With me it's actually quite weird. What will happen is about 2 miles into a run, they'll start. Then after 10 minutes or so they'll vanish completely. I can only figure it has something to do with the fluid shifts that happen as one begins to sweat and then sweats profusely. Probably potassium leaving the cells but then later being overwhelmed by sodium outflux in the perspiration.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
RED WARNING SIGN! If doctors are able to schedule ablations in just a few days time then they are not top-notch practitioners. Good ones all have wait times in the 6 month range.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Red more than likely means hemorrhoids, but do get checked. Your GP can also do a CBC and fecal occult blood tests with a 24-hour turnaround in most cases (don’t go on a Friday).by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yes the PACs (or PVCs) can certainly affect performance if they happen while you’re exerting yourself. Happens to me all the time. A “double shot” of PACs while I’m jogging uphill feels like someone stuck a ShopVac down my throat and sucked all the air out!by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteCarey Please don't flush drugs. You're sending them to the nearest body of water. Put them in the trash instead. Septic tank and leach field. They never made it more than 20 yards from my house. Suffice it to say my grass was quite immune to arrhythmia in the days following!by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
I wasn’t on flecainide but rather Propafenone. I flushed the whole bottle down the toilet as soon as I got home from my ablation. It had cost me a $100 copay. So that’s how I felt about stopping!by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sleep apnea study is an excellent idea. Your heart’s not failing. AF is a pain in the ass, but it’s peanuts compared to real heart failure. There’s a way through this with careful and deliberate choices. You can be free of atrial arrhythmia.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
More specifically, how many complex, left atrial ablations have you done? Simpler, right sided flutter ablations should not be used to pad ones statistics when it comes to AF ablation.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yes, I should've mentioned that. The AARs would be used in conjunction with the beta blockers. That is especially true in the case of flecainide, as it has an increased risk of flutter. Propafenone has its own mild beta-blockade effect (about 1/20 that of metoprolol) and can sometimes be used alone in cases of vagally mediated AF. In adrenerigic cases I think a beta blocker should always beby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
If you are on the road to an ablation and do want to seek temporary relief from AF, then I would consider “first-line” AAR drugs such as Propafenone or flecainide. You can safely start and stop these at low doses outside of the hospital. If they work, great. If not, not much lost. The next step up from those two are drugs that may lengthen the QT interval, and those earn you the 3 day hospital “sby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
The fluid thing is a bit of an understatement. I wasn’t Foleyed but after laying down most of the night the nurse gave me a 64 oz bottle to take to the restroom because they have to measure kidney output post procedure. I returned it full. I said the other two that I could have filled went down the toilet. There was no stopping mid-stream to ask for more!by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteCarey . One of those figures is very wrong and you don't know which it is. . They could both be wrong. When presented with wildly varying measurements, the engineer in me is apt to call them all into question.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
The first line of treatment for hemorrhage in an anticoagulated patient is simple plasma infusion until the drug wears off (12 hours or so). Reversal agents would only be used in cases where that wasn't fast enough.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Pradaxa and Eliquis have FDA approved reversal agents. Praxbind and Andexxa.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteCarey Nice, but I can virtually guarantee he doesn't follow that protocol anymore. Only two weeks on an anticoagulant post-ablation would be considered malpractice these days. I got “taken to the woodshed” for quitting Eliquis 28 days post ablation. Now that I know more, I wouldn’t do that again.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
An EP who has immediate openings, as rocketritch has told us, is a telltale sign of an inexperienced or otherwise less-than-stellar practitioner. An EP worth his or her salt will have a waiting list up to 6 months long. Buyer beware!by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Get the Kardia device if you can. You can check anytime you'd like (except at night of course). If you're one of the more asymptomatic types then I think it would certainly be of benefit. You can also just check radial pulse. AF is "irregularly irregular". You may get several beats that feel evenly spaced and then a long pause or two before another salvo of seemingly normal beby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
