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.
Hey, I know this is an odd topic subject. I am very frustrated right now. Please read my journal entry for today and you will see why. Do any of you have co-occuring EP disorders? Does this happen? I no longer have a firm diagnosis. Some numbers are a bit wrong or something. Not enough data? Arrrgh! Thanks for letting me rant.
What you describe is nearly identical to what happened to me last month. I was on the phone and my heart rate started going up, and up, and up. I hung up the phone and called my neighbor who is a nurse. She came over with a stethoscope, and my heart rate was at 190 and bp was 190/110.
The parametics came.. hooked me up to an EKG right in my living room, opened up a vein on my sofa, put me on oxygen and started pushing cardizem in my arm.
On the way to the hospital, my heart rate continued to climb. They stopped the ambulance, got more medication out of the cardio truck following us, and pushed more into my veins. I'm told I converted while I was in the ambulance, but I felt horrible and my heart rate stayed high.
They were great in the ER. They did an x-ray right there on the stretcher to make sure I wasn't having an embolism, and kept me on oxygen all night.
Coincidently, when all of this happened, I just happened to be on a two day holter monitor, so my EP got every beat from the time the attack started.
Yes, it was afib, as it sounds like yours was. I'm on bystolic and aspirin. The bystolic seems to have really helped because I don't get the flip flops I was getting... at least very infrequently now.
Go see an EP. I found my cardiologist was pretty useless. My EP was wonderful.