I tested positive for Covid last week, and I was awakened the next night by a strong coughing attack for a few seconds that made me unable to catch my breath. My heart apparently responded the way its does to sleep apnea and jumped into arrhythmia before I could calm it with some deep nose breaths. This time the beats were more scattered, with some 3-second pauses between weak quick ones.
My blood pressure dropped to 70 over 50, and I became dizzy so went to the ER in the $1,000 dollar taxi ride. I regained NSR after about 10 hours and am fine. I don't know how much my body's dealing with Covid affected the heart's response, but I certainly know what triggered it initially.
I came home in a $30 taxi ride.
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fibnum
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I hope your insurance covered the trip in the expensive taxi! Bad luck on getting covid. Let's hope you are over it soon and look back on this time as one of life's trials.
Does your blood pressure drop usually when you are in AF? I was told that it's impossible to measure it accurately during that time, but dizziness would be a sure sign that it has dropped.
The ambulance is covered fully by insurance. As you suggested, my blood pressure can be unstable and hard to pin down, with large swings during Afib. It was consistently reading low the morning I went in. I can't imagine that little flutters and 3 second gaps in beating are going to keep the pressure up.
They know little about Afib or its causes. Since the specialists don't either, I can't blame them! Yes, I had not seen the long gaps before. It possible that very weak pulses went undetected between. It is a challenge for Afib sufferers to have to be the doctor and expert in making decisions about their heart needs , but we often have to.
Do they tend to be extended periods of arrhythmia or brief?
My arrhythmia was clearly initiated by the coughing jag and was characteristic of my previous Afib episodes. I would not attribute that to Covid per se. Any coughing fit or other breathing interruption, such as sleep apnea does the same. I was glad that despite Covid, my heart recovered in a reasonable time period. I know it is impossible to sort out all of the various factors as to cause and effect. I wonder how many have had Afib during Covid?
Many - just do a search on this form to see how many posts involve COVID and AF, many for the first time.
Just recovered from COVID with chest infection which this strain of COVID seems to endow, myself - for the second time. The only time I now get AF is when I have an infection because infection = inflammatory response and any inflammation in my body will trigger AF. Once the infection clears completely heart calms down. I don’t think it is the coughing per se in my case, I also have SA which is treated. I couldn’t use my CPAP this time for about a week because my lungs were so wet every time I put on the mask it felt as though I was drowning, horrible. I had to have antibiotics to clear the chest infection.
Hard to prove exactly what triggers AF but this is my experience. First AF lasted about 15 hours and then just had daily bouts which lasted about 1-2 hours.
I think it odd that anyone with Covid, in a state where they could pass it on to others, would think it right to go to a hospital because they have gone into AF, rather than isolating at home, and riding out the AF.Although I have permanent AF, albeit asymptotic, I've managed to avoid Covid. I can't put myself in your position.
I think your response demonstrates a lack of understanding. You state that you are in permanent AF, but asymptomatic. It is the overwhelming symptoms and the fear associated with them that need the reassurance that a hospital visit ensures. I may have responded quite sharply to this, but have just come out of 48 hours in the hospital for the same reasons! I did NOT want to be in hospital, but heart rates over 149, chest pain and BP of 80/53 trumps all infections don’t you think? Oh yes, I was blue-lighted all the way in!
I’ve stayed at home many times with HR 180 and very low BP. If I had gone to hospital every time this happened I may as well have moved in. It’s not life threatening and there is no need to panic IF you attend outpatient clinic and you know your limits and are able to monitor yourself. I do think we need to take care and take advice from our specialist on this matter. My EP told me that I don’t need hospital treatment unless my HR exceeded 200, I had syncope, I felt very unwell - cold and clammy and I had chest pain - always go.
I felt very unwell this time but knew it was the chest infection, a telephone to GP who knows my full medical history resulted in script for antibiotics and a care plan if things worsened.
Hospital is the LAST place I want to be, too many sick people and far too many other infections to catch!
AF is a chronic condition that if we suffer from we need to adjust and live with. Fear is our biggest enemy and will always exacerbate how we feel and our symptoms.
Thanks for the reply CDreamer. Just to clarify, I’ve had this for over nine years, so we’ll aware of what my body was doing. As you said, the sweats, dizziness, cold clamminess and chest pain I was suffering from indicacated a visit may just have been recommended! BTW, the medics were cross that I hadn’t gone in earlier…….
I once was in Afib for 40 hrs and rode it out. It is hard to know. The ER doctors did extensive tests - more about Covid than the heart - and insisted I stay the night because they thought they saw evidence of fluid in the lungs after they had pumped me full of fluids to get the blood pressure up. Then they wanted me to stay over the weekend for observation due to some heart enzymes showing up in the blood tests. I refused and left the next morning. They seemed quite eager to have me there!
