can anyone help please

[Prosecco1997]

iam sat not knowing what to do , my Kardia mobile says tachycardia , every time I move it happens , and heart only slows a bit but lots of missed beats when sitting , I’ve not took flecinide for a week as made me feel ill last time I did , took bisop this morning , then again mid afternoon , but gave me extra beats

[CDreamer]

Tachycardia means anything over 100, what exactly is your HR?

Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it unless it is consistently above 120 at rest for more than 3-4 hours. If so ring 111 or if you are very worried and have other symptoms and ask for advice or go to A&E. You really only have those 2 options.

If you are not symptomatic wait until the morning and get a good night’s rest, make sure you are well hydrated, do some slow, relaxing breathing exercises and see how you are in the morning.

[Ppiman]

Can you post a trace, perhaps? I get the a good deal at times.

Steve

[Prosecco1997 in reply to Ppiman]

My ecg from Kardia

Black white

[Tapanac]

I am sorry you felt bad on flecainide. Personally my flec 50 x 2 snd 1.25 bisoprolol have been great and no side effects. I do seem to have put on some weight with bisoprolol but could be I’m not so active

Hope you feel better soon

[Teresa156]

Hi Prosecco,

I am sorry to read what you’re going through right now. From your last few posts, I can see that over the last week or so, you have been changing your daily Flecainide and Bisoprolol around quite a lot? Sometimes missing doses of either the flec or the bisop and sometimes adding doses, but it appears it’s been changing a lot.

Bisoprolol especially, isn’t a drug to be used like that, especially as you had been taking it regularly daily before that and I think from what I’ve read in your posts, that your problems could be due to adrenaline rushes from the missed Bisoprolol. Even missing a dose of 1.25, when you’d been on a higher dose previously throughout the day for a long period, would make a big difference to your heart. You may be suffering from withdrawal symptoms based on your posts, which are high HR, palpitations and anxiety, amongst other things.

Is it possible to contact an Arrythmia nurse to ask what they suggest for you? It sounds like you need to get back to a regular medication regime and then should you want to reduce again, ask for a proper titration schedule so you can reduce slowly, over a longer timeframe.

[Prosecco1997 in reply to Teresa156]

I’ve just been feeling so awful on my medication, so got down to 1.25 bisop twice a day , and felt much better , but kept having etopics , now tachycardia, but I did not take flecinide for 7 days either , felt better when I wasn’t on that , just don’t know what to do now , I obviously need to take daily medication, as tried pill in pocket , just having to leave messages on answer phone and wait for Arythmia nurse to contact me if she does , I realy don’t want to be told 100 bpm is fine , as it’s not got me makes me feel awful , but is that a normal range for cardiologists?

[Teresa156 in reply to Prosecco1997]

Hi Prosecco,

Drs and cardiologists don’t always appreciate how the drugs they give us do affect us. It’s not wrong to want to reduce your medication if it makes you feel bad ( after discussing with your medical advisors of course) but it’s the way that it is fine, that is important, especially with Bisoprolol. You can’t just stop taking one pill, or two pills of Bisoprolol then put them back for a couple of days and then take them away again. The best way to reduce is measuring doses and reducing slowly, often over weeks and months with Bisoprolol. I only speak from experience.

Some are lucky and have little effect from it, but some don’t.

A resting heart rate below 100 is supposed to be ok. If your rate is a lot higher than usual, it is because Bisoprolol used to take it down and your HR will now increase because you reduced it abruptly.

See what they say. There are other meds if betablockers don’t suit you. I hope they help you.

[Prosecco1997 in reply to Teresa156]

I felt so much better on 1.25 twice a day , and was sticking to that , but was told to up again to my original dose of 3.75 per day , I have tried diltiazem but that made my heart pound , what other option is there please

[Teresa156 in reply to Prosecco1997]

If you felt better on 1.25 a day, why did they increase it back up?

Also, did you switch to diltiazem straight from your3.75 Bisoprolol? Again, I expect you would have felt the effect from the beta blocker as you switched to a different medication, which is probably why your heart was thumping. I think personally, all the changes you have been making in quick succession are unfortunately contributing to how you feel now. Your heart needs to settle in a constant regime.

I hope you manage to get the right help and they understand how you feel.

[Prosecco1997]

hello back from hospital, said carry on taking my meds , which are making me ill with the side effects , blood tests were ok , try speak to doctor and arrhythmia nurse , to change meds , I have been doing that since last august , going round in circles , my heart rate was 100and bit higher sometimes but no af , but my pulse in neck was palpitating lots felt like it was getting stuck then starting again , felt ill with it , today iam very down , don’t even want to get out of bed , I’m at the stage of what’s the point anymore , getting no where

[Peacefulneedshelp]

Maybe a little rest is what you need. So sorry you are so down but I get it. I don't do well with meds either and in fact many years ago had the worst AF episode ever while on meds. Was told it was my nervous system out of wack, maybe we all need something to calm it down.

[Ppiman]

Hi and thanks. That's helpful and interesting. First off, though, it has your name at the top so you might prefer this not to be visible. In that case, you can delete the post and if you like, then re-post it but with a screenshot that crops off the name.

As for the trace: each big peak is the downstairs’ chambers of the heart (i.e. the two ventricles) contracting and relaxing, On an ECG, it's called the "R" wave and is always the biggest spike.

This contraction is, in health, caused by a signal from a bunch of specialised heart cells in the upstairs right-side of the heart, the sino-atrial (SA) node in the atrium. This first causes the atrium to contract just a fraction beforehand.

This atrial contraction shows as a tiny blip just before the big peak and that one is called the "P" wave.

When in AF, the cells in the left of the atrium around the pulmonary veins go awry and produce a mass of “pacemaker type” signals of their own which compete with the SA node signals.

Thankfully, the AV node sitting above the ventricles where the SA signals are properly sent holds back the storm, and deals well with it, but this does create an irregular rhythm in the ventricles, and often a fast one.

Your ECG shows reasonably clear "P" waves, so this is "sinus rhythm” (i.e. originating properly from the sino-atrial node). As it’s over 100bpm, it’s also called “sinus tachycardia".

In fact, it’s only just tachycardia as that word means a sustained resting rate of 100+bpm. It will depend if your ECG was measuring a genuine "resting rate" or one brought on by, for example, previous exercise or some kind of emotional anxiety, or even various other things (e.g. thyroid issues).

Normally, that kind of rate would feel odd as the output from the heart will be a bit compromised and reduced; also, it might well be treated - if it’s sustained - with a rate control drug such as a beta blocker like bisoprolol.

Steve

[Alphakiwi]

Im in the same dillema and its just so tiring and terrifying. For me its like a rat is running around inside my chest. So your not on uour own and i can empathise with you. Keep writing about your dillemma . Maybe one of us will find the solution soon. Colin

[Autumn_Leaves]

I would send this trace to either your GP, or if possible, to the arrhythmia nurses at the hospital (assuming you’ve had a prior referral) and ask for their opinion. No one here can correctly interpret your Kardia reading as most of us are only going to have a very rudimentary understanding of ECGs. You’d be far better off having a 12-lead ECG if you can. I appreciate that healthcare is difficult to access but you’re not doing yourself any favours by coming off your medication without any supervision and relying on an internet forum for advice. You may well be experiencing the rebound effects of coming off your meds but nobody here can tell you for sure.

[Madscientist16]

You have a Kardia, send the scans to your medical professional. If you are having issues with your meds, get it checked out with your doctor. You owe it to yourself to feel better and have a better quality of life. Don't second guess anything, ask for help and get your meds changed to what works for you.