Discouraged

Well I kind of figured the day would come. My PVI was performed in February 2014, I almost made a two year run. Have enjoyed playing music and other activities. I almost forgot that panic feeling and was learning to feel at peace again. I am 30 minutes into an episode and can't break it. With one punch it has reversed my hope and love for life. I had a few bumps and hits here and there but nothing sustained until now. Not really sure what to do. I take a 75mg flecainide each morning had it at 9am. Very discouraged

taco,

I'm sorry that you are having trouble. The way I see it you have no choice. You can't give up. I am very familiar with the feelings that you are having now. It's all too common with the malady. My heart is working fine now, after 5 ablations. You may or may not need another ablation, but if you do, get on with it. Find the best abolitionist you can.

Nick

Thanks nick were your ablations for afib?

tsco, nobody knows how you feel, but I sure can relate to what you said. My heart sunk when at 10 weeks after my first ablation, I went into flutter. I am now sitting at 8 weeks after my second with fingers crossed.

Since you are taking flec (75mg every am daily), I am thinking whoever did your ablation thinks maybe you we are not on solid ground for no recurrence. Is that right ?

My afib was pretty persistent, especially at the end. What always did work though was a full dose of flec to stop it. That usually occurred within hours but a few times went into the second or third day. What I did was to take a beta blocker along with 300 mg of flec as soon as I determined I was in afib or flutter. In my case, I was approved by my EP to take 300mg of flec in a 24 hour period. I was always careful not to exceed those limits. Anyway, I always had success, sometimes not as soon as I would like.

In no way am I recommending you do what I did. I would check with my EP or whoever is following your case for instructions on what to do. Christmas eve sure is a bad time to be checking with anyone. Seems, timing of something like this is especially worrisome. Why can't things happen on a Monday non holiday week ?

No matter how down I was about my heart, I never lost hope of fixing it. All we can do is try our best.

Best of luck tsco working thru this....ronH

Thank you ton. Not sure why he continued the 75mg. Kind of weird when I looked out the window and noticed a full moon! Tho they say it has nothing to do with anything not sure I believe it.manyway it finally broke aft about an hour or so. Even tho my Ep cont the small flec dose he discontinued my 6mth visits. I guess I'll see how this goes before making an appt. Tho I feel it's prob going to start creeping up again.

It would be appropriate to ask if you could add additional PIP dosage if you go out of rhythm, though not worth taking if it converts in an hour.

George

Hi Tsco,

Sorry to hear the beast returned even for a while. Let's talk in the next several days after you have a better sense of any recurrent episodes and duration, if you would like. If you wish I have some timing ideas that I think might be good to discuss. Don't feel hopeless at all though, though I fully understand how easy it is to feel that way at such times. You've had almost two years freedom after your first actual left-sided AFIB/PVI ablation which is still a decent foundation, especially considering too the challenging nature of your overall case from the outset.

The best way to look at this scenario, especially in light of the fact that your EP kept you on Flec it seems since the index PVI ablation, is that you probably have been a good candidate for a touch-up ablation to the LA and with very expert hands guiding that follow up too, your odds should be very high of putting the lid on the kettle long term here. We really need to take the long view at such times, as difficult and frustrating as that truly is right after a new AFIB episode appears after a long reprieve.

But in any event, it is at these disappointing moments when its best to remind ourselves of how important it is that we just let out a nice slow breath and remember that truly long term success over this condition takes a broad perspective and extra resilience over the years.

This may well represent a great chance to really stabilize you heart.

Anyway, we can review some of the nuances around all these issues before end of this year.

Take care and Happy Holidays Tim!
Shannon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2015 09:15AM by Shannon.

Thank you Shannon for your encouragement and all your work. I really appreciate your efforts and kindness.
God bless you and your family
Tim

Thanks george that's what I planned on an extended episode. I have a hard time with flecainide causing other weird heart side effects when my daily doses were higher. I guess my use as a pip wouldn't bother much. Thank you george for your help
Tim