First afib episode - perfect health? January 16, 2022 12:08PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 16, 2022 12:19PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 16, 2022 02:01PM |
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adamh
First some background; I am a 48 year old male. I had my first known afib recently on Jan 11th and went to the emergency room. My highest Heart rate was 170-180. Pulse was just as high. They finally put me on 25 mg metoprolol tartrate and 5mg apixaban the next day which put me back to sinus rhythm within 6 hours. I was released on Jan 13. The hospitals were full so it took a day to get a bed. Otherwise, I’d probably would have been released sooner. I am still currently on the same meds which I take twice day. Everything so far is going well and nothing notable.
Sorry to ramble, just trying to figure this all out.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 16, 2022 03:04PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 16, 2022 03:15PM |
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adamh
I had my first known afib recently on Jan 11th and went to the emergency room. My highest Heart rate was 170-180. Pulse was just as high. They finally put me on 25 mg metoprolol tartrate and 5mg apixaban the next day which put me back to sinus rhythm within 6 hours. I was released on Jan 13.
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adamh
The cardiologist found nothing wrong with my heart, no heart disease, everything looks perfect including the valves and vessels, normal blood pressure around 110/60, they could not find any reason to cause this, but possibly from heavy caffeine use. Also, I don’t not smoke and don’t drink at all. I am not obese and have a low body fat %. I do 150 minutes of liss cardio a week And I do split body routines for muscle building about 5-6 days a week for less than an hour a day. Lastly, my resting pulse is 68-71. I don’t understand what happened. I thought I was doing everything right.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 16, 2022 06:53PM |
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David_L
The standard of care seems to have changed in the last 3 1/2 years.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 16, 2022 10:44PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 11:37AM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 03:25PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 06:56PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 06:59PM |
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susan.d
You said you have low body fat so be aware if you start Flecainide as a PIP you have to weigh more than 154 pounds to take a maximum 300mg within 24 hours or you risk a dangerous overdose. If you weigh less than 154 pounds the max dose within 24 hours is 300mg.
[www.afibbers.org]
[www.afibbers.org]
What is your CHAD score? It determines if you can stop Eliquis. You should see an arrhythmia specialist- a cardiologist EP.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 07:17PM |
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David_L
The prime risk of a sudden unexpected A-fib episode is for a blood clot to form, get into your brain and cause a stroke. A stroke can often end your life as you knew it. So they put you on apixaban, an anticoagulant, which reduces the chance of a stroke. When your heart is in normal sinus rhythm the apixaban is actually a bit of a risk because it can cause internal bleeding including a bleed into your brain, but you want to stay on it, taking it as directed, until the specialist says its OK to get off.
They give metoprolol to lower your heart rate. It isn't an anti-arrhythmic drug. The pill in the pocket idea is to carry an anti-arrhythmic drug, it seems many people carry fleicanide, which they take when an episode starts to help end the episode. You may want to read up on anti-arrhythmic drugs a bit to prepare for a decision about how much you want to be involved with them.
I was in a somewhat similar position to you 3 1/2 years ago when I had my first A-fib episode. They gave me an appointment to see a cardiologist and it seemed like ages away. I wanted to talk things over with a cardiologist right away. I wanted to never experience A-fib again.
The doctors were fairly casual after my first episode. No one knows if you are going to be the patient they tended to call in the past a Lone A-fib case, i.e. one episode and it goes away for a very long time if not forever, or if you are going to progress into the next stage, paroxysmal A-fib, which is often defined as occasional episodes all lasting less than 1 week.
I was put on an anticoagulant and metoprolol, just as you were. After the second and third episodes that followed in quick succession, the doctors got more serious.
You don't say how they "found nothing wrong" with your heart. Even if you had an echocardiogram and nuclear stress test on this first presentation with A-fib, finding "nothing wrong" doesn't mean that there is in fact nothing wrong. These tests, if available, have their limits.
