I've just come out of a 14 day AF episode and wondered whether anyone else has had one this long. Diagnosed with AF four years ago, I'd thought this was probably the conversion to permanent AF as it had gone on so much longer than any previous episode. Four days was the longest episode prior to this but generally they have been anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days.
Two weeks seems like a long time, and perhaps this is indeed a milestone on the journey towards permanent AF but I would be interested to hear from others who have 'long episodes' in paroxysmal AF.
Written by
MikeCol
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In 10 years I had about 4 episodes of AF lasting about 1 week each time
In 2013, I had 2 episode the first episode lasting a couple of days and the second episode starting in July and finishing September.
Like you I though "here we go" is my AF starting to kick in bigtime!!
In January of this year I had an AF episode that came and went in a couple of days.
A part from being a little fatigued I have been symptom free since January of this year and feel quite fine.
This is a mongrel of a condition and my way of dealing with it is to treat the AF 'in the moment' and hopefully enjoy the normal days.
Good luck in your AF journey and remember, don't let this condition rule your life!
I went from having AF occasionally to 24/7. Not sure how long I was in 24/7 or indeed if it was literally constant, although the last few weeks it almost certainly was. I'm guessing I had it round the clock for a few months, maybe a year, but gradually building up to 24/7. It was diagnosed, I was put in a coronary ward where I stayed till they found a drug that worked, then to get off the drugs which were doing my head in, I had an ablation which worked brilliantly for many years. Now got something coming back 10 years down the line, but under control again at the moment and probably not much AF.
I did not call mine permanent because I think in medical terms, permanent means that it hasn't responded to treatment (i.e. you're stuck with it) rather than it's there all the time but probably/possibly treatable.
Just to clarify, I am on rate control bisoprolol which works well without any noticeable side effects. I am not on any rhythm control drugs - though I will be discussing the latter with my EP when I see him next month. So, dropping back into NSR, as I did after this episode, was, like all other times, not 'artificially' induced. Therefore, despite the length of the episode, I guess I remain paroxysmal by definition. Most posters on this forum seem to think much more than a day or so is a long time in AF - as I did, but perhaps we simply don't hear from those that regularly have much longer episodes.
Mike
Sounds like your drugs are working in terms of lowering your heart rate, but they are not controlling your rhythm. Koll
Hi Mike - I too have long periods of PAF. The longest was for almost 6 weeks (had this last October and then February of this year) and only went back into normal sinus rhythm after having a cardioversion on each occasion. If permanent AF is like that living would be hard as I found it so disabling. I could barely walk around the supermarket and my trolley felt like a zimmer frame. Now back to normal and feeling well I'm out walking the coastal footpaths of Devon again and fighting fit.
Koll I think you are right, permanent is when it doesn't respond to treatment, so if you come out of it on your own or after treatment it is paroxysmal, even if it's gone on for weeks
Hi, My AF specialist stated that my AF was "persistent paroxysmal" when i asked a week before my cardioversion.
It kicked in, in December last year and was constantly out of rhythm until my cardioversion last week (5 months)
Touch wood it's been in normal rhythm now for 8 days.
Fortunately for me the AF didn't affect me too much apart from the awareness that it was there. I could feel the palpitations sometimes, otherwise i could only confirm by feeling my pulse
The only thing that i avoided was intense exercise
I am shocked at these lengths as I am paf and only had one since diagnosed in March , took motoprolol and went in 5. I can't imagine it for days , you poor things . Also at hospital was told if the pill did not work after half hour go to a & e ?
Thanks again for the responses though it does seem as though long episodes which revert to NSR without medical intervention - rhythm control drugs or cardioversion - might be fairly rare. In response to lingooz though, I have to say that, in my case, the body does seem to get used to these extended episodes. Day 1 to 3 and yes, I felt pretty awful as I do with any of the shorter episodes, but as the days passed by, I just felt much better - to the extent that by Day 5 onwards, I only knew I was in AF by checking my pulse. I had no other symptoms. Now, if permanent AF is like that - it won't be all bad......
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