hi my husband has had AF for four years he is 77. Takes digoxin and rivaoxaban and up till last thurs Perindopril. Usually one episode for about 24 hours approx once a fortnight. Doesn’t know he has it till I check him.
He has intermittent dizzy spells not always in AF. Tried all sorts. No real answers from anyone. He had these before the medication that was how he was found to have a fib in the first place. The consultant put him on digoxin and Perindopril as bisoprolol lowered his heart rate too low. The day he saw him he was in AFib of 150 bpm and his blood pressure was up. It isn’t normally.
January he blacked out whilst walking and broke his nose and he had a dual pacemaker fitted as his had Brady tachy syndrome. Said that’s why he blacked out. Another dizzy spell a week later no cause found. Checked sitting/standing bp all normal. Sent home. Last Monday dizzy spell whilst sitting watching tv. Lasted about an hour. Wednesday whilst walking again bam hit the floor he doesn’t remember much about it. Hit his head this time and police took him to hospital( this always happens when I’m in work!). They checked the pacemaker fine. Kept him on monitor overnight intermittent AF. Bloods fine. They did the BP standing test again and said his BP was dropping considerably when he stood up. Taken him off Perindopril. Sent him home and we get a virtual call tomorrow.
His blood pressure yesterday was 90/69 on our monitor. No difference in standing up.
Any thoughts? I’m afraid to go to work, afraid to let him out. When he blacked out he had been walking for 45 mins.He doesn’t race purposely goes slow. I do make him drink more water too. He pees it all out within half an hour doesn’t seem to stay in him long!
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Janau
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That is very low blood pressure in my view so maybe some tweaking of meds might be in order.
Funnily enough I was out in my workshop yesterday morning building a gearbox and started to feel a little spaced out so came in and took my BP which had dropped to 89/63! I too have a PM so didn't actually feel faint or black out, just wasn't all there. HR was 82 at the time. I have night time remote monitoring of my PM so no doubt somebody will ring me if they saw a problem. Made a cup of tea and soon back up to 105/ 68 and later 120/73 . I just accept it as one of those weird things we get.
hi Bob and happy Birthday for Tuesday! Thanks for the interesting reply. He doesn’t have monitoring on his PM which is a shame. Two ladies downloaded data from it in A&E and were looking. The pointed to a few things on the screen and wrote stuff down but said it was all ok. He was due an appt in April but they’ve cancelled that now as they’ve checked it and said they would see him in a year!!
I’ve done his pressure this morning after he had been doing chores in the house and it was 146/90 I made him stand up and it dropped to 116/90. I hope it doesn’t go too high now he’s off the blood pressure meds.
hi Jean! Thanks for the video I’ve watched him before but not seen this one. He seems to have both mentioned here! Sometimes he gets a warning and sits down he describes it more as light headedness. The two bad ones came out of nowhere with no warning.
I will ask about an Echo but he had one the day before his pacemaker was fitted and nothing untoward was found. It’s a flaming mystery! Dr Sanjay mentions a reveal device but I’m guessing the pacemaker would work the same way. They downloaded data from his pacemaker on Thursday but said it was ok.
I have Reveal device - it helped with my af diagnoses. It monitors 24x7 & battery lasts 3years. It's linked to the hospital so any problems I get I can ring them & they will check it
Have they checked things like his electrolytes? I am the same way and find when I drink a sports drink with electrolytes. I can feel the difference fast. All I drink is water I think often times we become dehydrated as well. Also, check his potassium. I have found since a fib. It is very easy to get out of balance with those things. My first fall was on my face on my concrete floor. Somehow my nose survived. My teeth did not, and then I fell backwards within the same time frame after blacking out again, and hit the back of my head in the bathroom, I don’t remember anything before hand either other than standing in the door of my bathroom. The second time I thought I was in bed until I noticed the bathroom ceiling. My heart rate was in the 150s, but my blood pressure drops very low which tends to be the reason I go down and black out. he needs to watch what he is doing. Perhaps 45 minutes is too much. Also, the weather makes a big difference. I was living in Florida, and although it did not feel hot to me, evidently it was warm enough and humid for it to affect me. Is he over dressed and sweating , they can’t let him keep falling on his face or otherwise, and end up breaking bones as well. I would have a hissy fit and get more answers if I were you. .
