Af

[Kmagner70]

My son is only 17 and had to have his heart shocked yesterday because of AF. He had pain, shortness of breath and dizziness with bad irregular heartbeat. They aren't sure what caused it but we were sent home after a few hours and now he has to see a specialist on Tuesday. I hope he doesn't have to start medicine at such a young age. He also has anxiety but doesn't take medicine for it. I'm so worried about him although he is doing fine now.

[BobD Volunteer]

Oh how sad for some one so young! Not judging here but was alcohol involved? This is one of the classic causes of AF in young people although for some there is a genetic pre-disposition which allows it to happen. Anxiety can only make things worse so sorting that out would be a priority for me. Until he has seen a cardiologist and preferably one who specialises in electrical problems of the heart (an Electrophysiologist) there isn't much to say other than that many people live good lives with AF and that is isn't likely to be fatal although as one doctor told me "sometimes it feels like it". There are lots of treatment strategies but right now it is too early to comment. Come back and tell us what happens on Tuesday please.

Bob

[Kmagner70 in reply to BobD]

He used alcohol 4 days prior. He has used alcohol before and never had this happen and he used MJ. He doesn't use MJ that much it had been awhile. I'm hoping that if he stops this it will correct itself. I think it might have set it off. I'm not happy about it. He isn't a kid that is addicted or uses on a regular basis, mostly peer pressure. I know that MJ can be mixed with spice, he said the one he used was home grown from somebody. Thanks for your response.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Kmagner70]

Thankfully my two boys are 23 and 26 and addicted to cars so don't waste their money on anything else. They get their rush from going sideways at 70mph + round a drift track or rally course. Not sure which is least expensive. lol I know that they will never leave home whilst I have a workshop here for them to use.

Bob

[scotcitz]

Hi, I also had lone AF at a 'relatively' young age --49 -- and I wound up doing a lot of research on AF that just happens once (lone). It turns out that sometimes there are just episodes that are isolated and linked to stress -- infection, sedation for surgery, I guess a lot of alcohol but I didn't see that in the studies. Essentially, they don't know if 'normal' hearts can have AF because people could be having AF a lot and just not knowing it. They will probably check for any abnormalities in the heart just to make sure. I would ask for him to be put on a monitor for 24 hours or as much as possible to check to see if he has it as a constant thing. Or he can get one of the downloadable apps for his smart phone and just check his pulse regularly as that is an indicator. I have also found that there isn't a whole lot of agreement on whether people who show it once are really at risk because we don't know how much 'silent' AF there is in the population. So I think he would probably be fine with just some home monitoring of pulse etc. But it IS scary (probably more for you than him at this point in his life LOL) but ultimately if it winds up he is prone to AF then it is better to know than not. But I haven't had another episode in years despite being a LOT older than him. (My prognosis is a little different due to age and some other factors such as AF in the family but I am just sort of speaking to his situation and I know how frustrating the state of knowledge about lone AF versus persistent AF can be for a concerned patient).