Question hospital or not.

[Bobbo52]

Hi, in Afib since 2.00am, was bouncing up to 150, now still around 125, feel reasonably ok, does bounce up and down 65 to 125 level, question is do people go to hospital? What would point be as have Bisoprolol anyway.....just part of Afib life I guess.

[Hidden]

It depends on how you feel, if you have chest pain, feeling feint etc I would go in. You could always call your GP or NHS direct for advice.

Are you anticoagulated? if you are not then they are unlikely to do a cardioversion if you leave things much longer

[Finvola]

It’s a difficult choice Bobbo and depends on how you feel.

If you have chest pain or difficulty breathing - dial 999.

I never went to A&E as it is a horrible 45minute drive and the stress of that put me off as did the misery of hard chairs and noise in the waiting area. I always felt more secure at home, resting and breathing but my episodes were typically only around 3 hours.

Incidentally, my GP advised me to go to A&E if my heart rate was above 100 for longer than half an hour. I would have lived there for about 5 months before I started taking Flecainide!

I hope your return to NSR soon - remember to keep hydrated as we pee a lot in AF and dehydration makes things worse.

[Bobbo52 in reply to Finvola]

Thanks for reply, didn't feel too poor so went for a slowish walk for 90mins, interestingly heart returned to NSR during walk !

[Finvola in reply to Bobbo52]

Good news!! Sometimes I can get rid of ectopics by walking - perhaps it’s exertion or the different surroundings. Whatever does it is welcome.

[Buffafly in reply to Bobbo52]

Definitely didn't need hospital then!

[meadfoot]

If you have chest pain feel faint or very unwell then a and e is a good choice. Depends how you feel and where you feel most comfortable assuming you aren't suffering chest pain or faintness. Good luck hope it eases soon.

[jedimasterlincoln]

A lot of it is personal feelings, if you feel unable to function or any of the red flag chest pain shortness of breath symptoms - then go. If you can manage and have a history of reverting to NSR then wait it out.

Personally - I've attended ED every time as I have never spontaneously reverted and in every case, whilst not having the "red flag" symptoms all the time I have been to the point of collapse or being unable to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling like I'm about to faint.

The hospital has been a maximum of 20 mins walk away (when fit) every time, currently it's only 10 mins walk away on a good day, or 15 mins plod. When I attempted to plod in for an Echo whilst in AF I nearly collapsed after half that time, so generally I get a taxi if the kids are in bed or the other half runs me up the road.

I have tried waiting it out/sleeping it off etc but in 5 years it's never sorted itself out. Even chemical cardioversion has failed to make an impact.

I have had varying waits in ED, ranging from an instant direction to Resus to Triage, Majors, Resus. All between 10 minutes and 60 minutes before ending up in Resus. I know I'm in a safe place, observed, and will get treated.

Greetings in ED have ranged from "Not you again(!)" to "The ED reg in resus recognised your name and wants to see you" to "If you get like this again come in and we'll sort you out ASAP" to "Don't feel like you're wasting our time" to "Only come in if you're on the floor" (that was once, by an Irish outreach nurse who I've not seen since)

[Buffafly in reply to jedimasterlincoln]

That's very noble, if I was that bad I'd call an ambulance. I can't even sit upright on a chair when having a bad episode but I know I'll revert in about four hours so I just stay reclining in bed or on a sofa until I revert. I did try 'pottering' once and developed typical heart attack symptoms so that was a day in hospital wasted, then tried the sit on a chair option because I was out and that wasn't successful.

[opal11uk]

Ring for guidance NHS Direct rather than cause yourself further anxiety which doesn't help with A/F and maybe they can not only advice but reassure.

[KMRobbo]

My hospital advised me above 130 then go to a&e