I was diagnosed with paf last April and have had 3 episodes the last one in May of last year. I was originally put on bisoprolol but changed to nebivolol 2 months ago as couldn't tolerate the bios side effects any longer. I also have flecainide as PIP but haven't had to take it yet.
Last night I woke up very hot and with my heart pounding. It wasn't irregular but was raised but not massively probably because of the nebivolol holding things down. Everything settled down after about half an hour without my taking any medication. Was this Paf or something else?
Any advice would be very welcome.
Sue
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A regular tachycardia in someone with atrial fibrillation but no history of SVT, is most likely going to be atrial flutter I imagine. I have or have had all three, and sometimes it isn’t obvious whether I am in AF or flutter, because my AF can be very “organised” according to the cardiologist.
Flecainide can both be a treatment and occasionally the cause of atrial flutter. Before using Flecainide for the first time, I would suggest discussing this with the arrhythmia nurse, to see whether it remains OK to use the Flecainide.
My PAF is chaotic, fast and skipping around all over the place. My flutter is just fast but regular.
I liken it to a ball on a string and a bat (toy of old) - the AF is my heart batting the ball fast and bouncing back but constantly missing the bat and the ball going all over the place like it doesn't know what it's doing - my flutter is ball hitting the bat bang in the middle but very very fast.
Thanks for your explanation. Yes, my PAF is as you describe and I think you are right that this recent episode I had was flutter. Yikes, something else to contend with.
I have had a few episodes where my heart has been pounding to the degree where I can see the clothes on my chest jumping up and down. My Kardia says normal but my heart rate is 80 - 90 (on the high side for me). It goes back to normal quite quickly too. I didn't realise that was flutter, I thought it was just me being extra aware of my heart!
I have flecainide as a PIP too but didn't take it as the rate was regular. I am already on Bisoprolol (a low dose of 1.25 per day) so I could have taken one more. But by the time I had told my husband, sorted out my Kardia, it had calmed down.
I'm waiting to hear from the arrythymia nurse for advice as to whether to take another beta blocker as like you I didn't take the flecanide as it wasn't out of rhythm. I'm new to all this so still a bit in the dark as to how to deal with these disturbing episodes.
It takes a long time to get over the side effects of bisoprolol but I had to after I became very ill . That and digoxin and a pacemaker made me much more stable and although I now have permanent AF I am able to be active and enjoy things again. It's been a long journey but I feel much younger than my chronological age which is 87. Be well, Terjo
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