I'm just a little confused - I have always had very low blood pressure but was informed last week that I have atrial fibrillation. I was sent to hospital following pain/pressure in my chest and a feeling of being strangled around my neck. I was admitted and it was discovered that my pulse was racing up as high as 180/190 bpm but was given medication to bring this down. My question is:- is it the case that atrial fibrillation only takes place when you get that uncomfortable/painful feeling in your chest or is my heart defibrillating all the time and I just can't feel it. I have just ordered a home blood pressure test kit so that I can keep an eye on my pulse myself. I guess I am just taken aback by this and am scared to do anything in case I set it off again. My family has a long history of heart problems insofar as both of my parents, all of my 10 aunts and uncles and one sister died of heart attacks.
I would really appreciate any thoughts/comments anyone can offer. Thank you.
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DruD13
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Try not to worry to much as this is not good for a fib am sure your now on a blood thinner and beta blocker for your afib DruD13 you should now join af fourum
Hi I'm 54 if u have the uncomfortable feeling all the time u would have constant AF.
This may require treatment with medication and or an ablation.
If the feeling comes and goes in short bursts or u have an episode then it may be days weeks or months before u have another episode. Usually this can stop itself with in a few minutes or within 24 hrs
This is called paroxysmal AF (Atrial Fibrillation)
I had episodes of paroxysmal AF Following open heart surgery.
Treatment is the same almost beta blockers and anticoagulant treatment as there is a risk of stroke.
Thank you for this. I am on betablockers (have been for about ten years for panic attacks) but they don't think I need blood thinners. ? So that is pretty much as I expected but at times, I get a bubbling feeling in my chest - almost at the bottom of my neck if that makes sense. i'm not sure if that is significant and may be leading to something but I will see the cardiologist again in a few weeks so I shall just start writing a list of questions for him. Thank you for your help. Hope you are doing well.
H iI was rushed into hospital 3 years ago with suspected Heart Attack which is when I was diagnosed with PAF. Heart Attack was secondaty to PAF I am on Apixaban ( Gave up on Warfarin due to Hair loss) and have had nothing since, So don't worry. I gave up on all the other medication they gave me due to awfull side effects. and now keep OK
Hello DruD13, I have AF and many other people I know, I play competitive bridge, sixty out of 100 of us have the same problem, so it seems to be fairly common. I must be lucky, when my pulse was 190 I couldn't feel it, that was while I was having a heart attack. Rosie.
Thank you. Well they didn't say I was having a heart attack when I hit 190, they were just busy trying to get it down so I was given more tablets to take, they put something else in the drip and then squirted this god-awful stuff under my tongue which was the worst moment of all... but it seemed to do the trick.
I am 49, had heart attack just 4weeks ago + 3 emergency stents done . Right blocked 99% left 97%. I also have multiple sclerosis, have you experienced any relapses etc with your ms ?
Sorry I haven't replied sooner but have not been in the right mind set to log on to my laptop for a while. I have not experienced any relapses with my m.s. as such but I seem to be having new "problems" which I didn't know could happen and as a result I have been referred to various other kinds of specialists. My biggest problem seems to be with my memory and attention - I just can't seem to focus on anything and feel almost as if I am walking around with my brain in a fog. I have been fortunate in that I had never previously had mobility problems, I still haven't but I have been falling over fairly regularly.
I was diagnosed with the m.s. when I was 20 and have spent all these years since thinking that I was one of the lucky ones and not experiencing relapses over the years but my specialist recently pointed out that - "with m.s., there's always something going on". I think what shocked me most was the fact that - according to my neurologist - the m.s. is now affecting the frontal lobe in my brain, ie my memory, my attention, my concentration, my mood swings, my cognition in general. Explains a lot really, I guess. Thankfully, it seems like the cardiologist has me on the right medication for my a fib but I will see him again next month to get the results of my echocardiogram. How are you coping? Sounds like you have been through a dreadful time.
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