Unless there is a rapid acting antidote I absolutely refuse to take anything other than Warfarin. My dad had a horrific accident 2 years ago and would not have survived the night had there not been antidotes available for the Warfarin he was taking. I have NO doubt it saved his life; only to be taken 1.5 years later by cancer and heart failure.by Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Where do you put the cork? I know they gave me Viagra in the hospital to keep me from rolling out of bed.by Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
With any medical procedure there is the possibility of things not going as planned. Ablation is so commonplace now that should you have it done by experienced hands the chances of something untoward happening are something in the order of 1 in 1,000. Those are darned good odds if you ask me and I am literally chomping at the bit to get mine done asap. The side effects from the TIKOSYN are affeby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
I agree with PeggyM. Get thee to a sleepologist (sic) and find out what gives. You really need to relate the SpO2 readings to the data from your APAP in order to get a decent picture of what is going on but I would not bet my life on the oximeter being defective. You are playing with fire. It may indeed be defective. And yes, for sure, you should use some blue or green masking tape to ensureby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Again, thanks for the good wishes all. As far as a date is concerned, Ontario is social medicine and while the procedure will not cost me one thin dime, it is triaged and there is a wait. And that is fine for ME as I remain on TIKOSYN despite the terrible side effects which have set in and seem to be progressing. I will be well and truly ready for an ablation when the time comes. I expect itby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Some nights are better than others. It is the BAD nights that will create an environment for a stroke. I had good nights and on my BAD nights my SpO2 often (regularly?) dropped into the 60's and below at times, until my body aroused itself from REM sleep hollering "breath, breath!". If you have EVER awoken in a cold sweat or gasping for air, you MUST add that to the equation asby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Just a reminder to sort out the wheat from the chaff. You are getting loads of good advice on here but I would caution you about one thing in particular - the same thing that happened to me. And that is simply this..... if you are in persistent or permanent AFIB, it is quite likely that your heart is remodeling as they say. In my case, and very likely in yours, the LEFT ATRIUM will work overtiby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
My "magic" supplement seems to be Potassium and if I permit my serum Potassium to drop I wind up with an episode of skipped beats according to my "event monitor" and my pulse oximeter graph. 1.5g of Potassium Gluconate in seltzer water gulped down usually eliminates the skipped beats in 20 minutes. Once my supply of Potassium Gluconate is replenished I think I will supplemenby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
GaryM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi all, > > I'm SOOO glad I found this resource, and am able > to hear from and communicate with people in the > same (awful) boat as myself. > > I'll save my full story for a separate post, but > just wanted some clarification on something that's > bothering me. > &gby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Your post is appreciated. It is posts like yours that give inspiration to those of us still on the path to ablation. I have been on the path, really, since I had H1N1 in 2009 that put me on total life support for 3 weeks (asked to pull the plug twice); 2011 and TIKOSYN put me in NSR to shrink my heart but I have had it with the side effects and am in "the range" for ablation now, so Iby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
As I mention all the time, my favourite supplement is Potassium Gluconate. I have not had an AFIB issue in 4 years thanks to TIKOSYN, but do have episodes of skipped beats (1 in 6-8 usually). 1.5g of Potassium Gluconate in some seltzer water (dissolves it well) gulped down gives relief in 20 minutes. Used to avoid salt, caffeine, chocolate, etc., as they were all triggers but they do not botheby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks to everyone for both your kind words of encouragement today and all along my 4-5 year journey. Could not have done it without the support. I will report on the ablation as soon as I am there. As a matter of interest, Dr. Verma (and Southlake?) uses RF ablation. No cryo ablation mentioned nor offered. Time in hospital 1 day. Done under general anasthaetic and they do a TEE as a mattby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Here's the scoop as I understand it, to be corrected by those much more knowledgeable and experienced on this forum... (1) AFIB on its own CAN cause a drop in SpO2. How do I know? Been there. One of the jobs of the heart and lungs is to circulate your blood through the lungs and out to vital organs keeping everything oxygenated. AFIB creates an issue where your heart is not pumping outby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
You don't say where you are located. How long have you been having symptoms.... AFIB can also creep up on you, even if you are in permanent AFIB. Ask me how I know. I saw my GP who took an EKG and said nothing wrong. Sent the strip over to my cardiologist friend who brought me in and told me I had AFIB and put me on blood thinners and jerked me around for a year (during which time my lby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks Shannon. Just an anecdote related..... more so a suggestion to get some serious, experienced, reputable medical advice and also to take advantage of all of the information on this board posted by so many knowledgeable folks as yourself. Dad had problems over his lifetime, don't get me wrong on that account by any means. He lost a kidney during the war and lived out his life with onby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
