Afib, PVC and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

@jshah Hi. I have afib, but what is HCM? High Class Mustache? Sorry. Couldn't pass that up.

Ha ha. HCM is a heart disease called Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Basically the heart wall is thick and causes breathing problems. My husband has both HCM and Afib. He is getting his surgery done for HCM where they make that heart wall thin so blood can flow easily. It is a open heart surgery. We recently found out about the maze procedure that can be done while they open his heart for HCM. Maze procedure will help him with the Afib. I am not sure about that and did not get clear answer on it.

@jshah Well, Now I know I have it. My AFib and HCM is from my Amyloidosis. The best dX comes from the 12-lead ECG, measuring the strength of the QRS signal, and judging whether the tracing shows a deep vibration from the leatherized ventricular and atrial walls, pumping and relaxing. Yes, it is almost the same, except for the pump and relax signal strength. The signal strength is reduced because the protein fibrils get into the sensori-motor nerves and interrupt or dampen the signals. Eventually they will stop the flow of signals altogether.

Hi Jinal @jshah,

I'm tagging @lottyfeeble21 who has talked about coping with afib and HCM in this discussion:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-is-the-recovery-like-following-septal-myectomy/
I wasn't quite sure if you've read the information from Mayo Clinic about the surgical maze procedure, https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/maze-procedure/gnc-20303046, and I've copied some relevant details for your convenience below:
"Surgical maze procedures have a high success rate, with from 70 to 95 percent of people being free of atrial fibrillation long term after the procedure. Up to 35 percent may still need medications to help control their irregular heart rhythm. If your atrial fibrillation recurs, you may need another catheter ablation or other treatment."
@cynaburst, do you have some more insight for @jshah?

Here's another great source of information (and reassurance, perhaps):
The Mayo Clinic Experience and Patient Stories: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy/care-at-mayo-clinic/mac-20350208

Jinal, I can imagine you have a plethora of concerns and questions about your husband's surgery; what is worrying you the most? Remember that you are not alone – the Connect community is listening.

Afib and HCM are not uncommon. The MAZE procedure can be successful at treating it. I have some summaries of recent studies done on Afib and HCM on my blog http://www.HCMBeat.com. If you look in the tag cloud or search for atrial fibrillation you should get them to come up. I think that the most recent have found that as long as the patient is appropriately anti coagulated and rate is controlled, a patient can live in Afib without bad consequences. Of course, some people feel symptomatic in afib so it is probably best to stop it if possible.

I have what I call "bad heart days" when I get short of breath easily, but those don't happen very often. For the last year, I have been using a rolling walker for support while walking my dog or going to the clinic. Over time, my stamina has increased. Dr. Omman told me not to worry about the extra beats I was having. Do you check your pulse? I have periods when I am having missed/skipped beats, and I am aware of them, but can't predict when it will happen . If PVCs were dangerous for you, your cardiologist would have put you on medicine to control them or suggested an implanted defibrillator.

Thanks for your feedback. I had a pacemaker defibrillator put in two years ago and I take Verapamil 180 mg, sometimes I get 100’s a day cause I can definitely feel them. Nothing that I can pinpoint as a trigger. Just was wondering if anyone else had them with HCM and will I get any relief from them after my mastectomy.

I am scheduled to have a septal myectomy with Dr Shaff on 5/30/19. I am just curious if anyone else experiences PVC . Is that common is that not common. Some days I feel just fine like Im on top of the world then it feels like something just hits me and I feel terrible and out of breath and get many pvc's. Sometimes have a hard time just walking without getting winded. then there will be days I feel fine. does anyone else experience anything like this?

A couple weeks ago I was in the middle of hell week, apparently an effect of Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. After a couple days of PVCs, tachycardia, out of control heart rhythm and blood pressure, wild EKG aVL sections,with pulse running from 42 to 70, and a bunch of my other stuff going nuts (several cancers, bleeding, dyspnea, neuropathy, double vision, weight gain, cracking teeth, macular skin eruptions, etc.) I went to the ER. The doc put a ZIO patch on me, and confirmed most of this. Anyway, I went home after about 8 hours, then had three more days of crap before things leveled out a bit. I would like to go to one of the 1AAA clinics such as Mayo Stanford whatever, but probably won't happen.

Hello @oldkarl,

I’m thrilled to hear from you, even though it may not be in the best of circumstances! I am sorry to learn about your “hell week” but truly appreciate the update.

From what I’ve read, a ZIO patch is a small 3-inch patch that can be worn continuously for two weeks, which monitors cardiac arrhythmias. It seems to be a better option than the bulky Holter monitor. https://www.irhythmtech.com/patients/how-it-works
Have you been given any next-steps in terms of treatment or prevention of such episodes?