24 hour ECG on bisoprolol

[Mattpga]

Hi again.

Following my first ablation in feb i have been given an appointment for a 24 Holter on 1st June. I am still on 5mg Bisoprolol a day and wondering if i should have been asked to stop taking these a few days before. it seems to me it won't give a 'true' picture otherwise. I could be wrong, but wondered what happened for anyone else...

[jennydog]

I was offered a 48hr monitor post-ablation and refused it so they gave me a 7 day one which was what I wanted.It picked up a 2 hour run of AF in the middle of the night on day 4.

In my unprofessional opinion a 24hr monitor is a waste of time and demonstrates a lack of understanding about AF.

[pip_pip in reply to jennydog]

If you're not in persistent AF, maybe.

[meadfoot]

I have just had a 7 day monitor, currently awaiting the results. I take a beta blocker, atenolol and was not instructed to stop them prior to the monitoring.

[BobD Volunteer]

Bisoprolol doesn't stop or treat AF it only slows the heart rate so will not affect the Holter results. Relax and hope all is well.

Bob

[Mattpga]

OK, thanks or the replies

[Mike11]

I had a seven day monitor pre-ablation and it still missed a massive run of AF on day 5 !!

[jennydog]

I think that Mike and my experiences with 7 day monitors makes my point. However I do accept that a 24hr monitor may be of use if you are fibrillating all the time.

For PAF the monitor needs to be in place for a long time otherwise it's not worth the effort of getting it fitted and then having to take it back to the hospital.

[RichMert]

Could not agree more. 24 hour monitor for PAF was waste of time and waiting 6 weeks for a 7 day monitor then being offered a 24hr one was also a joke. Problem is, they have these monitors but not enough nurses available to fit them. The only suggestion they could come up with was call an ambulance when you are experiencing AF.

[Mattpga]

Good points Jennydog, which i shall bring up with whoever i see next. I do have PAF and i had to have several 24 hour tapes before they caught anything apart from the ones that had me admitted for the night.

[PeterWh]

I suspect that sometimes it is just a tick in the box exercise of the person concerned does not know sufficient about AF to be objective. That is not their fault since the knowledge and understanding of AF has moved on so much particularly in the last 10 years. Also GPs and practice nurses cannot be expected to know everything about every illness / affliction. My GP admitted that she is not an expert in AF but the key thing was that she wanted to send me straight to an electrophysiologist rather than a general cardiac consultant. Also (as many of us know and as we would expect) there are differences in opinions between consultants even at the same hospital.

I had three ECGs (two at hospital following unrelated operation) and one at GPs a few days later showed that I was in AF. The practice wanted me to have a 24 hour monitor to confirm whether or not I was in persistent AF or not. However they could not get it set up via their computer!!! When I saw the EP consultant a week later he felt my pulse (he already had copies of the three ECGs) and he said that there was no point having another ECG or having a 24 or 48 hour or 7 day monitor as he was sure that I was in persistent AF. Moved straight onto the echo cardiogram phase.