Husband new to AF

[lizzieloo2]

I have had PAF for more than 10 years but now my husband (73) has been told he has it and on the face of it, seems to be linked to the 2nd dose of Shingrix which he had last Thursday. I wondered if anyone else has experienced anything like this. Since the vaccination, he has had terrible abdominal pain and headaches leading us to ring 111 on Sunday evening. They rang us back at about 01.30 and dismissed the jab as being the cause and told him to go to A&E. He refused as his experience of A&E at night is sitting on a chair for hours and nothing happening as there are no consultants around until during the day. So he went to the GP Monday morning and she examined him and said she thought it was a reaction to the vaccination and could last 10-12 days. She didn't take his BP, just told him to take paracetamol for the pain and Gaviscon for the stomach (he's already on PPI). Tuesday he felt worse although stomach pain had subsided mostly but every time he stood up, he got a headache and felt dizzy and breathless. He felt awful and took his BP which was 90/63 pulse 88. He took it again in the afternoon and it was still low so we rang the GP as we were concerned. She then said she felt it was heart-related and he should go to A&E so we did, got there about 6.00pm. It was like a zoo, nowhere to sit hardly and we waited over an hour and he was feeling awful and just wanted to lay down so I asked how long it would be before triage, was told 1.5-2hrs. So we went home so he could be comfortable. About 9.30pm, he started to get chest discomfort similar to when he had a heart attack 2 years ago and his GTN spray did nothing so we rang an ambulance. They took his BP which seemed OK then but his ECG showed AF. They took him to A&E where he went straight into rapid assessment. By this time it was gone midnight and there were very few people about in that area. He waited about an hour before they took an ECG and blood test. Soon after, someone else came to do the same thing because they didn't know he'd already had it done. Then someone asked why he was there. No-one asked him about his medication and most of the staff seemed to be sleeping at their stations. Eventually,they said his blood test was OK and he could go home. He asked about the AF and they were surprised and did another ECG to confirm it. They then prescribed Apixiban and gave him 2 tablets but didn't tell him what strength they were. Told him to take 2 twice a day and gave him a prescription for 5mg twice a day. Never said anything else. I picked him up about 5.00am and then had to go back to the hospital to get the prescription filled and that took nearly 2.5 hours. I had to query the dose and the pharmacy isn't able to access the A&E records to see what they gave him but eventually we decided it must have been 2.5mg because of the size and I had to ask if he should still take aspirin. The pharmacy told me to stop the aspirin while he was taking Apixaban. We both felt rubbish for the rest of the day but my husband did manage to eat dinner for the first time in 4 days. While I was at the pharmacy, someone from admin at the GP rang at the request of the GP (who doesn't work on Weds) to see how he was and he gave her 2 more low BP readings which she said she would pass to the GP. I rang again when I got back from the pharmacy to speak to this person to pass on about the Apixaban and the aspirin and was told she would ring us back. She didn't. This morning, my husband felt better after a reasonable night but as soon as he got dressed, he was back feeling awful and his BP was still low. The GP rang and told him to stop his Amlodipine and Losartan until Saturday whilst keeping an eye on his BP. She is on holiday next week so has put him under the care of another GP if he needs to get in touch and has made an appt to see him on 12 December. He has now gone back to bed as going upstairs to have a bath wiped him out. Very worried and wondering if this is the Shingrix or something else and if the AF will become a permanent fixture. Have also lost all faith in the medical profession

[Goosebumps]

Hello . Really sorry to hear what you have been through.

I can mirror a lot of the symptoms and effects on the heart of having an outside body injected into the bloodstream in an attempt to vaccinate . I too have low blood pressure so I understand the additional symptoms that can arise. I am just constantly told to drink more water. And don’t mention chest pains, if I went to A&E every time there was chest pain in the early days I would never have left the place. It took multiple investigations and angiograms to identify a blocked artery.

A stent in my LAD artery has alleviated a lot of my chest pain issues, but the GTN spray never helped at all.

My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that the vaccine has either caused the AF or exacerbated his underlying AF and some of his awful symptoms are AF related.

And anxiety will be a huge factor.

A&E aren’t going to help if his HR is only 88., but I suspect you know this already. Take the positive from this, his blood tests confirm that there hasn’t been a heart attack.

I’m afraid I’m not much help, but the GP is probably right, this will take 10-12 days to work through for the initial symptoms to subside

Keep on pushing for more investigations through his cardiologist, good luck.

[secondtry]

I avoid all the 'annual vaccines' and take every opportunity to build my immune system instead. In recent times, I have had to totally reassess the medical profession and any interaction with them. Not sure if I have been too naive in the past or whether things have just got appreciably worse over the last 5 years 🤔.

[Tomred in reply to secondtry]

Totally with you on this Secondtry.

[Tapanac]

I’m not sure what shingrix is but if it is anything like the covid vaccine your husbands problems could very well stem from that although maybe his AF was there but not noticeable before

All I know is that I could have the first covid vaccine ok, but after struggling through four of the boosters snd having really bad afib for 5-6 weeks after each one which turned to permanent afib I was advised by my GP not to have any more covid jabs. I did have the flu jab but this year did cause a few afib/flutter problems

I’m so sorry you husband has had this and I do hope he will feel better soon

[Thomas45]

For information Shingrix is a non-live vaccine against getting shingles.

[lizzieloo2 in reply to Thomas45]

Yes I know. He refused the live vaccine last year as he can't have any live vaccines with the Evolocumab injection he takes for high cholesterol. He's still unwell and having headaches and BP still low although slightly higher than Wednesday.

[Thomas45 in reply to lizzieloo2]

I am sorry to hear that. I have never had any reaction to any vaccination, including the Shingles vaccination. It is so difficult to prove the effect of vaccines, however I have had bad reactions with some other medications.

[Auriculaire in reply to lizzieloo2]

According to the research of Danish vaccinologist Dr Christine Stabell Benn non live vaccines can have deleterious effects on the immune system and general health. In 2010 I had my annual flu vaccine as usual. I was ill all winter with various problems- chest pain , weakness on exertion , headaches , dizziness, sudden drops in blood sugar , occasional panic attacks. I felt like an old woman and this went on till the end of April from when I started to get back to normal. I had various examinations and tests - nothing found. I later discovered that that year was the first year the H1N1 (swine flu) strain was included in the seasonal vaccination. I had not had the special one off in 2009 when the big panic about swine flu was being stirred up. According to Stabell Benn the H1N1 vaccine is one of the worst culprits for unwanted effects. I now have had no flu vaccines for over 10 years and weather the winter much better than when I was having the vaccines. I have not been able to find out if the shingles vaccine is one that she thinks is particularly bad.

[Bagrat]

I feel for you. You only need one medical professional in your corner to feel supported.The NHS is in a sad state and as a 20yr retired Specialist nurse, could weep for the staff as have friends in tears at the end of a shift because they can't always give fully appropriate care.

There are good people about, they are just spread very thin and that is very concerning.

[Rainfern]

What an awful experience Lizzie - you must be shattered. It brings back to me the hours my husband and me spent in A&E with his father waiting for a bed, and the anxiety of waiting for urgent antibiotics when my daughter was on the edge of sepsis. A&E has been experiencing its own emergency for years.

Re the shingles jab: Shingles is such a horrible illness but I did do my research and got our practice nurse to do a bit of research herself before agreeing to the new two-jab process. There’s nothing to link it specifically with AF, but unfortunately any medical procedure -including vaccinations - comes with risk. I’m so sorry to hear your husband has been so unlucky - was he warned of rare but potential reactions to the jab beforehand?