Paroxysmal atrial fribulation

[Aprilla12345]

Hi all me again had my private consultation yesterday with a ep very interesting went through my nhs results and came up with a possible diagnosis of reflex super tracychardia and has told me to come off all medication for 72 hrs whilst on a new 72 hrs ecg with the possibility of going on a trial of flecancide sorry about the spelling with ablation as last resort never heard of rst has any one else

[CDreamer]

Hi - it’s hard to get your head around all of the terms and what they mean. Some people have AF with a slow or normal heart rate whilst others have AF with a ventricular response meaning their heart speeds up, sometimes to very high levels which could be dangerous.

Are you sure it is not ‘sinus’ rather than ‘super’? You can have supra ventricular tachycardia SVT which just means tachycardia caused by irregularity coming from above (supra) the ventricles.

Reflexive tachycardia means your reflexive system has triggered your heart to beat very fast - which can be slightly different. There are lots of different reflexive tachycardias, mine was caused by my BP, blood pressure, suddenly dropping very low in AF when I sat up or stood up, causing me to pass out. It’s useful to get a diagnosis of what is triggering your tachycardia because that then determines how it is treated. But I also had other types of tachycardia with AF, it can get complicated.

Flecainide is an anti-arrhythmic drug which treats the AF and a Beta Blocker such as Bisoprolol is normally prescribed alongside which treats the tachycardia. Do you take a Beta Blocker as well?

I would estimate that at least 50% of the people posting on the forum will have tachycardia caused by one sort of cardiac reflex or another. The most common talked about cardiac reflex on this forum would be vagal response which involves the vagus nerve which is often reactive to exercise or rest.

Normally we don’t correct spelling mistakes but just thought you might note that it’s OK to shorten to PAF for paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation.

Best wishes

[Aprilla12345 in reply to CDreamer]

Thanks

[opal11uk]

Investigation and making a further, more beneficial plan is always a good idea so good luck!

[Aprilla12345 in reply to opal11uk]

Thanks

[Ppiman]

Hi Aprilla

I've just seen you other post so what follows might be wrong...

I wonder if you were likely told that you suffer from "supra-ventricular tachycardia" or "SVT"? This is a fast heart rate in the bottom of the heart (the ventricles) caused by electrical disturbances in the top chambers of the heart, the atrium. Atrial fibrillation is one cause of SVT but there are various other arrhythmias of the atrium that can also upset the ventricular beat. These are rhythms in the atrium caused by cells other than the proper ones located in the heart's natural pacemaker, the "sino-atrial node".

Luckily for all of us, there is a second "pacemaker" in the heart, one through which all signals from the atrium must pass before entering the important ventricles. This is the atrial-ventricular or "AV" node. This is very important as it stops whatever chaos might be occurring in the upper chambers from transferring directly to below. At least, it does its best, which often translates into allowing the ventricles to beat rather too fast for comfort and, as a result, less efficiently. This inefficiency reduces the amount of oxygenated blood leaving the heart and can lead to symptoms such as chest discomfort, fatigue and shortness of breath.

Reflex sinus tachycardia (I now see from your other post) is a regular fast beat but won't be caused by AF, which gives an irregular rhythm. Your doctor will try to uncover the cause of this, which can be varied. In my case, in 2019, it was caused by a different arrhythmia called atrial flutter (AFl), which is similar to AF, but gives a regular sinus rhythm. A fried has a different one altogether which he can bring back to normal using certain physical "valsalva" manoeuvres while blowing into a syringe (how odd).

Steve

[Aprilla12345 in reply to Ppiman]

Sounds like me will give the syringe a go thanks

[Aprilla12345 in reply to Ppiman]

Thanks seeing my cardio next week hopefully answers