Well all's well that ends well they say. After a very long day yesterday it turns out I am not in persistent AF or Flutter. I did know it was something I'd never had before,this stop/ start repeated endlessly.
Had several ecgs, and the ultimate result was a simple solution
I always took my flecanide with food. HOWEVER this is a big no no as it must be taken on an empty stomach to be effective .
I've never been told this and it's not on the label on the box. Apparently though it is in the small print.
Essentially it can result in only a quarter of the dose being absorbed ,hence the AF setting off but being interuppted by what was left of the flecanide.
Proff Osman and his colleague had never seen such a clear correlation before they said. They took so much care to explain everything to me.
I am on the list for ablation for the flutter and fib as he says I am heading towards a need for intervention. List at UHCW us long wait (12months) but he says I am in no immediate ' danger' I said I'd consider a cancellation.
So the moral of the tale is make sure your meds are being taken correctly.....
Heart felt ( sorry!) thanks to all of you for your kind words and support much appreciated ..
Xxxx๐๐๐
Ps just recalled this ..Proff Osman looked at my Kardia history too,and many of the readings saying Possible AFib were NOT in fact AF or Flutter he said . Interesting...I have the original version .
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.... Kardia can't say it is Atrial Fibrillation definitively because they can't be %100 sure ,very few things are and I guess that leaves them open to legal action if they are wrong but I know if my Karda says 'Possible AF' it is unquestionably AF and I know anyway from the symptoms and the look of the reading which is always the same and can be compared with others in the saved history section.
Good news hope your feeling better, never thought about it but I used to take flecanide PIP and at a hospital visit they once said works better on an empty stomach, glad you got sorted ๐
So true, worlds gone mad, its like a bad movie about a worldwide asylum on acid , am just about ready to put the kettle on and pause it ๐, so glad we got like minded decent people like us and the guys in here to keep us "normal" ๐
Which hospital is UHCW please? That is quite a wait though I expect it will be the same in much of the UKfollowing Covid restrictions. I was fortunate that I only had to wait from end Nov 2019-Feb 2020. Interesting information regarding Flec. W
(Wonder if it applies to any other of the heart medications we all take?)
Oh that is wonderful news, Wilsond! You must be so relieved to have been seen and understood, and a clear diagnosis and explanation given. I know you still need the ablation, but the sense of uncertainty, urgency and fear of the unknown must have lifted off you? Iโm so glad
You must be shattered after your long day on top of everything. Thanks so much for letting us know how it went. Sending a hug, Jane x
I can't remember exact words but sure he said some kind of sinus arrthymia . I asked him what he looked for to see AF and he showed me one on my Kardia history. A little blip just before the beats.
The advice to take Flecainide on an empty stomach has quite often been given here, but more in terms of avoiding digestive issues rather than reducing efficacy. I have seen a few people say they are not bothered about that but clearly they should be. Maybe you could put up a special warning post? ๐
Pleased to hear there's such a simple solution to your AF sessions.
I did know to take my Flecainide at least an hour before food and have been racking my brain trying to think how I knew that. I guess it's because I'm a great reader of the information leaflets that come with pills. Have just looked at the one in my Flec pack and also note that it says under the section
Do not take if you:
have rapid and irregular heart beat (long standing atrial fibrillation).
I guess that's the manufacturers way of dodging any come-back from us.
That's great news - always nice to get a simple explanation for something complex!
The first thing I do in the morning is take my meds ( Flec, Bisoprolol , magnesium) but in my case my Flec is 200 mg SLOW RELEASE taken once every 24 hrs so I'm not sure how I can take it 1 hour before lunch and supper as it is continually " working". It seems to work ok for me. The only downside is when I have an episode I can't " top up" with a pill in the pocket if I need more than 200 ( I know the max is either 3 or 400) as cardiologist hasn't prescribed a " just in case" pill.
But it is a system I like as I only take meds once a day ( apart from 2 more doses of magnesium - which of course not a med)
Best wishes for whatever is next for you CV or ablation.
Well it is here in France - so probably available in the UK? I don't if it is a better way to take it or not but the upside Vis I take my medication when I get up and that's it for the day. However I'm not too symptomatic so I can see the advantages of 2 doses a day with the possibility of a top up to help conversion.
That must be such a relief. Yikes that's a long ablation wait. I'm under UCHW (Dr Yusuf) and went back on the list in June. He said it would be a few months but I wasnt thinking 12 ๐ณ. I had cardioversion number 3 two weeks ago and back on Amiodarone to tide me over so I'm hoping it's not years rather than months. Mind you, after reading about the new, shorter procedure they performed in Leicester last month, I may look further into that. Best wishes
Don't know that its available to me. Glenfield is about 20 miles away but my understanding is you have a choice about where you go? I'll mention it to my cardiologist to see if it's something they would be looking at. Thanks for the link to the other, I'll have a butchers at it.๐
So glad to see your update, I looked a couple of times yesterday and hadnโt seen anything so Iโm really pleased to see this. What a great result though, hoping this sorts your problems.
Itโs made me think harder about taking mine, I had definitely heard about the empty stomach for flecainade before.
I take them 11 am and pm, the pm one is fine as I never eat after my tea but I need to be more careful with the morning one.
I space my many pills out a lot more now over the day as when I was feeling so very ill in afib I would feel really bad a couple of hours after taking all my pills at once, was not on flecainade then though, have only been on that since November.
Iโm going to have a look at them all and double check if they are with or without food.
You must feel so much better for seeing the prof and knowing you are going to have an ablation, thatโs really great. Xx
Congratulations you are not persistent. I would monitor the time span between episodes plus the length of the episodes if you are to wait a year for your ablation. . When I was having episodes three days on and three days off, I went into persistent.
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it's good to here you have an explanation and I hope you are feeling better.
New AF episode - first time with flecanide
Persistent AF
ablation or Flecainide conflicted 
