Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group
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 begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.
Coming up on 30 months post ablation. Take no drugs other than ocasional zanax and daily low dose aspirin (for last 27 months after phasing off of sotolal). I now take no blood pressure meds (was on BP meds for 20 years (still not convinced that Diovan(BP med) was not a factor in my development of afib as it caused wide swings in my BP particularly on the low side) even at one quarter of prescribed dosage.
Still running regularly 4 to 6 miles with a 10 miler or two annually just to say that is my "long run" ;-) Stll avoid caffine but do engage in other popular risk behaviors (other than smoking) including running on 100 degree plus days. Also coming up on my 70 th birthday next month.
I am very glad I took a shot at ablation as afib really was wearing me down . I would (will) do it again if I have a recurrence which I of course hope I do not. My experience has been good with ablation after some skipped beat scares which I feared would develop into afib, which they did not do, thank goodness.
Just updating, as someone noted that those that have had ablation were not doing so. Wishing the best for all who have to deal with this problem.
Still running regularly 4 to 6 miles with a 10 miler or two annually just to say that is my "long run" ;-) Stll avoid caffine but do engage in other popular risk behaviors (other than smoking) including running on 100 degree plus days. Also coming up on my 70 th birthday next month.
I am very glad I took a shot at ablation as afib really was wearing me down . I would (will) do it again if I have a recurrence which I of course hope I do not. My experience has been good with ablation after some skipped beat scares which I feared would develop into afib, which they did not do, thank goodness.
Just updating, as someone noted that those that have had ablation were not doing so. Wishing the best for all who have to deal with this problem.
I had an ablation in Oct 2011, and so far, it's a success---no A Fib.
It's good to hear how your life has been post ablation.
D.
Were you paroxysmal or persistent? Who did the ablation? How soon did you start running again? How did your ablation go? What in the heck is that picture you use?
petey
pretty sure my afib was intermittant not persistant, but given the circumstances I'm not sure. I found out early on (within first month after diagnosis) that if I went into afib (and I did often) all I had to do is run something over 1/2 mile and I would stabilize in nsr ....at least as long as I was on Sotalol....probably between 70 and 100 times w/o fail. When put on other drugs I pretty much went into afib right away and running didn't bring back nsr.
My ablation was done at Barnes Jewish hospital in St. Louis ...Dr. was Mitchal Faddis (Washington University Cardiology practice (he is an EP) ....chose them because he had done lots of ablations.
It was a seven hour or so procedure...as I remember he didn't do a lot of discovery of location of electrical malfunction but rather just ring fenced all four vein locations. I do not know which of the two methods he used to manipulate the procedure as I agreed to be in a blind study where I couldn 't know whether tools guided by hand or magnetically or some such. Whatever, it has worked so far. Some folks handle afib better than me . I just couldn't stand it and felt staying on meds had risks so I chose ablation kind of on my own. So far a good choice I'd do again.
My procedure was in April...I ran at beginning of June before I found out I was to wait until end of July. I was in effect race walking after 3 or 4 weeks anyway as I'm a "little" obsessive about exercise.
Last ans. The picture is me morphed to show the semi-crazy me inside the old fart regular me.
I am very impressed with your health.
You said you took Blood Pressure pills for 20 years.
Three questions:-
1) What was your blood pressure reading before you took any drugs.
2) What drugs did you take.
3) To what do you attribute you good blood pressure readings today?
Thanks.
Moy...
As I remember...it was really something like 25 years ago...time flies....BP was 140's to 170's over 80's to low 100's. Long time ago.
That's#1. #2. Took a beta blocker ( normadyne (sp) ) in increasing dosage for a number of years (8/10 maybe). When I quit smoking at 50 years age I replaced that addiction with exercise at first then running because of its time effectiveness and over the years found beta blockers a real hinderance for running and ultimately changed to diovan which doesn't restrict heart rate...but as I found out over years of use I was hyper reactive to diovan eventually taking 1/4 of prescribed dosage(even at that I would have BP readings in the 80's over 50's and high 40's sometimes. My cardiologist eventually just said stop taking bp meds . My BP these days ranges from 115 to 130 over high 60's to low 80's probably reflective of pre hypertension which I richly deserve based on lifestyle (most of life as fairly heavy drinker/smoker/etc)
Let's see that gets us to # 3.... Good luck genetically....controlling weight by exercise versus yoyo diet...moderating drinking (still qualify for moderate to heavy drinker by the standards set by health professionals)..being fired/retired at 57 from a job/career I was not well fitted for personality-wise certainly helped. I really dunno...
That answers the questions as best as I can with likely more detail than necessary....I have a tendency to run on and on and on.... another symptom of old fartdom.
Thanks for the info and no, you did not give too much it all helps. I had an ablation in June and so far have not felt like I can go back to the gym. Exercise is key. I went for a walk the other day with my husband who tends to walk faster than I do and I was a little short of breath so haven't been out since. Must get back to it on my own.
Once again thanks for sharing your story. Your blood pressure readings were the same as mine before meds. It would be nice if I could get off norvasc which is my bp med.
Moy...
Normadyne? Isn't that Marilyn Monroe's real name?
Normodyne.
Great post!
petey
BTW..interesting profile pic :-)
Cheryl
Kelly