What I didn't do 3 1/2 years ago was to reach out to other A-fib patients. I've learned a lot just reading what others have to say on this forum - the way they feel, the knowledge they have about this disease and how to cope with it, what to look for in the specialists you might be seeing, etc. So you're in one of the right places to be.
The standard of care seems to have changed in the last 3 1/2 years. Then, if the episodes repeated, they would tend to recommend an antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) first.
But they probably won't be insisting that you try long term therapy with an AAD. They'll start talking to you about ablation. In the past the protocol was give patients AADs and if that fails, offer ablation. There is some great information here about ablation, and what to look for in a specialist who says they can perform one for you. Keep in mind that basically, an ablation is where they slide a catheter up your vein into your heart and start killing parts of your heart that they think are firing erratically to cause your A-fib.
I thought, if I can change any risk factors I have to reduce my chance of an A-fib recurrence, I'll do whatever, to avoid having to take AADs or submitting to an ablation. But the promise of ablation is it can be a cure - no more A-fib for a very long time or for a lifetime. The best results come from the most skilled practitioners, there is no doubt.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 07:20PM |
Registered: 2 years ago Posts: 27 |
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Carey
The standard of care seems to have changed in the last 3 1/2 years.
Indeed it has. Ablation has become recognized as a recommended first line treatment. Previously, ablation was considered appropriate only for patients who had failed medical management with at least one AAD and/or rate control drug.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 07:31PM |
Registered: 2 years ago Posts: 27 |
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Elizabeth
David L.
says {You don't say how they "found nothing wrong" with your heart. Even if you had an echocardiogram and nuclear stress test on this first presentation with A-fib, finding "nothing wrong" doesn't mean that there is in fact nothing wrong. These tests, if available, have their limits))
When I first got AF there wasnt anything wrong with my heart, I got Graves Disease (hyper thyroid) that put me in AF. So there are reasons we get AF and, yes our heart can be just fine.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 07:54PM |
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Carey
Actually, your heart is not just fine. You have atrial myopathy, as proven by the afib. The problem is, doctors don't (yet) know how to detect and measure atrial myopathy. All they can do is wait until the first symptom appears, which is often afib but can also be atrial flutter and/or frequent PACs.
I'm confident that some sort of diagnostic method will be developed in the not-too-distant future that can detect atrial myopathy before symptoms appear, possibly leading to preventative treatments.
I also think a cure will be found and it will come from gene therapy.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 08:03PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 08:09PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 08:12PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 08:57PM |
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adamh
Yes, for Athletes, ablation is recommended from what i have read and seen videos on.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 09:09PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 17, 2022 11:37PM |
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adamh
if I remember correctly, the cardiologist said cardioversion is the next step and then lastly ablation. I have done a lot of reading, and it seems ablation is the go to if you want to get back to exercising fully.
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adamh
Also just read about another ablation style which is by freezing the heart tissue - cryoablation.
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adamh
At the moment I am optimistic about everything and getting close to back to normal as possible. I just need to find the trigger.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 18, 2022 05:33AM |
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(...) "If I type "best electrophysiologist in the world" into Google on my computer, the name that comes up is Dr. Andrea Natale. " (...)
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 19, 2022 08:51AM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 19, 2022 10:25AM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 19, 2022 01:49PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 20, 2022 12:20PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 20, 2022 08:30PM |
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adamh
I meant fine in the sense they don't know what happened. It is not the normal culprits like obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease etc etc.. They cant point to anything other than it possibly being my caffeine abuse over the past decade.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 20, 2022 11:06PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? January 20, 2022 11:47PM |
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LaniB
All suggestions you get here are good, I just didn't see anyone mention stress reduction.
Re: First afib episode - perfect health? February 04, 2022 04:48PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? February 04, 2022 06:45PM |
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Re: First afib episode - perfect health? February 04, 2022 07:36PM |
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adamh
There were 2 pauses over 2 seconds, the longest 2.9 seconds occurring at 1:10 AM with sinus rhythm heart rate of 86 bpm. (this doesn't look good at all, could be apnea?)