Will I end up with AF?

[hairyfairy]

Iv`e had ectopic beats since I was 15, & I get palpitations sometimes. Iv`e read that these are an sign that I`ll develop AF in the future. I find this idea very scary, is there any way to prevent these symptoms from developing into AF?

[cat3]

I've has SVT for around 30 years and the symptoms are identical to AF, except that there is no irregularity. But the heart races at around 150bpm causing breathlessness and light-headedness, and there is the feeling of the heart physically banging against the chest wall.

The beats are absolutely regular and attacks can last for minutes or many hours, then suddenly return to normal for no apparent reason.

The treatments for both are either ablation (cauterising of the cells causing the excess electrical activity) or medication, which I chose.

I had years of these awful attacks as I'd been led to believe the only solution was ablation, which I didn't want. Then after seeking a second opinion years later, I was prescribed 'Flecainide' which improved the condition by about 99%.

I rarely have SVT these days but if I do it lasts only seconds.

Arm yourself with information about your condition and ask your GP for a referral to a cardiologist. When you have knowledge, you can discuss your AF with confidence and have a say in the options for your treatment.

Taking control also makes you a much stronger person and takes away the fearfulness.

Good luck & best wishes, Cat x

[lancashirerose in reply to cat3]

Not exactly the same topic, but I had ectopics, runs of them every day and night for over 30 years. Lots of being told they were harmless, ignore them.. yeah, right! Easy to ignore your heart jumping around in your chest and beating irregularly! Anyway, betablockers did nothing. Had implantable monitor (still have it) which helped me in that it showed the problem was actually ectopics - and finally been given Flecainide which has given me my life back! So much better. Occasional odd beats, which I can ignore. If I'd been given this years ago my life would have been so much better!

[cat3 in reply to lancashirerose]

Me too. It's something I often say, that Flecainide gave me my life back !

[steviefan in reply to cat3]

I've had ectopic beats and psvt for many years, most of my adult live. I'm now 62 years old. I had a real rough time at first but then I was given the right dose of a beta blocker plus I finished menopause and seemed to have these things under control. But the last several months have been awful and I'm back to not wanting to leave the house. I now get bigeminal pac's for 16 hours at a time almost every day. That's an extra beat with every regular heart beat. It's unbearable. The doctor wants me to take flecainide and I was so afraid to take it after reading horror stories about it. I'm so sensitive to all kinds of medications. But I see how you said it gave you your life back. I'm so depressed and isolating myself from my grandkids and it's killing me. I also injured an old back injury last week, making matters worse. I'm going to give much thought to the flecainide.

[enforcer613]

Are you sure those palpitations are, in fact, palps.. it could be atrial flutter and in that case an Ablation is in order... during these palps check your BP AND heart rate... or have someone do it for you because it's not usually accurate if you do it yourself ...

it's a bit of along shot but it's worth a look... your palps might not be....

[enforcer613 in reply to enforcer613]

you are right already had Ablation but continue to have palps which wasn't picked up on a monitor.. next step implant... next time i get a palp attack with neck and shoulder pain i am calling a bus (ambulance).... getting tired of this

[hairyfairy in reply to enforcer613]

I did go to A&E about 13 years ago because I was having a nonstop run of ectopic beats, & I couldn`t understand what was going on. They took an ecg, & sent me home without explaining to me what was going on. They arranged for me to have various tests, including an echocardiogram, & a treadmill test. Everything checked out normal on them.

[PeterWh in reply to enforcer613]

By far the best way to get your HB during an episode (or at other times) is to get an AliveCor or something similar. I find my AliveCor so useful.