Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

Hi @bambi86, Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. @vorhis66, @gosnell76, @stanleyta, and @rrowner2 have all had similar situations themselves or with loved ones. I would like to invite them to join the conversation. In addition, here is a recent conversation that was started about Myocardial Bridging https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myocardial-bridging/

How long have you been diagnosed? Can you tell us a little more about your situation?

My husband was diagnosed with HCM 1987 at age 43 during a cardiac catheterization found the myocardial bridge, the HCM became obstructive over the years so I really don’t know if the bridging affected him. He had septal myectomy in October 2018 at Mayo Rochester and at that time the bridge was unroofed.

Hi, I’m Barbara from Waseca Minnesota. Not sure if I’m in the right group.

@barb61 Hi and welcome to connect. Mayo connect is a place where people of similar health concerns can find others who have similar issues for questions or just want to Connect with others and share experiences. There is no particular requirement to share any more than you wish but as you feel comfortable can we know what health concerns you may have or that interest you and we can get you to that particular area of interest.
To reply to a particular person like say me you can hit the reply and add the person @name for an example to get a message to me you would start by putting @danab and i will be alerted that you responded to me. So if i can be of any additional help please let me know.
Have a Blessed Day
Dana

Hi @barb61, I'd like to add my welcome. What brings you to Mayo Clinic Connect? Do you have a heart condition? Are you concerned about your health?

@crashman hi, sounds like I can relate to your PVCs. I’ve had them on and off for 45 years....many tests, doctors always are polite and basically conclude that my PVCs and some PACs are of a benign nature...relaxing is great advice...it’s hard to do, but when I get going with something active or hobby it takes my mind off of it....so glad to hear all of the posts on this topic...I had to quit drinking and smoking many years ago, but still have some regular coffee in the morning.....

My name is David and I’m a disabled veteran. I have serious orthopedic problems that are very painful and contributes to my arrhythmias. I had aortic root surgery in 2001 because of a ascending aortic aneurysm. They also replaced the aortic valve because it was a bicuspid valve with signs of stenosis. The aneurysm was was discovered when I went to a cardiologist for arrhythmias, afib and occasional SVT. An ablation was attempted two weeks prior to the surgery so that the arrhythmias would not complicate the surgery. They were unable to successfully treat the arrhythmias and actually made them worse. The surgery went well and I was only in the ICU for one night. Within a couple of hours after being moved to a regular room I suffered SCD, and after being revived I was sent back to the ICU. My heart was being paced by an external pacemaker until they could place one inside my chest but that was going to take awhile because I developed HIT which caused a PE. I was removed from the heparin and put on warfarin. Three days later I had to be opened up again because of a serious infection which delayed insertion of the defibrillator. I was prescribed Sotalol and released after about a month. The SVT got worse and led to several shocks from the defibrillator, so the medication was changed to Carvedilol. I had both Afib and SVT and the electrophysiologist determined that an other ablation attempt couldn’t be done. That has been reconfirmed several times over the last 20 years. I wasn’t able to work anymore so I went on social security disability and VA disability. The VA manages my Healthcare. In late 2016 I injured my back which caused extreme sciatica pain which totally stressed out my heart . I had my first electro cardio conversion on my birthday in January and at least one about every month after. My Fitbit recorded days that my heart rate was between 160 and 180 bpm for over 18 hours in a day and no less than 5 hours on any other day. The last conversation was at Christmas that year. The VA wanted to do a complete ablation and make me pacemaker dependent instead of assisting. Back surgery was out of the question because of my heart problems. In desperation I went to a neurologist to see if they could stop the pain. That was when I met another patient that told me about how taking CBD had really helped with the pain. I did some research about how to take it without causing interactions with my medications and ordered some from the same place and took half a dropper when I went to bed. I was aware that it could take weeks to take full effect so I wasn’t expecting any changes right away. It was taking me at least an hour to get out of bed in the morning because I couldn’t push my heart. I was warned about the damage that getting shocked can cause damage to the nerves. I lived like that for an entire year! I woke up 5 hours after taking the CBD and panicked because my heart wasn’t clicking away at 180 bpm. I went back to sleep and when I woke in the morning my heart was still in a normal rhythm! The conversions were always for atrial flutter and the afib was constant. That morning I thought I was in another world. I got straight up and moved around and my heart stayed in a normal rhythm the whole time! There wasn’t a lot of information on the web at the time but now even the NIH has published articles about it. My life has been totally different not worrying about standing up, walking too fast or anything else that used to make me stop in my tracks and sit down so that I’m not nocked off my feet from a defibrillator shock. The EP at the VA was astonished to see that my defibrillator had only recorded 2 several seconds episodes when it used to be in the hundreds and fill the memory. I hesitate telling other heart patients about it because they have to do some research on how to take it safely. I just know that it has turned my quality of life around! You should google “CBD treating arrhythmias, I think you might be surprised.
Thanks for the group connection.
David Hoover

Hi, I am in several other Mayo groups - mainly the Hearing Loss one. I looked up this group because I received a teaser from the Harvard medical group which always tells you they are the best! 🙂 A specific question was noted in their attempt to get you to order their newsletter (which I won't do). The question they raise is of interest to me and I was hoping maybe you all could deal with it. It is: "Does eating eggs really pose a threat to cardiovascular health?". I love eggs but have very much limited my consumption of them thinking they could raise my cholesterol (which is well controlled by medication). I am wondering if anyone is in a position to enlighten me about this question?

@barbb Hi and what i was told is no no way you may think. The Cholesterol in eggs is not what causes hight cholesterol in the blood stream but they still recommend not going to excess. What causes high cholesterol in the blood is fat mostly the bad fats like saturated fat and especially trans fats so its recommended no more than 7 a week. Here is a link to better explain what Mayo thinks and what a dietitian told me is it fats and salt to watch out for mostly.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/expert-answers/cholesterol/faq-20058468
Hope that helps. I love eggs too and my numbers have been great since i watch the salt and fats. I usually eat eggs maybe every other to a couple of times a week so i can have 2-3 at one time like in an omelet has 3 eggs usually.
Have a Great and Blessed day

I took an MRI and was told I had a NC/C ratio of 2.1and that I was borderline non compacted myocardiopathy. My question is that all the research I found said that >2.3 ratio was the baseline for diagnosis. What does the Mayo Clinic use and would/could my ratio increase over time? The MRI also showed every other function to be perfectly normal