It’s been a while, can you help me

I have visited this forum for 15 years or so, but I haven’t posted for a while.

I am 66 years old and have had AF for maybe 20 years.
My AF was paroxysmal and generally well controlled and not too troublesome.
I was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2011. Thankfully this not to much of an issue 9 years on.

In 2013 I had a disastrous catheter ablation which resulted in me having to have emergency open heart surgery. Ablation was aborted.
In 2013 my meds were 1 x 2.5 mg Bisoprolol and 2 x 50mg Flecainide. This kept me in a reliable NSR for 6 years.

At the moment meds slightly increased to 2 x 2.5mg Bisoprolol, 1 x 50mg Flecainide and 1 x 100mg Flecainide (nighttime dose)

For the past two years I have been in and out of accident and emergency and have had two Emergency ECV’s
Sitting here in flutter again it’s almost weekly occurrence now..

So my question is, is this typical progression. I get back into NSR usually doubling up on my meds which reliably had me back in NSR in 2/3 hours, however right now I’m still in the land of flutter after 6 hours. Heart rate is around 105-110 bpm.
Does anyone have a “magic bullet”. Do you think I should try another ablation, or persevere with meds, maybe alternatives.

Thank you for any replies.

EDIT : Back in NSR at 13.50 GMT
Should have mentioned all this unreliability of the last two years could possibly the introduction of Edoxaban into my medication protocol. I note that possible side effects include palpitations, not a good thing for us old folk. Anybody on anything different. .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2020 08:54AM by John S.

A side effect of the Flecainide is Atrial Flutter. Did you ever have Flutter before you increased the Flec dose? I reduced my daily dose, then stopped taking Flec except for use during AFIB conversion, because of the propensity for Flutter. Others have similar issues. It sounds like your OK now if you went from AFIB to AFL to NSR. Flecainide works that way, it converts AFIB to AFL, then to NSR, the problem is it can also cause intermittent episodes of going from NSR back to Flutter.

[www.afibbers.org]

Have you had your Magnesium Red Blood Cell level measured? Flec may be interfering with your Mg absorption. Mg is necessary for normal functioning of the body, especially the heart. Request a test.com is where you can buy the test , then go to a lab corps or quest diagnostics to draw the blood. If you are below 6 on their scale, you need to ramp up magnesium. I've tried ReMag, didn't work for me, but MagSRT by JigSaw Health is helping tremendously.

I'm sorry your ablation didn't go well. I have learned from this website that it REALLY matters who is doing the ablation.