the thread of ATRIAL FIBBING

gold spiked helmet

Thank you for this thread, my boyfriend had what was probably a bit of atrial flutter last weekend and it really freaked us both out.

His health insurance is a very low level of coverage, so he refused to go to the ER on the basis that it would probably end up costing him his full deductible of $4000 and the med stop nearest his town doesn't accept his insurance at all. So, so far he's done nothing. Which doesn't seem satisfactory.

"Atrial fibbing" is something your cheating heart would do.

first full pot of coffee made in my own kitchen since the ablation, as i'm on major deadline today and need to be fully focused

(hence posting like an mf on ilx obv)

(will update my condition when this draft is sent, i hope today)

retroactive update: so on 30 dec i had a big post-ablation consultation -- hoping to hear that (a) the ablation had broadly worked after a hiccup that sent me back to hospital during the so-called BLANKING PERIOD and (b) i could change and reduce my medication, esp. my beta blockers (BISOPROLOL) which absolutely leave me tireder than i feel i ought to be feeling, also the RAMIPRIL (for blood pressure) leaves me headachey and the only thing that honestly counters the headache is the caffeine in ANADIN EXTRA (but caffeine brings its own problems)

(a) consultant notes that the ablation did NOT really work, that i've ended up post-procedure with ATRIAL FLUTTER which is contained and controlled by my meds as is
(b) meds not to change for now
(c) in a few weeks another CARDIOVERSION) (stop heart and restart via electric shock) to see if it can be jumpstarted into its proper rhythm -- so far cardioversions haven't been effective at all, my heart has been described as "healthy but stubborn" (which is good i guess)
(d) after that we can revisit my level of meds
(e) consultant muttered more or less to self "i'd like to bring you at least a couple of years of normal heart function" -- dude don't say the dispiriting stuff out loud plz
(f) but realistically i am caught between two consultants of very different opinion -- one (who did the last ablation) who thinks the procedures are basically a waste of time and i shd be controlling all this with meds and my life can be long and productive that way, and mine, who is gung-ho abt procudures but also now i feel disappointed (probably in me, for not being a success for his appproach) (he is nice in person, has a good and funny consultant manner)

the tiredness i guess i can learn to live with: after all i'm going to be 60 this year and i believe that's a thing! the headaches are a bore but i probably need to lose weight to tackle blood pressure and to reduce intake of RAMIPRIL, and exercise is a bit counter-indicated by tiredness, which is physical as much as mental.

(during the return to coffee noted above i was pleased to note i was not getting palps or other amplified symptoms -- to start i felt p good in fact, focused and un-achey etc. toward the end i was getting the usual morning sliuggishness and coming off caffeine i got the usual headaches, which have only just now dissipated tbrr, a week after requitting. basically my coffee counters the beta-blocker tiredness at point of consumption but then leaves me even more tired later plus less likely to sleep soundly. off coffee i sleep well and increasingly sleeping well is a deep pleasure for an ageing fellow)

Sorry to hear this Mark, and I especially sympathise with the last clause.

when it's available and possible, sleeping well is basically one of life's great gifts.

after next cardioversion - if it fails - will funny yet dispiriting procedure-happy consultant perhaps start to take view of the other one?

i think the alternatives are further ablations or controlling it with meds

further ablations *ma*y finally jab all the misfiring buttons in the right way to shut off the misfiring, but risk further misbehaviour during the blanking period (which is basically when the scar tissue isn;lt yet grown in to muffle the misfiring)

meds: when i mentioned the tiredness to the other consultant (as my main reason to want to go ahead with the ablation) he said that different beta blockers might not have the tiredness effect? so i guess that's what i need to look into

what is a

-checks text from mmac-

heart echo check

and why

-double checks text from mmac-

do "they" want me to get one?

mmm possibly "they" are reading my posts all week, tbf

Echocardiogram. Dunno. But it is painless!

the suggestion i need one isnt!

this is a hard q to answer w/o knowing more abt yr earlier communications and interactions with them -- or did they just slide into yr DMs on twitter?

