excessively symptomatic or not

[wbekim]

sorry here again saw ep regarding persistent afib and put on list for ablation as it will be a while can anyone put me at ease please I mentioned to ep my main concern was almost constant palpitations not racing hr is relatively controlled by 7.5mg bisoprolol but grabbing squeezing dropping flutter in chest and top of stomach are these normal symptoms and will they cause damage due to burden and severity it is hard to avoid being anxious when they happen so often and when inactive in any way thanks

[BobD Volunteer]

If your rate is well controlled (under 100 bpm) then there is little risk of damage long term and of course if you are anticoagulated (you need to be anyway now if waiting for an ablation) your stroke risk is greatly reduced. What you descrbe is quite normal.

[wbekim in reply to BobD]

Thanks bob yes hr generally 80ish on edoxaban ramipril statin and bisoprolol just terrified of these feelings seems as though heart is struggling and sometimes takes my breath away thought ep may have put me on flecanide to reduce extent and frequency of palpitations

[Buffafly in reply to wbekim]

Hi, if you have persistent AF then Flecainide isn’t likely to be helpful. It is generally used for PAF to prevent episodes. As you have had a successful but short lived cardioversion then ablation is likely to be successful. The EP could have offered Amiodarone plus another cardioversion but as he didn’t the hope is the wait won’t be too long. It may be that you have ectopics in the mix which I think can happen and that would account for your palpitations. My heart used to have what I called a ‘party piece’ where it seemed to do a little run through all possible arrhythmias for a minute, very disconcerting. Stress is the worst thing for both AF and ectopics so if you are unable to calm yourself with breathing exercises your GP might prescribe a short course of tranquillisers to help get your equilibrium back. Hope that helps.

[wbekim in reply to Buffafly]

Thanks buffafly my palpitations are constant with several every minute sometimes singles sometimes one after another sometimes multiple and flutter feels like heart is being squeezed goes on all day and when I wake for obligatory toilet trip in night starts when I get back in bed hard to get a break to rationalise and destress from anxiety caused

[Ppiman]

I have these often and I have eventually got used to them having been convinced by my doctor and two MRI scans over five years that they are not weakening my heart. You can feel rest assured that they will not cause you harm if your doctor has said so. The cause of harm with AF and arrhythmias is a heart rate persistently over 100bpm. This can, over time, weaken the ventricular output and cause symptoms, hence why rate control drugs such as bisoprolol are prescribed.

The oversensitive nature of our atriums cause these as PACs, and some can get through to the ventricles to cause skipped beats and the like, along with PVCs.

Steve

[wbekim in reply to Ppiman]

Thanks for your reply I just find it difficult to accept due to the frequency and burden these palpitations do not diminish hearts performance to below that needed to live relatively normally

[Ppiman in reply to wbekim]

There are a few of us in the same boat here if you search past posts. Palpitations can be difficult to deal with at times. I have found that they can be worse to cope with than AF itself, at times, owing to their randomness that awful "thump" feeling.

My last MRI and the consultant's reassurance helped me a lot. I am wating for an ablation for my AF and the ectopic atrial problems.

Steve