Afib it's not a lot of fun sometimes
I have had Afib for over 40 years now. As a child and adult I also had hyperthyroidism, which was controlled via PTU and phenobarb. I also went hypothyroid for a while and that was controlled with thyroid supplements. Two years ago we ablated my thyroid and am now on daily supplements. When I was 8 y.o I was diagnosed with paroxsmal atrial tachycardia by my endocrinologist. Later on in life the diagnosis was changed to SVT. (same thing pretty much). This last weekend was my very first trip to the ER due to it. I finally got it on paper, was in the over 300ish BPM range, hard to get a real number there as it was irregularly irregular and pretty rapid. But at least we got it on a trace. I have had holter monitors and event monitors galore in attempts to catch it. It also doesn't help that I am stubborn, and often wait several days after a bad episode to contact my Dr because I have been accused of panic attacks by some docs. I have tried inderal, digoxin, atenolol, quinidine gluconate all without control. I am also on daily aspirin. I am not hypertensive and only borderline overweight BMI 27. I have blacked out before, had tunnel vision (blue borders around my vision), intense thoracic numbness (best way I have to describe it), lightheadedness, dizziness, tingling in the arms,and now cold sweats (this was the trigger to call 911)plus I have to urinate a lot during and after the episodes. I usually convert within 8 hours of the attack, this time it took two doses from the paramedics of something 6 once and then 12 to get me down to an irregular 150ish for transport, where I got injected with a blood thinner in my stomach (lovely burning sensation) and then transported to a hospital my health coverage preferred I visit. Still running 100-150 BPM with fluctuating fluctuations in BPM.There I got some poatassium pills, another shot of blood thinner in the other side of my stomach, and an IV drip to try and titrate me down to sinus rhythym not sure which drug, but after twelve hours of treatment I finally went back to a sinus rhythym. The Dr made a small modification to my levothyroxine dosage and released me from the hospital, I have an echocardiogram scheduled a week from now and a visit to the cardiologist two weeks out. I had another afib episode this morning that lasted about 1.5 hours but was much more subdued than the one three days ago. I Guess I'll just wait and see, I did let my Dr know and she said to take another half tab of atenolol and see what that does. Here's hoping that at least if we can't stop it outright we can decrease the severity of the attacks as they are getting worse as I grow older.
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