Work Related Ectopic's

Been a while since I have posted. All has been well since my last ablation last Sept with Dr. Natale. The only issues I have at this point is the occasional runs of ectopic beats I experience at work.

The associated cause is long hours and stress. Normally the 12 hour days and stress don't bother me. However, since we have gone to a 7on / 7off shift rotation. Coupled with a shortage of people in my particular department adding to the long days (currently on day 10). These short runs have begun to arise. The other part of this is with our current staffing 18hr days are looming. I have already worked several multiple day stretches of these this year.

The ectopic's are not problematic as of yet but my concern is that they are going to lead to a more prevalent issue. My wife is imploring me to get an FMLA to allow me to take time when things start piling up. I'm reluctant to go this route as it will only add to the work load on my fellow employees. But don't want to end up back where I was.

Has anyone else here faced similar situations and if so what was your solution. Its apparent the our employer has no real plan to eliminate the issues the workforce is facing at this point.

I don't think you have reason to be concerned that you'll end up back in afib after 8 months of NSR. That's extremely unlikely at this point. No matter how much stress you might be under, the afib is hitting a brick wall of scar tissue and always will no matter how hard it "tries" to break through. It's in a cage it can't get out of.

What kind of job do you do that 18 hour days would become necessary? Those kinds of shifts are usually limited to firefighters, EMTs, medical staff, and so forth.

Quote
Carey
I don't think you have reason to be concerned that you'll end up back in afib after 8 months of NSR. That's extremely unlikely at this point. No matter how much stress you might be under, the afib is hitting a brick wall of scar tissue and always will no matter how hard it "tries" to break through. It's in a cage it can't get out of.

What kind of job do you do that 18 hour days would become necessary? Those kinds of shifts are usually limited to firefighters, EMTs, medical staff, and so forth.

I hope you are right. I've been here before.
I'm a central control operator at a 1900 MW super critical power plant. So there really isn't much opportunity to relax many day's.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2021 06:37PM by rocketritch.

Sheesh! Okay, so now I'll add super critical power plant operators to the list of super critical employees who have to work ridiculous shifts.

Quote
Carey
Sheesh! Okay, so now I'll add super critical power plant operators to the list of super critical employees who have to work ridiculous shifts.

It's pretty much anyone in the power Industry.

Quote
rocketritch
I'm a central control operator at a 1900 MW super critical power plant.

I’m an electrical engineer and 1900 milli-Watts would blow my budget. Nevermind MEGA-Watts.

The plant isn’t nuclear, is it? Not to add any stress or anything.

Just got off a 2 week road trip with family while it was amazing it was also very exhausting. Came back with a load of chores on the hobby farm and right back to day job. Very little restful sleep during that 3 week stretch, went into a a 4-5 day run of ectopics. I took it upon myself to rest up and get good sleep and it appears to have settle the ectopics to my normal few daily. (Fingers crossed their annoying as hell).

During 4-5 day period was experiencing 500-800 ectopics daily. Nothing compared to the 7k daily I was experiencing in 1st 5 months post ablation.

Natale ablation 6/10/20
Zero meds



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2021 12:37PM by Kleinkp.

Quote
wolfpack
The plant isn’t nuclear, is it? Not to add any stress or anything.

Unfortunately it isn't. That would be allot less stressful. Those guy's do everything by the book and procedures are followed to the letter. I work in a 50+ year old power plant that they spend less and less every year to fix things.

And doing the same amount of work with half the workforce we had 7 years ago when I started there.

Quote
Kleinkp
Just got off a 2 week road trip with family while it was amazing it was also very exhausting. Came back with a load of chores on the hobby farm and right back to day job. Very little restful sleep during that 3 week stretch, went into a a 4-5 day run of ectopics. I took it upon myself to rest up and get good sleep and it appears to have settle the ectopics to my normal few daily. (Fingers crossed their annoying as hell).

During 4-5 day period was experiencing 500-800 ectopics daily. Nothing compared to the 7k daily I was experiencing in 1st 5 months post ablation.

Natale ablation 6/10/20
Zero meds

I finished up an 8 day stretch the other week. Came home and was going to go to the gym. Laid down for a minute and woke up 12 hours later. I only average about 5-6 hours of sleep a day when I'm working.

Headed on a road trip starting this Sunday with the family. Headed to the Carolinas and possibly dip down into the Georgia mountains. Then back up the coast. Things should calm down here hopefully by the end of July. Maybe sooner we hope.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2021 02:04AM by rocketritch.

Hope you carve some time out for some more rest. Seems to be a correlation between burning the candle at both ends and ectopics.

What do ectopics feel like? Are they a precursor to Afib? I hope you can find a way to do some deep breathing through your nose during the day at work to try to relax your body and mind a little and try to bring down the cortisol level. Maybe a 5 minute meditation and deep breathing break every couple of hours? I have forestalled an episode or two by simply deep breathing and doing a few yoga poses. Stress is a huge trigger, and if you can break the cycle with some relaxation, it might stop that freight train. One reason may be a trigger is that when stressed, the body burns through magnesium stores rapidly. Do you know your cellular level of Magnesium? Afibbers recommend the Exatest, but I haven't found a doc who does that yet, so I just get the RBC Mg test through requestatest.com . Dr. Dennis Goodman, Cardiologist who wrote "Magnificent Magnesium" says that a RBC Mg test result below 5.5 Mg/dl is deficient. Goal is 6.5 at least or 7 mg/dl. I was at 5.0 when I went for ablation. Now working my way up slowly with oral supplements, transdermal Mg, and even IV Magnesium. Apparently, if your Mg stores are high enough, your body can better tolerate stress and prevent arrythmias.

I was blissfully in NSR for 8 months after my ablation, then my big stressor was trying to sell our house and move to another one closer to family. The market is so crazy it must have caused enough stress that my AF returned to every other day for hours at a time. Ironically, while waiting to get another ablation, the day after we got a contract on our house the stress was over and AF stopped. I cancelled the ablation appointment and I've been normal for over 2 months! Breathe deep! meditate, take care of yourself. If you want more info on Mg feel free to send me a private message.

Quote
Kleinkp
Hope you carve some time out for some more rest. Seems to be a correlation between burning the candle at both ends and ectopics.

That's always the plan. If I'm able to get to the gym or out on my bike I can beat the stress back. Even looking forward to those things on these long stretches keeps me sane.