This is the first time I've posted, although I've been following the blog for a while now, and have found a lot of it useful.
18 months ago a one-off episode of Atrial Fibrillation took me to A and E. This turned out to be, in the words of the EP "the least of my problems" as once on 2.5 mg bisoprolol I had no further episodes, but they also found I had parathyroid disease and a severely regurgitating mitral valve, both of which, apart from potentially causing numerous other problems are triggers for heart rate disturbances. This year I have had 2 ops, one removing a faulty parathyroid gland, and the other repairing my mitral valve. So I hope things are looking good. Post heart surgery in early August I had 3 episodes of A Fib on day 4, day 6 and day 10, all of which were short - around 30-60 minutes. I was given Amiodorone 200mg, to take for 3 months, to control the rhythm, and on the 3rd episode bisoprolol (which had been stopped post-op) 1.25 mg was added to reduce my pulse rate. I had no further episodes, and after a few weeks of being aware of missing quite a lot of beats, my pulse is now always very steady, and I haven't been aware of any ectopic beats, which I had had for years.
I now have about 10 days of Amiodorone left. I will be pleased to stop taking this, but am a bit anxious that without its control over my heart rhythm I may get A Fib again. I didn't discuss this at my post-op check up, but was told pre-op that heart surgery can increase the risk of developing A Fib.
I would be interested to know how others of you have fared when coming off Amiodorone, particularly post heart surgery.