Atrial Fibrillation (AFib): How can I manage it?

@carnes, I'll let @knowing respond to your concern about your tachycardia and the vagus nerve, because my A-fib is nearly without symptoms.

I am interested in your medication because it's much like mine: Coumadin instead of Eliquis as an anticoagulant; Amiloride (diuretic)instead of Amlodipine (blood vessel relaxant) to reduce blood pressure ; Atorvastatin instead of Pravastatin (anticholesterol); and like you, Carvedilol. In my mind, strong medications can be minimized by reduced dosages (although 40mg statin is "strong" for sure), but my dosages are "strong." Norvasc can have a double purpose -- slowing the heart beats and reducing blood pressure. Same with Carvedilol -- a double-purpose medication.

My medication brought my BP under control -- always below 140/90 (not bad for someone 82 years old) -- but when I get up in the morning, it reads a little above that until my morning meds take effect. We have started to scale back the BP meds, thanks to careful nutrition adjustments, loss of weight, and life style changes, including special exercises designed to repair nerves and muscles impaired by my "small stroke." When I doubted my meds a year ago, I tracked down a couple of doctors and got second and third opinions on what to do. Maybe you would benefit from the same strategy. Martin

love these posts...helpful

Had cardioversion 6 months ago. Lasted one month. Now on. Metropolol And cardiazam was on eliqui s but after intestinal and brain bleed. Had to get off blood thinner. Had the watchman put in yesterday and now have to be back on eliquis for six weeks . Hopefully eventually off blood thinners. Next is ablation and pacemaker.

Hello 1943,

I had the Watchman implanted a year ago and have been doing just fine since. I was on Eliquis for 6 months following the implant and have been on a low dose aspirin after I stopped the Eliquis. All went well with my implantation and I have had no problems. I pray that your results are as successful. Do you have other heart problem? I'm just curious as to the ablation and pacemaker.

Mary

Oh, @rubywitch67, I can understand your anxiety. Rapid heartbeats of any type or description are very intimidating and scary. If you are prone to anxiety and panic, it makes it that much worse.

My mother, age 92, has been taking Xarelto, for several years now with no ill effects. It has prevented strokes and that is the goal of that med.

You said your last episode started at 11:30 and lasted until 3 a.m. does sound quite long, however, while I have heart rate problems, Afib is not one that has been diagnosed. Even though your appointment for the cardiogram isn't until next week, you might consider calling your doctor and letting him know about the length of the episode. Perhaps he will see you sooner. I am going to tag another Member of Connect, Martin, @predictable. He has had many different heart problems and he will be glad to support you as well.

Sorry that happened, @rubywitch67. I'll be here when you can revive the discussion.

Hello @rubywitch67. I'm glad to join your conversation with Teresa @hopeful33250. She is one of the most thoughtful and caring people you will ever encounter. I have four immediate comments: First, call your doctor and explain as accurately as you can what you experienced last night and ask for a special prescription at your local drug store. Second, if the doctor's not available to consult AND the A-fib heart beats are really disturbing, consider going to the emergency room. Third, don't be afraid of Xarelto (spelling!). It's an anticoagulant that prevents formation of blood clots in your atrium which rarely form in the upper chamber of your heart, but when they do can cause a stroke. Fourth, be sure you know the symptoms of stroke, and if you have any of them, call 911 for swift medical help in getting to the emergency room.

Here's some information on my experience; it might be helpful to you. My A-fib was diagnosed four years ago. I have been on an anticoagulant medication (Coumadin) since then. It involves regular blood tests to inhibit coagulation, and for me, that provides assurance that I'm on top of things. But I got careless a couple of months ago and didn't take care of my coagulation level, and after about three days, I had a stroke -- a "small stroke," the radiologist said, when she read results of my MRI. It made me a little shaky in the legs, but after a session with a neurologist and six sessions of a physical therapist, I'm almost back to normal. As proof, my bowling league resumed after the summer off, and I rolled a 237 game and a 565 series yesterday!

