I know how happy I was to get off antiarrhythmic and rate control drugs. It allowed me to go back to my pre AFIB lifestyle. Hope it works for you too.

Jim

Jean
Who did your ablation and how far out are you? Others may know but i am new since January.
thanks
Susafib

Susafib,

Dr. Wharton at Charleston medical center did my ablation 3 months and 3 days ago. I was in persistent afib and according to my ablation report, my case was "extremely complicated". I'm still hoping for success; I don't want to give up on hope. Thanks for asking.

Jean

Hi Jean,

Sorry to hear about the break through, though as we discussed, with such a complicated case and a lot of burning needed with such a long 7 hour procedure and considering the existing extent of fibrosis, the odds of having some more actively are higher as you know.

Still you have done well in spite of it all so far, and am hoping too for less of these silent episodes going forward. Did you ever get an Alivecor monitor to use with an iPhone or Android/ In light of these breakthroughs that you were not aware of its a very good idea to invest ion one even if you need to buy an older I Phone 4S or an iPhone 5 to use it with.

This could really help you discover much quicker just how much activity there is or may not be Jean, and from there quicker and better decisions can be made going forward.

Take care Jean and will check in soon,

Shannon

Shannon,
Would an Alivecor monitor pick up events during the night while I am asleep? During the day I always know when I am in afib and most of the time I wake up at night when I am in AF, but the duration of this past event was apparently not long enough to wake me.

For some reason I thought the Alivecor worked like an EKG which is a snapshot at a specific time. Please explain how it works.

Thanks,
Jean

Jean, you are right that the AliveCor will only catch those events through deliberate testing . Just test periodically and randomly and while you may not catch every sleeping trigger the odds are high that you will catch at least some silent episodes if you are having them from time to time, regardless. Unless if you only have breakthroughs while sleeping and never at all during the day or early evenings when awake?

It's very much worth having for a person in your situation Jean. If you do get another nocturnal episode you may well wake up next time and can capture it quickly with your AliveCor that way as well ... If you have one handy.

Cheers!
Shannon