AF or not AF

[Lindabob]

Having been admitted to hospital from a&e with an irregular and racing heart rate of 150 back in March and told that I most definitely had AF. I am now having another 48 hour holster monitor to try and confirm what I do have! Possibly SVT also. Symptons include breathlessness, palpitations and occasionally fast irregular heartbeat. So I thought I was classic PAF. If the monitor shows nothing, which is likely, then I am to be fitted with an implanted loop recorder. All this before we decide on an ablation.... Goes on and on... Anyone else had this kind of experience. Also coming off warfarin due to constant headache, will be starting Dabigatran next week.

[BobD Volunteer]

Hi Linda, sounds classic paroxysmal AF to me as well. Holter monitors often fail to catch events which can be little devils at staying away and then popping back ten minutes after you return the monitor. The Reveal will monitor you all the time and can be interrogated at the hospital so you should get a diagnosis soon.

Well done on anticoagulation. One big worry ticked off.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Bob

[Mattpga]

Hi. Sounds similar to my experience. Admitted in early may with irregular heartbeat and resting pulse around the 140's. Stayed that way for 48 hours. I had onbe bad episode before but that was 10yrs ago. They did all the usual ecg etc and a 24 hr halter and put me on bisoprolol and warfarin (which i am still on). The halter didn't show much so they did another one in July which showed 3 separate instances of AF, only one of which i was aware of. I saw the consultant in early august and agreed on ablation, but thats likely to be about 4 months down the road. it does seem to be a slow process, but they wanted to actually catch me in AF again before they were comfortable with recommending ablation.

[GivEmkeL]

I'm in the U.S. and just this past Tuesday had to go to ER with SVT that was not converting back to normal sinus. I have an absolute confirmed AF diagnosis, and I wondered the same thing. When the episode first began I felt the normal thump followed by irratic pulse and confirmed AF using Alive Cor. After about a 1/2 hr or so, it seemed my heart was back in a regular rhythm but extremely fast. And, confirmed SVT using my Alive Cor app. HR was at 197. Got to ER, and it took nearly 3 1/2 hrs to slow my resting HR to around 100. Really curious to know if others here have had this happen as well. - KeL

[EngMac]

Yes. Did they do anything to slow your heart rate or did it do it on its own? It can take a while for the rate to decrease to normal after coming out of AF. I would advise you to see if this happens because of triggers before you start taking medication. Look at the recent posts on artificial sweeteners. If you can avoid medication, that would be good but it may take discipline which some people are not willing to do. Good luck and read as many of these posts as you can to become more knowledgeable..

[lulu91]

Hi linda,

Im 23yrs old and I have svt (as far as they know) im scheduled for an ablation on September the 3rd . Honestly if you want ablation now your going to have to demand it I take metropolol (side effects horrible) as needed . Pills wont cure it but if you dont want to waste time with pills and the loop recorder I wouldn't :/ with the ablation they will find out everything they need to know and then know exactly how to treat it OR BETTER treat it during the catheter exam best wishes

lulu

[lulu91 in reply to lulu91]

Also im sorry I failed to mention they caught 2 episodes that had to be stablized by adenosine so my cardiologist felt thats need enough to go to ep my first appointment with my ep he scheduled my ablation! bug them do everything you can

[Lindabob]

Thanks guys for all your helpful responses and tips. This is a really useful website

[Loo53]

I agree with BobD. My last attack was 175/BPM upwards and got cardioverted with IV Flecanide around 20 hours later. I had a fast erratic pulse. In a way I'm monitoring myself on a daily basis but mine is a portable device not a reveal device.