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.
So it'll be 6 months post ablation #2 on Monday. I feel great. Meds I am currently taking for heart is 400mg of Multaq, Coumidin and 50mg of extended release metaprolol. I was origanlly on 100mg of metaprolol but I reduced it to 50mg because I started having heartbeats in 40's and 50's and feeling very low.
I started back at the gym 3 weeks ago with a personal trainer. I've also been doing mild cardio. So far my heart has been behaving wonderfully! Even on beta blocker I able to achieve about 130 to 140bpm. So I'm loosing weight. I know it's going to take a while for me to fully trust my heart to behave like did prior to afib. I go back to see my EP on Dec. 26. Hoping I can get off some medication.
In 2 weeks I am taking my first plane ride since developing afib and havingthe ablations. I'm a little bit nervous about it. Can anyone share flying experience post ablation and with no ablation? I'm worried about chest pressure. I remember the first time I went to live on a ski resort. The pressure from high elevations hurt my chest. But I have never had problems flying before heart problem. I'm also thinking about asking EP for Adivan to help keep me calm during flight.
I started back at the gym 3 weeks ago with a personal trainer. I've also been doing mild cardio. So far my heart has been behaving wonderfully! Even on beta blocker I able to achieve about 130 to 140bpm. So I'm loosing weight. I know it's going to take a while for me to fully trust my heart to behave like did prior to afib. I go back to see my EP on Dec. 26. Hoping I can get off some medication.
In 2 weeks I am taking my first plane ride since developing afib and havingthe ablations. I'm a little bit nervous about it. Can anyone share flying experience post ablation and with no ablation? I'm worried about chest pressure. I remember the first time I went to live on a ski resort. The pressure from high elevations hurt my chest. But I have never had problems flying before heart problem. I'm also thinking about asking EP for Adivan to help keep me calm during flight.
I take a small 0.5 mg dose of Klonopin (8-10 hour therapeutic window) to curb my anxiety on long interstate drives in the car. It really helps. If not, I get anxiety and then a-fib.
I have done air travel twice now since my ablation. Just got back from South Africa on an 18 hour flight....UGH! I was nervous about the trips as well. The first one in June, I was still on flec and metoprolol. I have been off drugs since 1 July but still took the metoprolol with me on this trip as a safety blanket. I know this is just one case, but I had no issues, and we are talking about 4 18 hour flights. As I recall getting off the flight in June I had a minor "episode" which lasted about 10 seconds (extra beats), but I was able to catch my breath after that...of course because of the still ongoing fear from my ablation, I hadn't actually done any cardio exercise in quite a few months, and I was told that this was probably the issue. I know this is only one example, but if your flight is less than 18 hours, I hope that you will be just fine!
Bill