It depends on who did the ablation. Operator skill level matters. Some fail after the 3 month blanking period, others go a decade or longer. Mine was 3 years ago. I had a breakthrough in April this year, which I would also describe very much as "a-fib lite". Nothing since then. No drugs at the moment. Honestly, if I had to guess I'd say this is what a pulmonary vein reconnectionby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
% of time in AF is not a valid statistic. It's hours of continuous AF. A clot can form after about 2 hours. The PIP studies are narrowing this down. The data are good and the science is sound. DO NOT USE % time in AF to guide any anticoagulation decision! For example 2 hours of AF in one month is 0.3%, but is also quite enough to kill your brain and possibly the rest of you. If CHADS2VASCby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Is there a specific reason for the warfarin in your case as opposed to the direct, oral anticoagulants like Eliquis? I'm surprised to see an elite EP choose warfarin, so I'm assuming there must be a reason for it. Bleed risk is higher with warfarin because of the infamous INR fluctuations.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
What makes you think you'll need an LAA isolation other than brief conversation with the nurses? Recurrent AF after an index ablation can easily be caused by reconnection of the pulmonary veins. It's entirely possible Dr. Natale will only need to "re-do" the PVI lesion set and that's it. I assure you he won't isolate the LAA unless it's necessary. It's notby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
I second GeorgeN's opinion regarding ablating the accessory pathway. WPW will make AF potentially more dangerous. Beyond that, a pacemaker for the sick sinus syndrome makes sense to me. That kind of gets you back to a safe starting point for medical AF treatment where the anti-arrythmics won't risk v-fib and the beta blockers won't risk passing out. That being said, what youby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotejpeters I thought having an ablation was an alternative to meds, but you're still on a lot of them. An ablation that requires anti-arrhythmic drugs is a failed ablation. I know, I’m on the verge of one myself.by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Koli, If you took your wife to an ER because of a-fib, then there's a really good chance they won't even deal with the anticoagulation. They'll just do rate control and tell you to see a cardiologist. ER's are really bad places to treat AF. They exist to treat life-threatening medical conditions or acute injury and AF just isn't among them. Metoprolol and bisoprololby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Interesting. I’m going to say this may underline the need for sort of a “middle-ground” approach to thrombosis risk, such as the various other threads that address nattokinase or serrapeptase. Certainly putting ALL afibbers, “cured” or not, on anticoagulation therapy will increase mortality due to bleeds. The statistics cited in the report are weak at best. I think that changes in already lowby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Timelines are important. When was the Pradaxa started? How many episodes of AF, if any, preceded the anticoagulation? It is possible that TIEs (transient ischemic events) may have occurred, and that they are responsible for the cognitive issues. Coincidence with the medication could just be unfortunate timing. We just don’t know without details, and even then maybe not. I agree, though, in theby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Opiates/opioids. Classic side effect. Knocks your gut unconscious long enough for fecoliths to form and, viola, you’ve got a “log jam at the mill”. Try blasting it out if you think it’s safe to do so. In addition to the magnesium laxative effects, I have a tried-and-true method although it’s not for the feint-of-heart. Eat the spiciest meal you possibly can (I usually make a pizza with at leasby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteCarey I've heard this come up repeatedly, with the understanding that it takes time for the heart to heal and form scar tissue. It does, but there's no evidence I'm aware of that normal levels of exercise interfere with that process. Every EP I've dealt with has been of the opinion that you should return to your normal activities as soon as you're past the 3-5 dby wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thank you. Disregard my comments about supplementation until you’ve had a chance to talk it over with your cardiologist. You’re certainly right about anxiety being a “force multiplier” when it comes to heart woes. We all know it!by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM
Pink salt? What is that? I only ask because meat curing salts (sodium nitrate, nitride) are often dyed pink and those are toxic and carcinogenic. I hope you're not drinking that!by wolfpack - AFIBBERS FORUM