Asthma and an Irregular Heartbeat

[Teddy1381]

My husband had a stroke 5 years ago, he is left with a difficulty swallowing and suffers with stroke fatigue which manifests itself in lightheadedness and the occasssional nasty headache as well as terrible tirednes, but other than that we manage his symptoms well and know how to deal with them. In the last 18 months he has also been diagnosed as asthmatic and this is now causing him quite serious problems. He managed to get a face to face appointment with the GP and has now been sent for a chest xray, ECG and blood tests with a note that he has an irregular heartbeat on the ECG request form. The GP did not mention this to him in the appointment, it was only me looking at the form that noticed it. He has started to notice his ankles are swollen at the end of the day and his breathing is really not good to the point he was grey when we walked the dog together the other day. Yesterday whilst out food shopping in the supermarket (so nothing strenuous) he really couldn't catch his breath and told me afterwards he was having palpitations We are still waiting for the results of the tests, but I just wondered if anyone else suffers with similar. Having done some research it seems Asthma can be linked with Atrial Fibrillation?? I am not trying to diagnose by internet, the Dr can do that, but he is struggling so much I thought I would ask. Oh he is 63 .

[Buffafly]

Hi, the short answer is yes, any breathing problem can be linked with AF. On the other hand AF is occasionally misdiagnosed as asthma. I assume he takes an anticoagulant as AF is a cause of stroke. I wouldn’t take him walkies with the dog until he feels better as AF puts extra strain on the heart without suitable medication 💜

[Teddy1381 in reply to Buffafly]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes he takes Clopidogrel daily. He was on Astorvastatin too but the Dr told him to stop taking them after listening to his chest. I'm not sure why and my husband didn't ask (grrrr!). I'm going to make a list of things he has got to find out next time he speaks to/sees the Dr!!