Getting care and quick advice from doctors in much of the US during the week day is almost impossible. You are always told by the answering machine: "If this is an emergency, hang up and call 911". If it is not an "emergency", forget about it! There is almost no such thing as getting an appointment that day, or even week, to be seen at your doctor's clinic. You may get a message through your online portal in 24-48 hrs. You may or may not get a call back from your phone message later that day or tomorrow. The little "Urgent Care" facilities tend to be not prepared to deal with more than simple ailments and injuries.
For many of us, our medical care consists of waiting till after hours and calling the on- call doctors for advice; they will actually get back to you fairly soon. The only source of treatment is the ER until you are finally admitted to the regular hospital.
The chances that your medical needs will line up with your 6 month or one year appointments with your specialists are near equivalent to winning the lottery.
I am not sure why we still call it the "Emergency Room" here. It is the only game in town unless you just need your sprained ankle wrapped or an antibiotic for a standard infection which is easily diagnosed. It should just be called "Medical Care".
It is the only place you're going to get it, usually.
To be fair some of us have been told we are NOT to stay at home with a pulse in Tachycardia for longer than an hour, that was how I ended up having a heart attack. We are all different and must react in the way that is going to keep us safe.
While I wonder how you know what your bp is, when in AF, I shall pass by that and tell you about my 22 years of paroxysmal AF, which preceded my permanent AF. During those 22 years I was taken to hospital twice by ambulance because of paroxysmal AF. The first occasion I'd followed the advice given by the hospital cardiology department to ride out the paroxysmal AF for 12 hours before seeking advice from a GP. I put up with it for 15 hours before going to my GP, who rang the hospital for advice and was told to call for an ambulance to take me in. I did not have a contagious disease at that time.
The second time was when I felt I wanted to pass out because of paroxysmal AF while driving on the M62. After stopping in the hard shoulder for a time, I managed to get off the motorway and stopped to call an ambulance. I did not have a contagious disease
Five years ago my heart rate rose to over 190bpm while in Permanent AF. Fortunately I was already in hospital, under general anesthesia having my appendix removed. When I was woken up, 3 hours after the end of the operation my heart rate was 190bpm. I rode that out for 3 days after which it had dropped to 90bpm and I was then discharged.
During the early days of the Pandemic we were told not to go to hospitals but to isolate, unless we were really bad, and then to ring a specific number who would arrange hospital admission. During lockdown I fell and had a painful leg. I rang for an ambulance and was taken to hospital where x-rays showed I had a fractured fibula, and it was subsequently found I had nerve damage causing foot drop. Because the fibula is not a weight bearing bone, I was discharged the same day with an orthopedic boot. The leg healed, but the nerve didn't, but I now have a carbon fibre orthotic which helps me to walk.
The point I was making is that if I had a contagious disease I would not go to hospital without seeking medical advice first.
Fibnum has now given more details as to his state of health at the time. I now assume he sought medical advice before going by ambulance to hospital.
My decision was based on medical advice given me by my doctors many times in the past. One does not try to get advice from one's cardiologist or primary-care physician, whose office may or may not respond within 24 hours, when confronted with a serious threat. (I am usually on hold for 30 minutes and more with little likelihood of getting any call back from a medical advisor that day, even if I am able to leave a message.) It was up to me to decide, but when I see my cardiologist next month, I have no doubt that he will concur with my decision. Please read my response to CDreamer, which explains medical practice in many parts of the US.
That is worth gold. There is nothing like the experience of calling your doctor and hearing the "sorry all staff are busy" and some trite music over and over for an hour while watching your BP and HR go crazy. If you finally speak to a receptionist, she will promise to try to get you a call back by the end of the day. It is not always that way, only about 80% of the time. The after hours service is the only recourse. I get quick advice at midnight or 2:00 AM, but not at noon or 2:00 pm.
I have ridden out Afib many, many times. I have not ridden out dangerously low and falling blood pressure and very erratic, weak pulse with extreme dizziness. I have always been told by doctors to go in if I had pain, dizziness or breathing problems. I paid for a private ambulance, was put in a private room and seen by doctors and nurses with masks while I wore one also. I wore a mask in the cab home and sat a distance from the driver. I believe any 79-year-old with my symptoms would be encouraged to go in. You are to be commended on being willing to risk a fatal heart situation without going to the ER, out of consideration for others. I hope you don't have to actually make that choice.
Thank you for the detail which was missing from your first post. I would not go to any hospital if I had any contagious disease, without first telling medics that I felt I needed to go to hospital. I am 78.
If Covid complications occur and require immediate treatment, the standard advice is to go to hospital. Obviously this has to be on a case by case basis, depending on how urgently someone needs medical attention.
It's not that odd.Hospitals are more than capable of dealing with patients that have caught any virus , including Covid, but may have had other health conditions triggered because if it which will often not improve without the right intervention.
They take isolating measures immediately, and prefer people whom are having cardiac or breathing related episodes triggered by an infection to contact them and to be properly examined and treated asap to avoid the possibility of the two conditions together causing the patient to have a major event or require long term hospitalisation.
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