Unanswered questions

[Rachelanx50]

Hiya all hope your all ok and ticking along nicely. This is a question I've asked a few times but I'm unable to get any answers realy. I'm at a loss to be honest. I'm a patient at the royal stoke. I don't have a resident cardiologist because he has left to work in Manchester so I'm under the care of a cardio nurse to cut a long story short since being in normal rythem I'm having more problems than in AF. ( not been in AF for 14 months) I can go from going about my buisness, then bang!! from normal rythem to tachycardia this can last from anything from seconds to 2hrs it doesn't feel like a normal palpatation where it's a thud bounce back again it's a " vibration " I'm at my wits end to be honest

[mjames1]

Try and get clarification from the cardio nurse what type of tachycardia you get during these episodes. Atrial Flutter, for example, is a type of tachycardia and can be as symptomatic, or even more, than an afib episode. The answer would be in the ekg during these episodes. If you're an outpatient and not being ekg monitored, then get a home device like the Kardia6L which generate an ekg that will tell what is going on. Treatments are not the same for every type of Tachycardia -- afib, aflutter, etc,-- so knowing what you have is the first step to proper treatment.

Jim

[Rachelanx50 in reply to mjames1]

Thanks Jim I've got a heart monitor appointment on 18th so hopefully it picks it up

[BobD Volunteer]

Your cardiac team need to arrange a monitor to see what is happening. AF may be the most common arrhythmia but there are many others.

[Rachelanx50 in reply to BobD]

Thanks Bob it's so scary when it happens

[Stinky1953]

I agree with Him - get a Kardia 6l - store.alivecor.co.uk/.

You can then email the ECG to the nurse.

Tim.

[Rachelanx50 in reply to Stinky1953]

Thanks all. Iv got a Kardia so I can show my nurse when i see her

[Singwell]

Glad that you're getting a monitor. The Kardiamobile is good too. I can imagine you feel scared and you're right to keep insisting it gets looked into. Hope you get some answers soon.

[Rachelanx50 in reply to Singwell]

Thanks singwell

[Leggylady]

Sorry, but don’t have anything useful to add to the other replies. I just wanted to send hugs and wish you well.

Lyn x

[Rachelanx50 in reply to Leggylady]

Thanks Lyn

[Paddbear]

Hi Rachel , you are describing what I had about 25 years ago when I was around 30 through to 45 ish . I just ignored it until became more frequent.

Eventually after seeing the right doctor I had a heart monitor on for a weekend, it took a couple of times before they saw , my racing heart rhythm, that's what I called it, obviously realise it now as paf.

I was put on Flecanide and it worked to stabilise the fluttering. Over the years the dosage has been increased.

Last year I was in AF for a few months and had a injection to bring it back down.

This year I have only had two episodes and I can pinpoint what they were.

I have made some life style changes and taken on board things that I can do to help myself by listening to people on here ,especially Jean.

Hope this reassures you, I'm 55 now and feel much better this year .

Regards

[Rachelanx50 in reply to Paddbear]

Thanks paddbear

[Ppiman]

[Ventricular] tachycardia is a sustained ventricular rate above 100bpm which can have several causes. Mostly, I believe, this is the ventricles responding to atrial "tachycardia" or "SVT" (supra-ventricular tachycardia") with the top two causes being AF (99%) or AFl (1%); but there are several others.

The "thud - bounce" feeling will likely be caused by ectopic beats, either PACs or PVCs; again, these aren't tachycardia, but can occur with it. They feel like a "missed" beat. In fact, they aren't missed at all, but a premature beat, i.e. one coming in too early because it's arising elsewhere than the body's own pacemaker cells, from either somewhere in the atrium (PAC) or in the ventricles (PVC). This makes the next natural (NSR) beat come in a bit late which leaves more blood than usual in the atrium and causes the valves to 'thud' close and "bounce" a little. These extra beats are called benign as they cause no harm. Tachycardia, however, will eventually cause harm and needs controlling with something like a beta-blocker - or ablation.

There's a new AI driven home ECG that I've started using and it does produce a very good albeit automated analysis of the cause of these various issues, rather than just say you have AF or whatever. It allows you to send this analysis to your GP, nurse or whomever.

Steve

[Treschere in reply to Ppiman]

What is the new AI if I might ask?

[Ppiman]

It was recommended by a couple of people on here, so feeling a bit aggrieved to have to pay £10 a month to Kardia, I bought it. It's a device made by Well (check their website for more). I ended up buying their 24-hour monitor and their small handheld one. Both generate a free ECG report with lots of detail, and for free.

Send me a PM if you need any more information, maybe?

Steve