Atriall Fibrillation

cc1085
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by cc1085 »

Tim Holman wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 7:21pm Hello, Thom, echocardiogram is an amazing experience...Your Heart Live on a Screen Beside You. Beats even Winterwatch, Good luck,
Tim
Sounds great Tim and thanks for reply, but I think I'd rather see Winterwatch and not have AF.
Tim Holman
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by Tim Holman »

I get it!
Tim
pete75
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by pete75 »

rualexander wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 8:19pm
pete75 wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 4:18pm [Same with a heart attack - in France medics believe the emergency treatment you receive in the first hour after it is very important for survival.. UK medics think it fine to have a 4 hour target for any treatment in A&E.
I'm sure they believe that here too, I doubt if they consider it fine to have a 4 hour target for any treatment in A&E.
But unfortunately that is the constraints under which they have to work due to political decision making.
In any case, I believe an urgent condition like a heart attack would be triaged up the waiting list if at all possible.
Yes - if at all possible, but with ambulances stacked up 5 or 6 deep will it be possible?
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
softlips
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by softlips »

pete75 wrote: 28 Jan 2023, 10:09pm
rualexander wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 8:19pm
pete75 wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 4:18pm [Same with a heart attack - in France medics believe the emergency treatment you receive in the first hour after it is very important for survival.. UK medics think it fine to have a 4 hour target for any treatment in A&E.
I'm sure they believe that here too, I doubt if they consider it fine to have a 4 hour target for any treatment in A&E.
But unfortunately that is the constraints under which they have to work due to political decision making.
In any case, I believe an urgent condition like a heart attack would be triaged up the waiting list if at all possible.
Yes - if at all possible, but with ambulances stacked up 5 or 6 deep will it be possible?
If an ECG in the ambulance suggests cardiac ischaemia the patient should be taken directly to the cardiac cath lab.
pete75
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by pete75 »

softlips wrote: 2 Feb 2023, 5:02pm
pete75 wrote: 28 Jan 2023, 10:09pm
rualexander wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 8:19pm

I'm sure they believe that here too, I doubt if they consider it fine to have a 4 hour target for any treatment in A&E.
But unfortunately that is the constraints under which they have to work due to political decision making.
In any case, I believe an urgent condition like a heart attack would be triaged up the waiting list if at all possible.
Yes - if at all possible, but with ambulances stacked up 5 or 6 deep will it be possible?
If an ECG in the ambulance suggests cardiac ischaemia the patient should be taken directly to the cardiac cath lab.
There's a deal of difference between should be and will be.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
axel_knutt
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by axel_knutt »

pete75 wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 4:18pm
axel_knutt wrote: 26 Jan 2023, 12:02am
pete75 wrote: 25 Jan 2023, 9:56am Yes, diagnosed in 2014. Didn't know I had it until discovered in a routine blood pressure check
If the electrical activity passes from the atria through the AV node to the ventricles you get tachycardia, known as Fast AF, and you wouldn’t be in any doubt if you had that. Any heart rate over 150bpm is a ticket to resus on the red telephone, and my record HR from the days when I was still un-medicated is 260bpm. If I tried to stand up like that I was on the verge of passing out.

Despite what you say I definitely have AF.
I wasn't suggesting that you don't. I was just talking about the wide range of symptoms of AF, they vary from one extreme to another, not only from patient to patient, but also episode to episode, and minute to minute. The underlying symptoms of mine have remained pretty much the same since the start, but they've made me feel a lot worse as I've lost fitness, and I haven't had the fast ventricular response since I've been on the meds.

There's no shortage of ignorance amongst doctors about AF symptoms, I've had a consultant tell me that my heart rate can't possibly have been as high as 200, or I would have been unconscious. I've been sat in the chair chatting when the paramedics when my ECGs were done.

Only recently, a consultant said "Oh, you can feel your AF, can you?"

