Welcome. Afib won't prevent him from working after you get the symptoms/anxiety under control. Give us more information about his afib etc (symptomatic? His age? Other medical factors besides what you told us about PE). petey

Hi Libby, I think afib is 'one day at a time'.
Sounds like his cardio dr. has diagnosed his afib and is helping. Has he prescribed any meds to ease the symptoms? How soon is 'soon'?

People can and have found trigers for afib...stress being one. I am a believer that 'afib happens'. (although I KNOW alcohol brings on an episode for me most of the time)

Sress is caused by our preceptions and thoughts...not other people, I believe. I would guess, his Frustration is more stressfull than 'you'.

It is a tough time for sure, yes even dramatic...but You and He will navigate through it, I know you will!

Hi Libby. As tough as it can be patience, understanding and support will go a long way with helping things get better. Good luck and all the best moving forward. ;)

Thank you so very much all for the replies. So what I can tell you. He is 55. He never had any problems with his heart and had an angiogram that was unremarkable about 4 years ago and another one on the morning of his cardiac arrest. They were trying to find the causes. all arteries are good, structure of heart is fine. there was obviously pressure on the right ventricle following the sub massive bi lateral PEs. the doctors seem pleased with the healing that heart is doing. The SCa was may 17th so its 6 months now. The palpitations first became really noticeable when he tried to go back to work a month ago. I assume they were there before. Prior to this even he just had the odd palpitations like a lot of us get on occasion. He is a non smoker and a non drinker. Has never smoked or been a drinker. He is overweight by about 40 to 50 pounds. Although he is muscular fit and 6'5. He does not look fat, just big. I notice stress seems to get him started. He wore the heart monitor which showed several incidents a day. H ei son amidarone (sp?) He is on warfarin for PEs and amias, he stopped taking simvastin. I cant remember the other meds. He kind of has borderline diabetes but no other issues. I hope he will stay on warfarin for life. Finding him clinically dead and watching them try to save his life for 45 minutes on the floor of my bedroom has left me traumatised. This was OUT OF THE BLUE. He had no symptoms at all. So A fib just feels like another thing. /thankfully he is alive so I am trying to live in the solution. I just feel nervous because it is scary when the person you love has no pulse. all of this is new. I dont know if A fib can kill you. I know there is a risk of stroke. I just dont know if A fib can trigger V fib? Sorry to vent but it is completely appreciated.

Hi Libby. It's possible that your husband had atrial fibrillation before the pulmonary embolism and the afib itself caused the PE. Untreated afib can cause a blood clot that can break loose and lodge in an artery causing a pulmonary embolism or a stroke. The good news is that now your husband is aware he has afib and he is being treated which greatly reduces the chances of this ever happening again.

Afib is scary at first, but as long as it is being treated it is NOT life threatening and you can live a full and healthy life with it. I've lived with it for about 6 years now and I'm healthier, more fit, and more active now than I was 6 years ago. I'm also in my mid fifties.

The important thing is to learn as much as you can about the condition, find the best electrophysiologist you can to manage your treatment, take your medications, eat a heart heathy diet, reduce stress, stay active and physically fit, and manage any other health condition(s) that can contribute to afib such as high blood pressure, sleep apnea, thyroid disorders, anemia, obesity.

I live alone and work full-time as a computer analyst. Many of us here work full-time jobs and manage just fine. Yes you will have a normal life again, it's just a new normal. For me the thing that helped the most was taking charge and learning as much as I could about the condition and doing everything I could to help my condition. This helped me feel more in control which helped reduce my stress and anxiety.

You and your husband can get through this together and even come out better in the end. For me it was a wake up call that I needed to make some drastic changes in my lifestyle that I may not have made if this hadn't happened to me.

I cant thank everyone enough for the replies. I have read them all to my husband and he as taken some comfort from the words of encouragement. I am really beginning to wonder if it could have caused the PEs and the cardiac arrest. This is not something that has ever been discussed. I will follow that up. We live in London Uk so the medical system is a little bit different. What does the electrophysiologist do? I know it sounds like a stupid question. In the UK most of the follow up visits are clinic style appointments. Long waits, not too much time with the doctors. No complaining because it is all free and they have done an excellent job dealing with all this thus far. He has in the hospital one month. OK so two ore comments. He does have sleep apnea and uses his CPAP at night. Can he exercise??? Sorry to be boring. Just feel relief at the support and I will start to learn all I can. It is the new normal! I hope the cardioversion works but I am realistic that it is not a cure and it may not work. Thanks again to everyone it has made a huge difference.