ecgs are useful for many many observsations in and around the heart obviously -- sometimes just to rule out something where you have a symptom that's very likely benign but might be an indicator of something it wd be smart to pre-empt? (i have gone from being a total snowlake abt this organ -- WHAT IF IT JUST STOPS! -- to very admiring of its rugged meaty pertinacity -- OMG IT JUST KEEPS ON GOING! -- but mine has been routinely determined, after many of same, to be v-healthy-if-somewhat-wayward…

on foot of an uncle, completely bolloxed after a life of hectic drinking, showing up something in a scan recently

issue could be related to his chosen career but could also have a genetic element so the icy finger of probability has poked out a text as detailed above and hit send, the dick

my mum was convinced i'd be male-pattern bald by 35 based on genetics, she looked at my tousled head aged 45 (me) and said "that's the one thing i've ever been wrong about"

it's a lottery is what it is and peeking inside the works can do little harm unless yr a worrier

coincidentally last week my doctor strongly recommended that I get one soon based on a health issue last january, which could either be anemia (probably likely, my iron is historically bad but I thought it was under control) or some other unrelated heart issue

I've had intermittent atrial fibrillation (lone atrial fib) for 12 years now. It was originally treated with a right heart ablation. That is not now considered the definitive treatment, but that in combination with flecainide it has kept me mostly free of it

The weird thing is that my older brother has had almost exactly the same experience

does anyone else run around bumping into people for an hour three times a week

i somewhat dread being informed that is a thing not to do anymore

5-a-side? Dodgems?

the polycule regrets

xp think of a hybrid version basically yeah

so it's being said ppl with heart issues are at risk covid-style but i don't know if this includes fibbing? i keep being told my heart is basically v healthy, it's just like keeping time badly

Sigh. I don't know either but my bf had an extremely scary day of recurring episodes two weeks ago, potentially connected to working out at the gym? With no chance of insurance anytime soon he was considering flying to another country and paying for private care just to find out wtf is wrong with him but that's off for now, so...very worried, yes. My sense is no one really knows much re covid so far?

i was on a AF mailing list until december which gathered all kinds of info -- no idea how reliable -- but (a) it all just went into a mailbox i never looked at and (b) i seemed to have been signed off it since jan so i'm none the wiser

so anyway i am lined up for a cardioversion in a few weeks (no date yet) which in routine times is an unproblematic and unrisky heart procedure, in-out in an afternoon, at worst overnight if they schedule you for an evening op, just an electric bump to see if they can nudge it back into proper rhythm for a while

i'm guessing it will simply be postponed bcz urgent stuff will be overwhelming the system in all other directions (tho barts doesn't have an A&E so maybe not) (except my last one was at homerton, which very much does).

anyway i guess wait and see what i'm told -- maybe this is how i will find out how at risk i am

In an example of terrible timing my dad's just been told he'll need a pacemaker fitted within the month. Doctor asked him if there'd been any sudden deaths in the family...

yikes, best of luck koogs

He had a tiny stroke before Christmas which affected his peripheral vision and he had to surrender his driving licence for a year (at least) so now he spends even more time watching the sport on TV. Or would if it hadn't all been cancelled. He needs a hobby.

Good luck to all.

Yup.

barts just called to say that my prep appointment next week for the upcoming repeat cardioversion is indeed postponed, until when they don't know

not startled to learn this, and in fact somewhat relieved

Hope fibbers get a bit of clarity soon (and remain healthy!)

Mark today fb reminded me that it is a year since ur book and attendant goodies arrived at my door 🙌

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jSUtkUyuiK8/Tc13_bGMJsI/AAAAAAAALnY/UHcdt2yaU5Q/s400/Fibber%2BMcGee%2BAnd%2BMolly.jpg

just saw this, thx wins :)

yes, its actual real public birthday has been making me combination happy and sad tbh

so it's being said ppl with heart issues are at risk covid-style but i don't know if this includes fibbing? i keep being told my heart is basically v healthy, it's just like keeping time badly

― mark s, Saturday, March 14, 2020

I think this is right

(dad had his pacemaker operation on Thursday, but even as an out patient op I find it odd that they went ahead with it. Was complaining on Saturday of bruising and that the external monitor wasn't finding a signal, but otherwise fine)

all the best koogs

in AF and me news: patient (me) reports no change, all seems fine

a couple of nights now i've woken with the flutter at some intensity -- where generally sleeping damps it down.