I can make sense of this in a blink, having been your route sorta. Get yourself to the very best Electro physiologist that you are able to in a flash. I don't know the medical system where you are, but there is a list of the best in the world on here somewhere and I left my cardiologist and got my GP to refer me to Drs. Khaykin and Verma in Newmarket, Ontario. Dr. Verma is one of the bby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
My Dad, may he rest in peace, had low BP his whole life. We are talking so low that if he sat in a chair and put his head back he could pass out. Dad passed away in June so I can't ask what he was taking for the BP issue. He was in his 95th. year and his heart just gave out after a life of heavy duty work including five years during WWII with the partisans living in the forest in bunkers,by Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
To all my Afibbers.Net forum friends: Wanted you all to know first, right after my immediate family.... we just returned from Southlake Regional Cardiac Centre, Arrhythmia Clinic, P.A.C.E. Cardiology and our annual "Presidential" cardiac inspection. We got good news and good news. First, our Left Atrium continues to shrink albeit more slowly than in past. They took an inordinate aby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
I have not even bothered to read the other responses as I wanted you to know the recent experience that I had personally. I have a bad chest/sinus infection with a productive cough (wow). Family physician put me on Penicillin VK 300 mg. tid. Did not seem to be working so he changed to over to another antibiotic. Felt pounding in my chest on the second day so I stopped taking it. Looking it uby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
My AFIB has never been a question of heart rate. Never. It has been rhythm. So much so that it is obvious just looking at the graphic display on an inexpensive pulse oximeter (I use the Contec CMS50EW recording/rechargeable pulse oximeter - about $125 delivered). I started TIKOSYN by Pfizer (dofetilide) in Dec 2011 and thus far appear to have been in NSR always excepting some periods of skippedby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
dwightsbride Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Murray, you said that "mind that 80% of the drug > is urinated away within an hour or two, what they > monitor long term is your kidney function and IN." > What is IN? Thanks AUTOCORRECT. Grrrrr. Not IN rather should be INR.by Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
I am on 50500ucg twice daily. There are three capsules to choose from. 125ug. 250ug and 500ucg. That is micrograms. They start you under close supervision in hospital looking mainly at Q interval but you can look this up online easily. Keeping in mind that 80% of the drug is urinated away within an hour or two, what they monitor long term is your kidney function and IN. The remaining 200 MICRby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Tikosyn has worked for me 100% and I would remain on it except for the side effects. I have the following mild side effects but find they affect the quality of life when all combined: dizziness, faintness (light headed), chest pressure, tingling, tiredness, cough, shivering, TROUBLE SLEEPING. I find that these issues are mostly very early in the morning and are tolerable but not nice at all. Iby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Shannon: Our thoughts and prayers are with you and Magdalena. I fell and injured my spine and ribs in May. The pictures, on being examined by "experts", all came back with a "differential diagnoses" suggestion or three. Five sets of pictures and fifteen sets of opinions. So we pursued the metastatic cancer route with an oncologist; the whole nine yards from MRI through spby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
I had a similar problem in 2010-2011 and took some natural remedies which ridded me of the issue. Wish my memory was better but am sure someone will chime in here. It was some kind of "GUM" in a capsule that I took for a few weeks. Wish I could recall better. This was after visiting the docs and having a scope top to bottom and bottom to top, being put on medication that did nothingby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
The Anti-Fib Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I haven't talked my Dr. in about 8 months about > it, but he belongs to a large practice that has > about 25 Dr's in it, and it has been the most > effective AAM for them in that large practice. > They kept trying to get me to take it, even > insulting my thinking. I came on this sitby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
A multi is ok but you need to think and know what your body requires. Potassium? Needs to be a whole lot more than a multi is going to give you. Vitamin D? Forget it! A multi is going to come nowhere near the 2,000 IU that your body demands - and D is IMPORTANT. The list goes on. Make sure that you are getting what your body needs.by Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Anyone have the latest news on Tikosyn (dofetilide) by Pfizer? We are getting mixed messages here and would like to clear things up. We have heard that it is coming to the end of its clinical trial and will not be approved; we are hearing that it WILL be approved but very expensive. We have heard that no new patients are being prescribed TIKOSYN, but that if you are an existing user it will coby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
Rosemarie: Pleased to hear your news. Last visit to Dr. Verma my LA was down around 48mm and hopefully being in NSR another year it has continued to shrink. In any event, I am tired of dealing with the side effects of Tikosyn (check the Tikosyn website... I have them all now). I have a followup in January and if my LA has shrunk further I am going to ask him if he would be willing to do an ablaby Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM
It is probably just me.... but I find that it is the Potassium that has the greatest effect on me. Keep the Potassium up and all is calm. Permit it to drop and be prepared for excitement (pun intented).by Murray L - AFIBBERS FORUM