Atrial Fibrillation – anyone else?

Update for the club.

Saw the EP yesterday. His assessment (based only on my description, rather than any other clinical info): don’t worry about AF. Apart from the odd flip-flop heartbeat, I get no other symptoms. And, because I get them so infrequently, he’s content to leave be for the time being.

However…. he looked at the resting ECG I’d had taken just before I saw him. I know I have a right bundle branch block, but there is an element of that he now wants to investigate further (a t-wave inversion IIRC), so I have to have an MRI.

Can’t wait with the NHS any more. Am going to use Bupa for this to bring things forward.

Interesting. I seem to have always had the occasional absolute belter of a series of “mis-fires” all my life, so much so that it takes the wind out of me for a few seconds and have to sit down. They are getting worse though recently I’ve noticed.

I assume that everyone gets them….don’t they?

I assume that everyone gets them….don’t they?

I didn’t until last year.

Go to the doc, maybe?

Woodcutter – Member
Colournoise – sounds like we have something similar going on. Compare notes in a couple of weeks when we’ve both been seen to, eh?

Had my echo earlier.

After a chat with the cardiologist, a couple of doses of cold gel and some ‘sonar’ my heart has been declared structurally and functionally as it should be.

Today was way more useful than either A&E or my GP were. The cardiologist actually showed me my earlier ECGs and explained them and talked me through various possible causes of ectopic beats.

Bottom line was that there was no obvious physical problem, since the arrhythmia seems to have quietened down and since I’m having no problems functioning day-to-day even when my heart is under stress (rode 40km mixed surfaces in the wind and rain yesterday at 18kmh average and felt great at the end) not to worry too much at the moment.

Got to check back with my GP in a few days to confirm ECG and echo results and discuss the bloods I had done. If I have another sustained bout of ectopic beats I’ll get a 24 hour trace thing but for now I’ve got the all clear.

Think I’m still going to keep away from caffeine etc. but for now it’s a bit of a weight off my mind.

Hope yours goes as positively as mine did.

slainte 🙂 rob

Well, I saw the cardiologist today after bloods, x-ray, an echocardiogram and another ECG. All of the tests are OK. I’ve got Proxysmal (occasional) Atrial Fibrilation, but when it is not happening I’m “normal” and because of my heart condition, age and normal blood pressure, I’m not at increased risk of having a stroke (until I get to 65ish). They’re going to give me some Flecainide pills to keep in my pocket so I can pop one when I have another AF episode – apparently it settles things down pretty quickly. I’ve not had a full episode for 7 weeks now, just the odd misfire. I’m staying off the caffiene, chocolate and alcohol apart from the odd treat.

This is the best outcome I could have hoped for. When this all started it was a bit of a shock that I wasn’t immortal any more. The talk on this forum really helped me get my head around it. Good luck everybody with your own diagnoses and thanks for your support.

glad to hear you got sorted mate.

Cheers Ton, let us know how you get on…

Yeah, sounds a decent outcome (given the context). Nice one.

slainte 🙂 rob

I’m 26 and something similar happened to me when I was riding my bike to work. I just started having some hear palpitations. They were so strong I actually had to pull over and rest for a couple of minutes. it was a really hot day as well,and I kind of freaked out. I thought I was having a heart attack or something.
I looked it on the internet and found that

“Atrial fibrillation may be caused by a number of different things such as :

High blood pressure
Different heart diseases such as congenital heart disease, mitral stenosis, coronary artery disease.
A previous heart surgery
Diseases of the lung
Excessive consumption of alcohol
Intoxication with carbon monoxide

It’s highly recommended to take this test if you experienced the following symptoms:
heart palpitations
chest pains
fainting
dizziness
breathing problems
intolerance to exercise.”
(Source: http://www.pradaxainjury.com/%5B/url%5D )

I went to see a doctor’s opinion but apparently I’m alright, just my blood pressure a little to high.