the first i couldn't get back to sleep properly and when i did get up (earlier than intended) i discovered i'd forgotten to take my beta blockers the evening before and evening plus morning dose sorted it well enough.

the second it sorted itself out by itself and i went back to sleep and slept well and late. in each case during the wakefulness i lay worrying that i would have to go back into hospital to get it regularised (which there are now other reasons to not want happen). anyway fingers x-ed it's mostly a mix of anxiety and intense dreams.

like i feel absolutely fine and normal right now but during the wakefulness i could somehow sense the beginnings of every CV19 symptom lurking but i know this is a very normal state of mind for everyone awake at 4 in the moming

lol yes :/

since this began ive hugely favoured lying on my right over my left side when trying to get to sleep: on my left (heart side down) my flutter was more evident and this made me anxious and less likely to sleep, but also i'd get a thing where as i did drop off i'd often seem to get a heart skip and this -- real or imagined -- woke me up again in a panic.

now i find i'm *entirely* favouring sleeping on my right (heart side up) bcz the other way seems actively to exacerbate the flutter? i mean i know yr ribs protect yr heart from being actually squished but

anyway this is all so borderline between symptoms real and dremt that i never get good answers when i ask the specialists or (don't do this) try and google it

every now and then i wake early bcz the flutter seems high, like i just necked an espresso in my sleep to jolt myself awake -- and cant get back to sleep

(this time after a stressful dream abt conflict at work) (knowingly caused by me i might add lol)

a weird thing is that caffeine seems not to heighten the flutter, quite the opposite in fact

lol i just got called to be told the revised date for my repeat fibrillation is exactly a fortnight from now, which GOOD i guess but also uh oh (in hospital but not overnight unless something goes awry)

Hope this goes smoothly!

ok so i went into barts cardiology on monday at 10am and smoothly is how it went and i am now out and in day two of recovery post-cardioversion (which i called a "repeat fibrillation above lol: not its name no, fibrillation is the name of the monster) -- in fact despite lots of boring waits* i was out by 6.30pm same day

i: barts was eerily calm and unpeopled compared to any other time i've been there -- never more than two other ppl on the ward, waiting either for cardioversions themselves (very quick procedure) or pacemaker box changes (longer op tho perfectly routine)
ii: nurses etc all cheerful and professional, not at all a stressed environment -- i was due to be sorted super-quick but apparently then bumped by an emergency post heart-op arrival who'd fainted at newham and been transferred… most of my entertainment all day was listening to phone discussion which of newham and barts needed to hold a post-op bad for this person
iii: also eavesdropped: that barts had not had an actual official COVID patient since the bulge in march, tho of course they were testing everyone on entry
iv: thx to newham fainter i wasn't seen till 3ish having arrived at 10 but as noted the procedure is p quick: wheel me to a lab, sedate me, zap me -- sedation wasn;t full anaesthetic, so i was conscious but very far removed from anything going on. my memory of the actual electric shock is a comically cartoonish silent bump in which every item in the room flew up the air and settled again. i suspect this is not what happened.
v: one zap and my heart was normal sinus waves again, first time in 18 months i think. they told me before that they'd try three times before giving up: but it was just one and worked, so hurrah! the first cardioversion i had -- possibly discussed upthread -- i was fully asleep, they tried it three times and it didn't work ("you have a stubborn heart mr s") and i also got a mild red iron-shaped scorch mark on my back from a shock-paddle lol, tho a bit of savlon sorted this out quickly. this time i dodged all of this and was back on the ward and fully awake (no driving or heavy machinery** for 24 hrs!) by 4pm.
vi: so now we just wait and see how long before it reverts to weird shit, 3 days 3 months 3 years? it may not revert! but i suspect it probably will -- something in my structures pushes towards it. but fingers x-ed…
vii: anyway i am back and beefing calmly as i normally do, hullo ilx

*yes i took in a cpy of the LRB to while away the time, no it never left my bag
**what does heavy machinery actually mean in this context? (i will never google "heavy machinery")

nice to have you back, sir :)

that heavy machinery in full

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👍