the thread of ATRIAL FIBBING

ketchup inc.minor downstream implications

so after asll the faff i scored an appointment w/my nice consultant in mid-november, at which it was decided to put a pause on further procedures for the time being: my fib has calmed down into flutter (viz the aberrations form regular rather than wild-party patterns) and my resting pulse rate is only *exactly twice* a normal pulse rate (c.126 instead of 60ish). but as i have no other symptoms we decided let's just observe for the next six months and decide the way forward then

so far so good, except today i was in for a bunch of tests and a chat with the consultant anaesthetist abt an entirely unrelated procedure: not urgent -- the condition is a minor inconvenience tho i cd do without it -- but also something the meds think is worth tackling. tests all fine and i have a letter from my cardiologist to say "yes i know his pulse rate is twice what it should be, here's why that's no emergency", which helps orientate the student that does the ECG.

anaesthetist also talks through all of this and explains the best kind of anaesthetic for the surgery (spinal not general) and what that entails (off blood thinners for three days, longer if there's bleeding afterwards, as there might be). strongly advises i do sleep studies to see if i have sleep apnea (i don't think i do but he's the specialist). and then says he thinks given my heart condition that i'm probably high risk in the context of the surgery being explored, and he's going to postpone it until he's talked to my cardiologist. since there's a chance of clots and embolisms and also just general heart chaos courtesy the anaesthetic. "and we wouldn't want that" -- well no we wouldn't

i was planning to postpone it anyway as i'm in the middle of moving house and it feels like too many things at once! so this isn't a catastrophe. but it is the first real-world consqeuence of the condition since they admitted me (in 2019? see above) for a week, for racing pulse…

I think you can do sleep studies now in the comfort of your own home so that's a plus

i asked abt this and they said no it's in the hospital

If you do have surgery, the anesthesia may make you lose some words for a while: they'll say Oh Noes, what could it be, better run some neurologicals---but (judging by the experience of several friends & relations in recent years), it may well turn out to be anesthesia---if they can't find any other cause and the condition is temporary, that is. Can last up to 3-4 weeks, at least it did for a couple of the people I know who were affected.

better safe than sorry obv but i've actually been under full general anaesthetic since the fibbing began -- albeit for fibbing related procedures so i guess they have the heart under close observation throughout

and they didn't involve sharp cutting knives which this one in a small way would

hope this goes well for you

waiting for a phonecall from my health centre following up on the letter the anaesthetist sent to my GP, which fingers x-ed is just admin

meanwhile ATRIAL FIBRILLATION was trending on twitter this morning -- partly bcz it's apparently stroke prevention day (tbc i am in favour of stroke prevention) and partly bcz thousands of anti-vaxx numpties are busy screeching that AF is caused by the jab (clue: it is not)

oh the letter arrived at my house also, he thinks i am at risk of sleep apnea and wants me to take a sleep studies test -- which fine, sure, w/evs

Believe me, taking one and getting CPAP was a game-changer for me!

yeah it made a big difference for mr veg also

Same for me - especially helping with racing heart in the middle of the night stuff.

turns out -- six months later -- that i have no significant sleep-disordered breathing tho i do have "severe snoring" lol, sorry neighbours i can't hear it and it doesn't affect me

quick atrial update: despite ongoing adventures with vertigo lol, my annual check-up went v well -- the consultant (the same cheery guy who i have now seen in three sepeatre hospitals, barts in smithfield, the royal free in gospel oak and this time in fkn ENFIELD) (nice shiny modern building tho) was v positive: my heartrate may be a bit faster than all you sad normies but i am otherwise reassuringly asymptomatic (viz this higher rate causes me zero distress) and he thinks no further procedures are necessary at this stage 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

(not even sure what these procedures wd acually be: more cardioversions and ablations? on towards a pacemaker? anyway, we not going in that direction yet)

(i have a friend whose grandad had 18 !! ablations and lived into his mid-80s so i am chill either way, tbh i just want a quiet life and life in plymouth is exactly this, between the world-historical storms anyway)

Hooray! (but sped up so it doesn't sound like whalesong to you)