I had an 18hr AF episode yesterday/last night..ive never had one so sustained before and it worried me...id taken my maintenance dose of flecainide 50 mg in the evening and it didnt do anything...
Was close to going to a&e , would i be right in doing so? Or wasting peoples time? Would it be worthwhile for me?
Fortunately after taking my maintenance dose of flec and bisoprolol this morning as usual it cleared within 30 mins.
If it happens again..im unsure how to deal with it..i was very concerned..a and e?..ambulance..? or just ride it out worrying?
Cheers Sam
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Simoni
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Generally A and E will do nothing but observe and I think most people ride it out. There is a big BUT.
If you have any chest pain or difficultly breathing then you must seek medial attention.
If your events increase materially I would suggest you get an appointment with your treating doctor ( cardiologist/EP?) to maybe discuss drugs and or dosage
I wouldn't worry. Mine used to last about 16-25 hours, once as long as 35 hours. I never went to A&E. Just ride it out and accept it as a perfectly normal form of AF. If you have severe symptoms then I guess that would be different.
Reading between the lines, you are very symptomatic (generally a good thing, as not knowing can be a problem) and your rate didn't go too high with no other accentuating circumstances. So I agree ride it out but stay ahead and book a private cardiologist appointment now.
Whilst I agree with BobD about chest pain etc, I would try to avoid A&E if at all possible.
My last 'do' was three weeks after my ablation and resulted in a session 69 hours long. On the third morning I phoned 111 asking for advice (it was weekend and I couldn't contact the arrhythmia nurses), and ended up being taken by an ambulance to A&E where I spent 16 hours on a trolley in the resuscitation room of A&E. I was given a litre of saline - they thought I might be dehydrated. I was given TWO large doses of metoprolol intravenously - which had no effect. I was then given a 5mg dose of bisoprolol - which I was taking twice a day anyway.
I self converted, together with a presycope shock which flat lined my heart monitor and scared the nurses, around midnight. They sent me home at 5am.
If you are taking 50mg of flecainide twice a day, as I am, you should ask your EP or even your GP about whether you could increase your dose just to stop an AF attack. On several occasions, I've taken an extra one between my regular times, and it has stopped the AF within 10 or 15 minutes. On one occasion, I took an extra 2 (100mg) to achieve this, as it had been going on too long. The guidance the doctors use is 'up to 200mg a day'. I'm not medically qualified in any way, but just telling you what I have done, not what you should do!
Hi Simoni, In the early days I was attending A+E every time I had a AFIB episode. I got on first name terms with all the staff, knew their children’s names, and was close to start getting invited to staff parties I was there that much.!!! But after a while I realised that I may as well just stay at home and ride it out and call my GP the day after to see what’s next.?? . I wouldn’t recommend riding it out at home if there is any chest pain etc of course. Best wishes Ron.👍
My hospital told me anything sustained over 130 I should go to A&E . I took whatever meds I was on at the time plus extra and if that did not work off I went. to AE after 8 hours. I was not on A/C so if I wanted a DC cardioversion the window was 48 hours from onset. 8 hours plus a hour to A& E plus 4 to 5 hours in A&E then an hour to transfer to MAU then 4 to 6 hours observation then any other attempt to cardiovrt with drugs and 24 hours of the 48 have gone! Not lot of time to organize the cardioversion inc anaesthatist, who was always a scarce resource at my local hospital. If I had been on A/C it would have been less stressful!
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