I've been sent home from A&E with untreated arrhythmia by doctors who couldn't tell atrial flutter from a panic attack.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
softlips
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by softlips »

axel_knutt wrote: 4 Feb 2023, 11:15pm
pete75 wrote: 27 Jan 2023, 4:18pm
axel_knutt wrote: 26 Jan 2023, 12:02am
If the electrical activity passes from the atria through the AV node to the ventricles you get tachycardia, known as Fast AF, and you wouldn’t be in any doubt if you had that. Any heart rate over 150bpm is a ticket to resus on the red telephone, and my record HR from the days when I was still un-medicated is 260bpm. If I tried to stand up like that I was on the verge of passing out.

Despite what you say I definitely have AF.
I wasn't suggesting that you don't. I was just talking about the wide range of symptoms of AF, they vary from one extreme to another, not only from patient to patient, but also episode to episode, and minute to minute. The underlying symptoms of mine have remained pretty much the same since the start, but they've made me feel a lot worse as I've lost fitness, and I haven't had the fast ventricular response since I've been on the meds.

There's no shortage of ignorance amongst doctors about AF symptoms, I've had a consultant tell me that my heart rate can't possibly have been as high as 200, or I would have been unconscious. I've been sat in the chair chatting when the paramedics when my ECGs were done.

Only recently, a consultant said "Oh, you can feel your AF, can you?"

I've been sent home from A&E with untreated arrhythmia by doctors who couldn't tell atrial flutter from a panic attack.
AF is treated terribly in the UK. Unless you get the right doctor you tend to just get given Warfarin or similar. We now know AF is not a benign condition and we should attempt everything possible to get patients back in sinus rhythm.
cc1085
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by cc1085 »

I had Echocardiogram last week, blood tests this week and meeting with Cardio staff next week. I was asymtomatic so I guess I'm lucky that it was discovered so I wonder what the result of all these tests will reveal.
Jdsk
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by Jdsk »

cc1085 wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 8:31pm I had Echocardiogram last week, blood tests this week and meeting with Cardio staff next week. I was asymtomatic so I guess I'm lucky that it was discovered so I wonder what the result of all these tests will reveal.
Have you got all of the background reading that you'd like?

Jonathan
cc1085
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by cc1085 »

Jdsk wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 9:03pm
cc1085 wrote: 20 Feb 2023, 8:31pm I had Echocardiogram last week, blood tests this week and meeting with Cardio staff next week. I was asymtomatic so I guess I'm lucky that it was discovered so I wonder what the result of all these tests will reveal.
Have you got all of the background reading that you'd like?

Jonathan
Thanks for reply Jonathan, I get all the info I need from my older brother who has had Afib for thirteen years. Luckily Warfarin isn't used anymore which according to him was very unpleasant. He has had Cardioversion, iron infusion and transesophageal echocardiogram.
Thom
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hondated
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by hondated »

Tim Holman wrote: 23 Jan 2023, 10:02am Hello.. Axel, slow means about 15kph. I don't keep tabs on speed or distance generally because I find it's easier to do what I do, so to speak. My routes are mostly well known to me so it's easy to vary my strength of application rather than to go for speed or distance. Although there's always the temptation to do more especially if the weather is kind. I would not describe my kind of cycling as Endurance although yesterday's drizzle and gloom did make it something to be endured.
I have refused amiodarone because of the side effects, which were intolerable. I do take BBs which were recently varied but seem ok; echocardiogram is a wonderful view from inside your body of your heart performing live on stage, I have tried to buy a front row season ticket. My anticoagulants recently changed from warfarin with no ill effects so far. Cardiologists vary too: in my time I have had a few.
Tim
A but ironic Tim really as I am sitting in hospital beside my grandson who had Covid19 & now has a bug which 3 in a million people get. He's 20 and I am reading this thread. I won't bore you with the details but I too have a heart problem. Two of my Chambers aren't working properly & has part of the treatment they put me on Amerodian. I took it for 18 months before I learnt how toxic it is. I immediately rang the Cardiologist & he gave me an alternative. However it hasn't stopped me getting a thyroid problem but at the moment it's border line for being treated. I reverently found a page on FaceBook called Stop Amerodian & it's worth reading. As for cycling I am still doing it but now short mileages once a week at a leisurely pace.
axel_knutt
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by axel_knutt »

