Many Concerns...Please Help!

By jmatt73 Sunday, November 04, 2007

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Hello to all,

I am new here and relatively new to A Fib. I am a 34 year old
male with no history of heart disease. I am healthy otherwise just
slightly overweight. I have also been very active/athletic most
of my life. I have never smoked, used to drink heavy in college but
now am just a social drinker and never used any illicit drugs.

So here goes my story...

I had a brief bout with panic attacks around the ages of 19-22. I
did have palpitations back then but they seemed a lot less
infrequent and went away when I was on the meds. So the Drs. just
chalked it up as anxiety. I took Xanax for awhile and then turned to
Klonopin which seemed to completely cure my panic disorder. I had
EKGs back then that were completely normal. So I went on living
my "bulletproof" 20's with no more problems.

Fast forward to my 30's...

4 years ago, I started taking the deadly OTC weight loss
stimulant, Metabolife. Big NO-NO! I noticed the increased
palpitations; especially at night when I would lay down to go to
sleep. I also noticed that any time that I would drink alcohol
excessively, I would get palpitations from that as well. Still
taking the Metabolife with effedra, I went in to see my family Dr.
and he immediately told me to throw that garbage in the trash! They
did an EKG in his office which showed that I was in AFib. He then
sent me to my first Cardiologist appt. and they made me do an echo
stress and Holter for 48 hours. Heart structure looked great and
Holter produced only a few skipped, premature beats but still in
NSR...I was bulletproof again!

2 months ago, I went in to see the family MD again and mentioned
in passing, that I was again having palpitations at night. I also
explained to him that I had developed a Starbucks addiction over the
past few years and had been drinking A LOT of caffeine. Keep in
mind,during this entire 4 year hiatus; I was jogging 3 miles
regularly,playing full-court basketball in a church league...no
other symptoms other than night palpitations. No fatigue, trouble
breathing, etc. He said cut back on the caffeine, did another EKG,
yep...back in AFib.

So new trip to the Cardiologist, prescribed me Digoxin, this time
a 14 day monitor, and echo in his office. Heart again looked good
just had a very slight enlarged left atrium 44cm. but looked normal.
The monitor results however, showed that I was pretty much in
persistent AFib the entire 10 days that I wore it. His thoughts were
to do a TEE and cardioversion. ..I PANICKED!! What? I have 3 small,
beautiful kids at home...you can't shock my heart! I was also
freaked out because of my age. It's so rare for folks in their 30's.

So it was on to the EP which they too concluded, cardioversion
would be best right now given my age, lack of symptoms, etc. He
prescribed me Coumadin to get my INR to 2, which I am currently on.
Also a calcium blocker and high blood pressure medicine which I have
never had hypertension but he said it was good for rhythm as well
(forgot the names of these off-hand). Cardizem is one of them I

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Comments (3) | Add comment

maryhagerty

11/ 5/07 7:00pm

My suggestion to you would be to go for a second opinion, especially to a cardiologist that has experience in new medical technology and that will explain in complete the pros and cons of each procedure. Do extensive research beforehand so you know what they are talking about. Check your local hospital that specializes in cardiac. They can refer or guide you in that right MD. Ask your other options. Follow the recommendations told to decrease these symptoms and go from there.

bodyhealthadvisor

1/ 3/08 4:25am

I have extensive experience in clinical trials and my suggestion is to indentify the root cause first. go for the second opinion and check up on the side effects of the medications that doctors prescribe you. Go to http://www.medicinenet.com/medications/article.htm

Finally, aim to adopt a healthy lifestyle, as meds will always some side effects and no one can predict the effects of combination meds. You can find more tips from my personal blog at http://www.bodyhealthadvisor.com

Anonymous

4/29/08 10:39pm

I am 49 and had an a-fib event 6 years ago. Then again twice more about a year apart. I've been steady for the most part for the last 3 years, with some a-fib but able to convert without getting zapped. I was zapped each of the 3 previous times. The meds didn't convert me back but the shocks did.

I eventually changed doctors/hospitals because I felt they were only interested in treating me but not curing me. I found out on my own about the effects of caffiene and stress. I stopped drinking anything with caffiene and try to relax more. I have had a few more a-fib events but have been able to convert myself by a few ways: stomach clenches, hard exhaling or coughing and actually driving my heart rate up by climbing stairs and then as my pulse slowed, it would somehow convert me back to normal rythym.

Now, there is a noticable difference between bigeminy (extra heart beat) and a-fib. A-fib feels like a frog is wriggling around in your chest and bigeminy is more like a butterfly flutter. If when you lay down at night you feel the light flutter, it's probably bigeminy and not a-fib. My doc says bigeminy is not to worry about as long as you have a clean bill of health on your stress tests and echo, ekg, etc.

Stay away from caffiene; soda, coffee, even decaf if you are sensitive. I tested decaf. Once in while is okay. But every day is no good as decaf still has some caffiene. Keep exercising, that's always good. Don't be afraid to work out to lose weight. As long as you're not a-fib at the time, work out. If you feel some bigeminy, ease up till it passes then continue with your workout. I find the bigeminy goes away once I'm warmed up.

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