What is Atrial Fibrillation AFib
Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begi...
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New to AFib need advice.
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Hello everyone, I was surfing the net looking for information on Lone AFIB and found this site. So far so good. I will start by giving a brief history of what happened with me and follow up with some concerns/question. My goal of course is to get some answers and to develop a positive view of what I am going through. That's pretty hard to do sometimes but I remain optimistic!
I am a 32 year old male who lives in Oklahoma and am getting married in Sept 2009. I was recently diagnosed with Lone AFIB and have had two separate episodes in the last year. I am currently on 25mg atenolol and .25 mg of digoxin. Since then I experience PVCs daily, some better than others, but am in Sinus Rhythm. O.k. I'll try to keep it short. I had my first confirmed AFIB episode in Oct. 2008. I went to my parents house in Indiana 800 miles away to watch over my 96 yo grandpa who lived with my patents. They went on vacation for a week and I was there to keep an eye on him. That week was very stressful to me because at the time he was rapidly getting worse with dementia and his overall since of time and reality. I didn't get much sleep that week and as the week came to end I was exhausted both mentally and physically. The next day after their return I helped my dad with a tree that had been struck by lightning in their back yard. We spend the day with chainsaws removing broken limbs and moving heavy stumps. I started feeling dizzy but didn't think anything at the time. Later that night I took my pulse and noticed it was jumping all over the place. Immediately I went into panic mode. This had never happened before. I was very scared. My dad rushed me to the ER where the told me I was in AFIB. This was the first time I have ever heard of this. They decided to put me in the hospital for the weekend and chemically converted me back to Sinus Rhythm the following Monday. During my stay in the hospital I had EKG, ECG, bloodtests, ecocardiogram and all came back normal. They said structurally my heart was great but my potassium was a little low but not significant. I was put on toporol and sent home with the instruction, "go to a cardiologist as soon as you get back to Oklahoma." I left the hospital and returned home. The day we got back my grandpa had a stroke and was rushed to the hospital. I couldn't stay and headed back to Oklahoma. He died 2 months later. He will be missed. When I saw the cardiologist in Oklahoma he put me on a 24hr holter monitor, changed my medicine from toporol to digoxin, because I was feeling sluggish. The holter results showed that I was fine just experiencing PVCs about 2000 in 24 hr period. My cardiologist said this was nothing to worry about. I disagree. He wanted me to come back in a few months. The next few weeks after talking to him were pure hell. I went through serious anxiety problems and coping with my newly diagnosed condition. Difficulty sleeping, and I had panic attacks almost daily. I was unsure if I was going to have a heart attack or die. I wasn't getting answers from my Dr. so I changed to another cardiologist. He evaluated my case did a stress test and said I was fine. He took me off all meds and told me to take 400mg of magnesium and a baby aspirin a day. Since then a day hasn't gone by that I don't think about my heart. It is a constant struggle to accept my malady and to adapt to a new way of living. I have PVCs daily for which I am told are completely normal. Don't worry about them, they are benign. However I live in fear of "what ifs" and will I die early? In addition I have no answer to as to why this occurred. I wish I knew so I could just avoid that activity. Fast forward to a week ago. A washer hose broke and flooded my house. I had to have the entire carpet replaced as well as a lot of my belongings. This was not fun. I was very stressed again. Went to the gym to blow of some steam and came back in AFIB. I went to the ER again. the gave me a few injections and I went to my cardiologist the next morning. He confirmed I was in AFIB and put me on my current meds. Digoxin .25mg and Atenolol 25mg daily. On converted back on my own later that day. Since then I am becoming more accepting of what I have... praying daily and exercising when I can. My blood pressure is consistantly around 65/115 and HR is 60-70 BPM. I am getting married in 2 months and I have to get myself under control. My biggest problem is not knowing what exactly is causing this. Why now, and will it get worse? What are the best ways to deal with PVCs and are there others my age with this problem? I feel alone in this because as much as my fiance and family love me, there comes a point where I don't want to talk about my fears and problems as they have their own as well. I don't want to make everything about me and my heart problems. So I thought joining this group could help. Sorry about the long message. Eric Posted on 07/01/09, 03:07 pm |
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Back into Afib for 30 minutes last night after light exercise. I took a walk around the block for 10 minutes. Throughout the day I had PVCs , nothing new. At the end of my walk I was feeling good so I thought I would try to get my heart rate up. I jogged for 3-4 house lengths. Immediately went into Afib. I went home and relaxed. About 30 minutes later I was back in normal sinus rhythm. Does anyone know if exercise induced afib is the result of something structural. My cardiologist insists I have nothing structurally wrong. Also will long term use of Digoxin .25mg cause serious side effects. I am also on 25mg of Atenolol. My resting heart rate has been down to 44 BPM which my cardiologist is also not worried about.
Eric 
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Eric
I totally understand you. I would suggest that you start a VERY slow work out routine because sounds like you are going into SVT (supra ventricular tachycardia, a sinus tachycardia) which then progresses into a-fib. Do not attempt to run if you are not doing so on regular basis. Start with walks and increase your indurance over a period of time. When you were running your pulse was probably in 170s at that point. Take walks, then walk faster, get a pulse meter and try not to go over 120-130 BPM while walking. Be sure to have LOTS of water on bard before any exercise, since dehydration causes tachycardia. BE sure your doc knows about what's going on. Good luck, Nat
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Eric, I have no structural problems and strenuous activity sends me into AFib as well. It just happens. If you don't want to live like that, talk to your doctor and see what you can have happen... of course if you're in the states you have to be able to afford it.
Digoxin does have some risks to it, when you picked up your prescription you should've been given a sheet with all of its info. http://www.drugs.com/digoxin.html
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Hi Eric:
First, you have my complete sympathy as you are asking so many of the questions I did when I first started with all of this. It will become more clear and you are not in acute danger. I am fairly infrequent on this board but the times I have been here I have found it very helpful. I started with PVCs and my doctors also said they were nothing to worry about. The only problem I can see is that they are harbingers of afib difficulties to come. Since this discussion is about advice, here is mine. You need a really good doctor, specialist in this particular problem. I traveled to Palo Alto, California, near Stanford and went to a group called Cardiovascular Medicine & Cardiac Arrhythmias. You can google it. The two best doctors for your problem are Dr. Patrawalla and Dr. Roger Winkle. Cleveland also has a center known for its work but I have found this northern California group to be very good. They are affiliated with Sequoia Hospital, a 5 star cardiac hospital, also very good. They are not a teaching hospital and do not use inexperienced doctors to assist or perform surgeries. They have done 800 ablations in the last four years and more is better. Also their followup is very good. At your young age, I would think an ablation would be the ticket. The deal is, if you stay in afib for years, your heart will no longer be able to have an ablation as it will be stretched out. If you can control it with medicine and trigger control, you could do that while the technology continues to advance. Usually, eventually you will not be able to stay out of afib and you should probably get an ablation before that. Before the ablation monitor your heart to make sure it is not enlarging. I totally agree with the other posters who have talked about doing something relaxing. Music has been my constant companion. Something about the rhythm and relaxing nature of it, although I like rock, helps more than anything. Are you aware of your triggers? Too strenuous exercise, stress, missing a full night's sleep, physical or emotional fatigue, explosions in movies, anxious movies, anxious anything, coffee, tea, chocolate, alcohol, getting chilled, overheated, too much salt, too spicy food, too big a meal. You can start the dance of the triggers, or just go straight to the ablation. I hate, hate afib, have I said that? Anyway, I know a number of people who are cured, so it is possible. Very best of luck, just don't settle for less than the best medically and you should be fine. You sound like a super candidate for a cure.
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