An electrophysiologist is a cardiologist who specializes in heart arrhythmias. As far as exercise, you should check with your husband's doctor since he had a PE and cardiac arrest. Afib alone doesn't preclude exercise. I do about 1 hour of moderate exercise a day (brisk walking, yoga, strength training, cardio) and it seems to help my symptoms when I'm in afib. I don't worry about heart rate, I just go by how I feel to judge if I am exercising too hard or not hard enough.

Here are a few links to UK websites dealing with afib in case you haven't already found them in your web searches.

http://www.atrialfibrillation.org.uk/

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/atrial-fibrillation

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Atrial-fibrillation/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Libby: AFIB cannot (THAT'S CANNOT!) cause V-Fib. Treated AFIB will not kill you... stroke will.

Is he on a rate control drug, like a betablocker? Bystolic or a drug that ends in the letters "ol"?

He needs to get the sleep apnea treated. It is so typical for tall muscular types who gain a little weight to get sleep apnea. A nech over 16" is actually a risk factor.

I am always in Afib and exercise on a treadmill. Taking rate control (if he has the typical fast heart rate, tachycardia) slows the heart enough to exercise with the doctor's approval.

Losing weight (eating less and healthier) and moderate exercise will probably be advised by the doc.

Read the old posts. education and getting comfortable with afib is important.

Have him look at the posts about celebrities and athletes that have it.

petey

neck not nech petey

AWWWEEE I can't thank everyone enough for all the information. It is so comforting. Sometimes I feel so isolated. I have not been able to have much time for myself. Not complaining, just need to be supportive to my husband. Of course as soon as I feel this is dealt with I will have more freedom. Having answers helps a lot. For now he is taking weight off, his apnea is being treated. He is on atenalol (sp?) I had forgotten to mention that. And I think the doctors have covered everything. Another question what is the difference between having the occasional palpitation as we sometimes do and having Afib? I know I have palpitations sometimes but not often. Is it the frequency? I am not being lazy by asking because I am reading a lot about this and trying to educate myself. And thanks all for the reassurances. I hope his risk of stroke not be high since he is on blood thinners and will stay on them for life. Anyway, its the beginning of this journey and I know there is a lot to learn. Again to all that have answered me everything has brought tremendous comfort and is so much appreciated.

Afib is when the upper part of the heart beating very fast/shaking. Although the atria only are responsible for about 15% of the heart's pumping capacity, it has the important function of "kicking" the lower part to beat, the ventricles, to beat evenly. When the atria "shake" the ventricular beat (the heartbeat) is irregular, but it works. When you look at an EKG/ECG, you normally see a P wave (atria), a QRS wave (ventricles) and a T wave (known as depolarization). With afib, there is no P wave, instead a wavy line. OK. that's enough of that.

Palpitations are usually just premature beats, either atrial or ventricular (known as PACs and PVCs ). Most people get them at some time. They are caused by caffeine, stress, tiredness, whatever.

I guess that is enough detail.

petey

Thanks again. I need to get out my textbooks again. So much to learn. But thanks again for the post. I found it interesting and very helpful.

Hi libby, Don't worry after the cardioversion the drugs will slow and steady the heart and after a few weeks he'll almost be his old self. He needs to take it easy. A support group in the UK is www.patient.co.uk I belong to it. There is life after afib I've had it for 3 yrs. I'm working on self hypnosis because I don't want to be on drugs the rest of my life. I just need to unlock the power of my mind to whip my heart into shape. That's how I found the the site in the UK I googled hypnosis and afib one person on that site said that hypnosis worked for him. It's just something else to look into. I hope this helps. Bye

Thanks so much onneil. My question is.... How should I react to my husband's frustration? He is dying to go back to work. The last time he tried is the first time he noticed something wrong with his heart rate. He blames taking the last assignment for his A fib and says he never noticed the A fib before he tried to stay at the last assignment. He only lasted 3 days and walked out. We were flabbergasted because it was very very lucrative and he would have never ever walked away unless he was really feeling bad. That is where he saw the doctor, got the heart monitor and found the A fib. So none of us really know when it started and if it was a factor in the pulmonary embolisms and cardiac arrest or if they were from DVT. Anyway sorry to be rambling. He has come such a long way and we are extremely grateful. Health first, obviously but next step in transitioning back to life as we knew it is getting over the job hurdle. This is hard because every day he is home is a day where his mood is turning blacker and my patience is wearing thinner. Again thanks for recommending that support group here in the UK. I will look it up. Meanwhile I am trying to stay out of his way unless he needs me. :)

Libby- Welcome to the group. It sounds like you and your husband have been through quite an ordeal! I am glad you found this group and other groups to get the information and support you need. Knowledge is power and getting knowledgeable about the condition and reading of others experiences helps to deal with the fear of this condition. My heart goes out to you and your husband and I hope that in time he gets back to his old self soon. Take care, Carrie