hondated wrote: 23 Feb 2023, 6:35pm
Tim Holman wrote: 23 Jan 2023, 10:02am Hello.. Axel, slow means about 15kph. I don't keep tabs on speed or distance generally because I find it's easier to do what I do, so to speak. My routes are mostly well known to me so it's easy to vary my strength of application rather than to go for speed or distance. Although there's always the temptation to do more especially if the weather is kind. I would not describe my kind of cycling as Endurance although yesterday's drizzle and gloom did make it something to be endured.
I have refused amiodarone because of the side effects, which were intolerable. I do take BBs which were recently varied but seem ok; echocardiogram is a wonderful view from inside your body of your heart performing live on stage, I have tried to buy a front row season ticket. My anticoagulants recently changed from warfarin with no ill effects so far. Cardiologists vary too: in my time I have had a few.
Tim
A but ironic Tim really as I am sitting in hospital beside my grandson who had Covid19 & now has a bug which 3 in a million people get. He's 20 and I am reading this thread. I won't bore you with the details but I too have a heart problem. Two of my Chambers aren't working properly & has part of the treatment they put me on Amerodian. I took it for 18 months before I learnt how toxic it is. I immediately rang the Cardiologist & he gave me an alternative. However it hasn't stopped me getting a thyroid problem but at the moment it's border line for being treated. I reverently found a page on FaceBook called Stop Amerodian & it's worth reading. As for cycling I am still doing it but now short mileages once a week at a leisurely pace.
I was on amiodarone for 7 months, and luckily had no problems with it at all. I was aware of how toxic it is before I started though, so I was glad to get off it.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
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hondated
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by hondated »

Glad you didn't have any ill effects from taking it.
Tim Holman
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by Tim Holman »

Hondated, I'm sorry to hear about your son. Subject of AF: I had thyroid side effects but wasn't too far along that road with amiodarone and they went away when I stopped it as did the visuals and the others. I cycle with AF every day and consider myself lucky to be able to do so after nearly thirty years of the condition. I have been cardioverted a number of times: no lasting success. Medication always has side effects, some of which subside over time; some of which arise surprisingly far down the road. My heart has gone from 'vibrato con tremolo' (1995) to 'largo' (2023) over time and now there are whisperings of a pacemaker. I do not want to be battery operated either heartwise or bikewise until there is absolutely no alternative so I am declining both for now.
Keep on pedalling as strong as you feel able,
Tim
PeteK
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Re: Atriall Fibrillation

Post by PeteK »

I've had AF for about a year and a half. One of my earlier episodes came on at the end of a 35 mile ride. Episodes became more frequent until.I eventually got a hospital appointment, and was prescribed the lowest dose of beta blocker + anti coagulants. In my case the beta blocker does seem to be quite effective in preventing AF episodes, although I still get ectopic beats. But it certainly reduces physical output particularly on hills. Additionally I am anxious about pushing too hard and setting off the AF in an isolated location so I tend to restrict my speed if riding an ordinary bike. So I bought an ebike and this allows me to carry on doing rides which I limit to about 30miles max. I tend to keep the power turned down with the Mahle motor app so I am getting some exercise, and if I was to get a problem while out I could turn up the power. But the days of challenges have had to come to an end. I did ask about an ablation at the hospital, but they seemed to have a long waiting list and didn't encourage me to pursue it, suggesting I was a bit old at 70 (not sure I believed this). Thought they might just be managing the demand. Going private would cost about £15k to £20k I think, and some people need more than one.
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