I just saw that they canceled his next appointment and will see him in a year?? That is outrageous after seeing him physically hurt to blow him off like that. Perhaps you need a new doctor if you can get one I know it’s different there. People die from falls all the time it’s not something to play with. I was lectured when I finally went to the doctor after my first event. The fact that I was still alive they said was amazing. I did not go to the hospital. In fact, I waited two days to go to the doctor. I should’ve known better I had been a medic , that being said, we are not in our right mind after a fall like that, please don’t let them drive you away from getting the treatment he deserves
I just got my special pacemaker three weeks tomorrow. Last week was an awful week. I finally rang the nurse last Monday. I had left her a message and she had checked with the tech for my pacemaker, and with my cardiologist to arrange an echo before she even called me back, that is how we should be treated with respect. I did not need the echo because it appears the pain has finally gone away. It was thought I might have pericarditis to account for the chest pain. The thing is I wasn’t blown off they did everything to make me feel better about it And find solutions. I will get my pacemaker checked on the fifth and changed and dropped to 70 from 80 for a heart rate. Thankfully since yesterday I had felt very good. I have 24 seven monitoring from the hospital and a 24 hour hotline for me to call if I need to the techs of the company and my EP and staff work together.
Special prayers for your husband, and for you to find answers
hi Dawn! Yes they took blood twice over 2 days I assume it was ok as they don’t come back to you. I wondered if he got too hot too. He was wearing a lot of layers and it wasn’t that cold here Wednesday! I took his BP yesterday sitting and standing and it dropped by 30 between the two so a big drop. But sometimes it’s the same. Odd. Would that happen whilst walking tho? I assumed it would be higher when exercising.
Sounds like you’ve had a few fun times too. Our health service is shocking and getting worse. We were at the emergency dept from midday weds to thurs evening. They took bloods gave him a CT scan as he’s on blood thinners and hooked him up to a monitor. Left for hours where you don’t see anyone. Only took his BP and temp once. One poor lady was sat on a plastic chair for 3 days waiting for insulin. She was still there when we left no sign of getting it. So yeah a year between appts is about right.
We are getting a follow up phone call today I have a long list of questions. He’s a bit better in himself but much more tired than normal I hope stopping the Perindopril works x
My elderly friend, now approaching ninety, has similar, although his permanent AF doesn;t send his pulse especially higher. I think the falls are caused by blood pressure changes and often called "postural hypotension"; if it is that, it is when the blood pressure takes a bit too long to catch up with changes in body movement and dizziness or fainting result.
I would take a trip to my GP, myself, to ask if there's anything that can help since falls are not at all a good thing as we get older.
hi Steve. Yes it seems that way with his blood pressure. Seems to be all over the place. They’ve stopped his blood pressure medication overnight which I assume is ok to do who knows. He is not himself and a lot more tired than normal. I have a virtual call with the hospital this afternoon so see what they say thanks for replying
yeah so did we! His is set not to go lower than 60 bpm and 130 no higher. Yes I’m hoping by taking off the one med that’ll do the trick. Trouble is seems to be guesswork and see if he does it again (hope not). I’m thinking about buying him a cycle helmet to wear 24/7. Joking aside though yes it’s a worry. I’m younger and still work
Hello Janau. As Dr Gupta mentioned in the video, it is usually minor(thank you Jean for sharing). Mine could have been fatal... I had a 1st syncope, when I was 56, 2 years ago. I fell while walking in a park, luckily I just bruised my forehead. I felt dizzy before passing out. When I got up, I felt strong heart palpitations.
The next day, I got hospitalized, I was rapid afib HR 120s. They kept me, did all the testing including echo. Everything was fine. About 5 days later, still hospitalyzed as I walked to the bathroom before going for a cardioversion, I became dizzy again, I had time to sit on my bed, then fell on my bed. Luckily I was hooked to a heat monitor. I could just see on the monitor I was having sustained vtach art HR 220 before passing out. I then went into vfib and cardiac arrest. 2 days later I had an heart MRI, where they found extensive scare tissues. The next day, I was fitted for an ICD/pacemaker. Potassium and magnesium rich food have kept me in sinus rhythm and out of trouble.
Hi! Thanks for replying that sounds awful. Hope you’re doing ok now. It’s very depressing as we thought his pacemaker would solve the dizzy issues. It’s all guess work with him. Seems his heart is structurally ok as the pre pacemaker surgery echocardiogram was fine 🤞
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