HB romping along at 100, after 12 days....

[ijan]

To recap: 4 weeks ago I had an, apparently sucessful, dual ablation for flutter and A fib. Afterwards I felt pretty good with a steady HB around 60.

12 days ago my heart started racing, and after an unsucessful attempt at conversion using Flecainide as a PIP, I was told to add a daily dose of 2x100 of flecainide to the 1.25 mg of bisoprolol I was already taking. My GP faxed an ECG to my EP who thought there was a suggestion of AF although the machine said "flutter with variable AV block"

The Felcainide has not helped with rhythm or rate and today's 3 ECGs read:

"unusual P axis, possible ectopic atrial rhythm, posible ectopic atrial rhythm with premature supraventricular complexes, possible ectopic rhythm with fusion complexes, and incomplete right bundle branch block"

The ECGs were done at my GP surgery and are poor quality.

The arrhythmia nurses are looking at them now.

I'm wondering if the flecainide may have made me worse. This is by far the longes epsiode I've experienced so is a bit of a worry.

Any thoughts?

Is there a glossary of ECG terms, and what they mean, out there?

[BobD Volunteer]

Good interpretation of ECG is a rare skill not many general doctors have and the computer generated diagnosis is even less reliable my arrhythmia nurse once told me. Best wait for skilled response from one properly trained rather than second guess would be my advice. As discussed earlier. your rate is not uncommonly fast post ablation . You may also be right about the flecainide causing more problems than it is worth but please do not change anything without the approval of your arrhythmia nurse..

[ijan in reply to BobD]

Thanks Bob,

Good advice, as ever!

I guess I'm stressing more because it all seemed to be going so well for the first couple of weeks. Also I've never been out of sinus rhythm for so long. The arrhythmia nurse was consulting with collegues and, hopefully, will ring tomorrow.

In the meantime I'll stick with my current meds and do my best not to think about my heart.

[wilsond in reply to ijan]

Best wishes,let us know how you do

[ijan in reply to wilsond]

Will do :-), thanks!

[ijan in reply to wilsond]

Hospital are going to do another ECG on Tuesday as the ones faxed through from the GP are difficult to read.

Will post when I have more info.