Megan, you're not making mountains out of molehills and nobody's going to tell you that's benign. No matter what your heart rate is if you say you feel dizzy I believe you and that's never a benign symptom. Dizziness leads to falls and falls have life-altering effects. You just need to be careful and stay safe until you can get this dealt with.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I'm guessing $2500 is your deductible. So your insurance company made it clear to St. David's that you were responsible for that much, so that's why they asked for up front payment. That's standard practice. I'm on Medicare now so I never pay a dime for anything other than my premiums, but when I was on employer insurance up until 2020, I always got billed up front for thby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Why would you be nervous? By the time you get food it's over and done with.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteMeganMN It s commonly after every beat. Then your heart rate must be around 30-35 bpm, which could definitely cause dizziness.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I hope your consult with Natale yields a way forward for you. I'm sure it probably will because that's what he does.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
A 2-second pause shouldn't cause dizziness unless it's after every beat.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
The numbers you quoted are pretty much in line with my experience. One insurance company paid for 5 of my ablations without uttering a peep. What can they say? If the procedure is deemed medically necessary and their policy covers it, they can't refuse just because it's a repeat. The Affordable Care Act put an end to crap like that.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteMeganMN This is the part that I struggle with, though, as my daily burden of PACs averages 25% and at night can be 30-70%. Really, it's that high? Anything above 20% is in the "needs treatment" range. I really hope you can get this addressed.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotegloaming I am not aware that anyone HERE has had a stroke, although I seem to recall that one of us may have. This forum has been in operation since 1999 and has about 5000 registered members, so I assure you that more than one have suffered strokes. I'm guessing the one you remember is Shannon, the other more senior editor here, since he's kind of prominent.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Impressive that you self-diagnosed so quickly, Dr. Daisy. Thanks to this thread my second Shingrix vaccine is scheduled for next Monday. (Because not foolish enough to get a vaccine right before or during a weekend!)by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Afib is progressive. That's one of it's most notable characteristics and triggers just don't matter. Your EP was exactly right. It's a disease process that follows its own schedule and everyone's schedule is different, but the trend is always toward more afib, not less. I experienced my first afib episode in 2002. From there on out I experienced an episode once or twicby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yeah, moderate weights and exercise are fine. In fact, it should be okay within a week after the procedure. It's just when I hear weight lifting without details, sometimes they are talking about benching 300 lbs.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Something like 97% of the population is positive for varicella antibodies, so there's almost no point in asking if someone had it. The answer is yes, even if they don't remember.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Good news, my friend! But expect bumps in the road for the next few weeks and don't get discouraged when they happen. Not lifting weights is to protect your insertion sites, but weight lifting (heavy) also raises the blood pressure in your left atrium significantly, which in turn enlarges your atrium, which then causes fibrosis to form, and fibrosis causes afib. That's why weight lifby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotewwoofbum PVCs are a more serious concern. Not so much. They're both fairly benign. Most cardiologists will tell you that you don't need to treat PVCs until the burden is very high, on the order of 20%.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
One thing to be aware of with Tikosyn is that it becomes more effective the longer you're on it, so I wouldn't give up too early.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yeah, it can happen because the vaccine takes more than 2 weeks to become effective, but the vaccine does not cause shingles. I got my first shingles vaccine in December, so thank you for reminding me that I'm due for the second.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Ever know somebody with shingles? As much as you may hate afib, you're going to hate shingles a whole lot more. We're talking about 3-5 weeks of an excruciatingly painful rash that can become infected, it can infect your eyes, potentially leading to vision loss, and it can even infect the lungs, causing pneumonia. No thank you. I'd take 3-5 weeks of afib over that.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Checking for lingering atrial arrhythmias isn't an ablation. It's called an electrophysiology study, although it can lead to an ablation. So I'm not surprised he does that because it only makes sense, but he's not going to do an ablation that's not needed. That was my only point. Anyway, you're in good hands.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
An episode lasting 44 hours pretty much removes all doubt that you have afib and it's not going to go away. If you postpone the ablation to wait for monitor results, the results might come back clear simply because no afib occurred during the week or two you had the monitor. But that doesn't mean you don't have afib and it almost certainly will return. You didn't say when in Aby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yeah, PACs can sort of take your breath away momentarily. I think what you've felt were likely PACs.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotecalvin Can you tell me what these PACS fee, like how do you know what it is? Most people describe them as feeling like a particularly strong beat. You know what it is by having felt the sensations and then seeing them recorded on an ECG. Once you've felt a few and see what they are, you know the next time you feel one even if you don't have some type of ECG device.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
It was okay for me, but it's a beta blocker so it came with the same side effect they all have for me, which is exercise intolerance. But it was fairly effective at taming my afib and flutter. If you don't hate beta blockers, it will probably be okay for you.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
No, that's not standard. With no documented afib, I seriously doubt that Natale would be willing to do an ablation. You could ask for another monitor if you have doubts, but a few unclassified readings from Kardia doesn't mean much.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I have a Watchman but mine wasn't placed under time-sensitive conditions like yours will be. My general experience was it's a very quick, easy procedure. I couldn't tell anything had been done other than the one insertion site in my groin. My understanding is that 45 days is the minimum time before you can stop anticoagulants, but they're going to want a TEE at that pointby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
No, they're not going to prescribe something like flecainide in an ER. In fact, they usually won't prescribe much of anything beyond the time you leave the ER. They can't follow up with you and they're just not set up for long-term care, so to hand you a prescription for something and never see or hear from you again would be irresponsible of them. If you want to give flecainiby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
You're taking it daily? How often do you have afib episodes and how high does your heart rate go during an episode with the diltiazem? Do you know how high it goes without the diltiazem?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Flecainide is an antiarrhythmic and it has complex prescribing requirements that requires cardiology training and a knowledge of your full history that an ER doc doesn't have in the 10 minutes they've gotten to know you. Did you know that flecainide isn't approved by the FDA for treatment of afib? It's used by cardiologists off-label, but your ER doc is unlikely to be willingby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
All the best EPs will be very busy. As a general rule, any EP who can schedule an ablation in less than a month isn't the EP you want.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM