Next steps in managing AF...

[Rgw101]

Hi all

I posted on here a while ago about my recent diagnosis of AF and my fears on returning to 'normal' life.  Since then I have returned to work on slightly reduced duties but as a high school teacher 4 weeks before exams, slightly reduced is a bit of a joke.

A recent 24 ECG has revealed that I am apparently back in NSR (or I was for the 24 hours of the exam) and as my AF is asymptomatic, I have difficulty in knowing if this has changed.  My consultant has said that I have something called wenckebach which apparently is a conduction issue between the AV node and the Sinus node, which gives you 'missed' heartbeats.  l also suffer from a low heart rate at rest.  I am now to be taken off Amiodarone (thank goodness) and given a different anti-arrhythmic in the next week or so.

I was wondering if anyone had any idea what might be suggested, any questions I should ask and whether I should continue to be anti-coagulated?

Thanks for all your fantastic replies last time, they were much appreciated.

Rachel

[jennydog]

You may well be prescribed flecainide. It doesn't suit everyone but I'm OK with it and it works as a pip for me post-ablation.

If you are having some attacks then any future monitor should be worn for 7 days. A 24 hr monitor would be worse  than useless for me.

Re anticoagulation, if you are given a choice then consider the peace of mind that it could give you.

Good luck with the exams. My eldest son teaches English at a High School and he looked very stressed yesterday !

[dmac4646 in reply to jennydog]

hi Jenny , you mention PIP post ablation , have you had  lot of episodes and how much Flec do you take - does it go quicker than pre Ablation ?

[jennydog in reply to dmac4646]

I had my ablation 8/2014. My heart has fibrosis due to radiotherapy on my shoulder. If the ablation is not satisfactory in the long term then I will have to have pace and ablate and a pacemaker.

Before the ablation I was on 2x 100 flecainide daily and 10 bisoprolol. My AF was erratic. I could go months without episodes then have several in a week. I did not feel my heart for 6 weeks after the ablation but now get occasional mild episodes which can be stopped after an hour or so with 100 flecainide. 50 does not work.  I take 2.5 bisoprolol to help reduce my heart rate. I feel that I am in control right now. Pre-ablation I just had to wait for the fibrillation to stop and my quality of life was poor.

I hope that this is helpful.

[scottishmuppet in reply to jennydog]

Hi Jennydog can I ask - were you on the medication and still having such a poor quality of life?  So the meds weren't helping?  Sorry to be nosey! Glad things seem to have settled. 

[jennydog in reply to scottishmuppet]

I am sorry to be so late responding. Our internet service is lousy. It keeps cutting off.

None of the medication tried pre-ablation prevented some, if not all of the episodes. I loathed being so unreliable that I couldn't make arrangements as I never knew how well I would be. The episodes were so severe that I had to lie down. Now I can still function even if I feel rotten. I know that I might deteriorate but, for now, I can cope.

[dmac4646]

It does thanks !