Hi, found this forum whilst reseraching everything l could about AF because of a recent diagnosis for my husband.
My hubby has no symptoms of AF other than an irregular pulse which he has been aware of for about 20 years, he has also always had a cough, gave up smoking 30 years ago. To cut a long story short, just after Christmas after a chest infection and a visit to the Doctors he was given an echocardiogram and diagnosed with Left Ventricle Failure, AF and Heart Failure. As l have said he has no symptons, no breathlessness, no swollen ankles, no high choloestral, no diabetes, slightly raised blood pressure which has now fallen to 127 over 70, and after an angiogram no coronary heart disease. He has 2 brothers with heart problems who have ICDs implanted which have obviously worried his Doctor.
He is on Bisaporol, Candesarten, Rivaroxoban, Spirolactane and the dreaded Amiodorone! He has been on Amiodorone for 4 weeks now and the hospital want to do a cardioversion next week, he is very reluctant about this and we would welcome comments about the results of this, it doesnt seem to work very well! He doesnt lijke the Amiodorone because of the sunshine thing although as yet no side effectsAlso apart from his Angiogram be has never seen a cardiologist just the Cardiac Nurse.
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Lemmy
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Carioversion is a real nothing. Five minutes asleep and maybe back in rhythm. If he has been in AF for so long it may not work but it is always worth trying once as it can make choices about future treatment easier.
I wouldn't worry about the nurse by the way. They are often better trained in arrhythmias than some of the doctors!
Read all you can from the main AF Association website as knowledge is power.
Thanks for that positive post, most l have read seem to say that it either works and doesnt stay in rythm or it doesnt work at all. Were you on Amiodorone? if so for how long before and after the cardioversio?
few things, firstly Cardiac Nurses are often great, my first point of proper hospital contact was a nurse consultant, incredibly knowledgeable and efficient, and when I got to see an EP later he said and I quote "She's trained most of the doctors here in real life AF"
I have had two CVs the first failed almost immediately and the second after 3 months on Amiodarone held for about 6 or 8 hours difficult to tell as I literally could not tell the difference,
The most important thing now is that he in in the sausage machine, he will have all the tests to see if there are any other underlying problems, yes a CV but that's really only an indicator for later treatment options to be honest, and he'll be fine CVs sound a lot worse than they actually are, over and done with very quickly, and usually no or very little pain (just sore from the pad sites)
He should ask when he will be seeing an EP however
Thanks for your comments. Interesting to hear it didnt work for you despite 3 months on Amiodorne, what treatment are you receiving now?
He hasnt got any underlying problems apart from this LV failure which we assume is caused by the untreated AF? His angiogram showed no signs of coronary heart disease, all arteries clear, no Diabetes either, when he was first diagnosed his blood pressure was 150 over 90 but is now 127 over 70. We have asked for a private appointment with a consultant as l dont think any plans were being made for him to see anyone, not sure whether there are any EPs here in Cornwall. He initially had an appointment with a consultant on the 18th June but this was cancelled with no real explanation and fast tracked to the Cardiac Nurse. He has a very alarmist GP who is a real doom merchant frightening him, even said initially that we shouldnt go on holiday to Spain and would have to inform the airline and insurance (which of course we did) who would want to speak to the Doctor direct about his heart, this when he has no symptons of AF or the Chronic Heart Failure he is supposed to have!
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