My Sister sent me this last night

My sister who is 57 sent me this message last night. We live in a very small town of Farmerville Louisiana. Shreveport is 100 miles west. Austin is 8 hours. Looking for recommendations etc. Thanks
David aka smackman p.s. She works in a Doctors office as a receptionist




I didn't want to worry anybody but I had to go to the ER on Friday, March 31.

I was at work sitting at my desk & I felt a flutter in my chest. I checked my Heart Rate on my Apple Watch & it was at 190 BPM. My co-worker saw my watch & called our nurse 🙄By the time she got to me & hooked me up, my heart rate was at 198. Doctor Venters dropped everything & came to check me. He insisted I go the the ER & by the time I got to the ER, my heart rate was at 210. After observing me in the ER, They put me on metrolol. They ruled out, atria fib, but they think it's probably tachycardia but don't know for sure.

They admitted me overnight for observation & now I will be referred to a cardiologist.

I know a few of y'all have been to a cardiologist & I am open to recommendations.

Love you all so much!

With that kind of rate it's probably flutter or SVT.

She is currently on 25 mg metoporol tartrate 2x a day. She should seek out a EP right? Dr. Scott Wiggins in Shreveport has the most experience in this field that is fairly local. He does on average 2 ablations a day and also installs the Watchman. I know he is not Dr. Natale but he is the highest recommended EP in our area.

[acsdoctors.com]

I would think she just needs a good cardiologist preferably an EP to get tested and diagnosed. Then worry about a good Ablation Dr, if that is warranted.

Definitely an EP. From what we've seen on this forum, general cardiologists are rarely up to date on the treatment of arrhythmias.

I agree with Carey. My cardiologist was busy, matter of fact, and quick to write three prescriptions. It wasn't until I ran into more frequent AF, and that included an overnight in the ER where a cardioversion failed, that he met me, ordered a second MIBI stress test, doubled my atorvastatin, and then left me at that doubled rate even when a subsequent angiogram showed only minor deposition of cholesterol. He hasn't seen me in 9 months, despite everything I have gone through. I took an envelope and slid it under his office door after hours with a description and timeline of the past seven months' events, ER stays, interventions, etc, and haven't heard a thing from him. Not even an offer to reduce my statin back to the original dose.

An internist or cardiologist will know what's going on with a proper ECG, which I'm sure was taken at least twice for this person. With rates that high, it must have been flutter, perhaps SVT as Carey has guessed. The flutter is often detected, and its type identified, by the administration of adenosine. Adenosine slows the heart and allows the graphic depiction recorded by the ECG machine to show more discrete information with wider gaps between QRS complexes.

An electrophysiologist is the only cat that can swipe at flutter mechanically and beat it down. Even if it's just a variant of atrial fibrillation, the EP is the only game in town, especially if chemicals can't tame it.