I hope my experience will help alleviate your stress over your diagnosis. Can you readily connect with your doctor when you feel you need to? Would you feel better if you had confirmation of A-fib rather than PVC in your recent events? Is emergency medical help available by calling 911 in the rare case that you need it?

Hello Martin, thank you for such a quick reply. You and Teresa are really kind and caring people. It is too late today to contact my cardiologist. I'm sure if I called his office, there would be somebody on call, but I have no doubt they would just tell me to go to the ER. So far today, I have only had a few very short PVC's, or what I USE to call PVC's. I no longer know WHAT to call them. But they haven't been "bothersome" nor have they freaked me out. They feel just like what I've been living with the past 8 years. These recent weird runs have only happened in the evening AFTER I've eaten a fairly large meal and then just sprawl on the couch watching TV or reading. I think if you've read my posts, you know I have panic disorder and the more I think about it, the more I realize that when these episodes begin, SO DOES MY PANIC. Because I haven't met with my cardio yet and talked about this in depth, I am really just out here dealing with a whole lot of "unknown stuff" and "unknown stuff" scares me really bad and makes the panic come. When I first began having PVC's, I would have terrible panic attacks and I could feel the PVC's getting stronger and lasting longer. Once I started to get use to them and accept what my cardiologist said about them......that they were benign and because my heart was structurally sound, I should just learn to ignore them. Which I did. (More or less) One I reached that point, the panic attacks stopped, at least as far as the PVC's were concerned. I think I was going to make a point here, but I've gotten myself lost, again! I think I was going to say something about how I think this new diagnosis has scared me so badly, my panic attacks are really strong and that is why these episodes are lasting as long as they are. Last night, I did some of my relaxation breathing and my heartrate went way down, but then I began to OVERTHINK AND STRESS and it started back up again. I had stopped reading and turned the light out, so I was just laying there in the dark with my mind going a million miles an hour. I finally turned the light back on and started reading again. Very soon after that, my HR returned to normal, I read for a little while longer, turned the light out and went to sleep almost immediately. I slept for almost 10 hours as I think I was emotionally exhausted. And now, here I am today, 8 hours later and have had only a few mild PVC's. But I can feel my anxiety building as I think about "what's going to happen tonight?" But that's how my panic disorder rules me...…….it just picks away at me and the first odd physical sensation I have, it's game over. I am on an anti-anxiety medication but normally only take it in the morning. Tonight I think I will take some in the evening and eat a much smaller dinner and not lay down on the couch.
If I WERE to go to the ER, what would they do? I know they'd do an EKG and if I was in AFIB, what would they do? See, it's that damn "unknown" that scares me so badly.
May I ask why you are on Coumadin and not one of the newer meds for AFIB? Having to have your blood checked every month, isn't that more of a hassle than taking a pill? But the pills and their side effects scare me, and I wonder if going the coumadin route wouldn't be better for me with my panic issues? I am SO confused right now. And bye the way, I am so happy that your stroke was "mild" and that with some PT you are back bowling a near perfect game.
I don't know if I'll feel better with a diagnosis of AFIB over PVC's. My cardio, who knows I'm anxious, always made a point of reassuring me that my PVC's were benign and that definitely helped. Now I don't have a clue where I am. Right now I feel like a blimp that has come untethered and is out of control.
During the week I feel like I can readily connect with my doctor, but the week-ends are a dead end. At least, I THINK they are. I've never tried to contact him after hours or on the week-end, so I don't know. Guess I just figured it was Urgent Care or the ER. And while I live in a rural area, we are only about 1/2 mile from the fire station which is very up to date and has two EMT units. The station is now also manned 24/7, so yes, there is help very close by.
I have seen my cardio every 6 months for the past 8 years since the stents were placed. I've done 2 stress/echo's, I've worn a Holter twice which showed nothing...…….how did I suddenly develop AFIB? Or was I misdiagnosed and it has just now gotten worse?
I am sorry this post has probably rambled and I have so many questions. Thank you for caring. Linda

I've just been diagnosed with AFIB and I'm terrified. I joined the Connect group but when I finally find my way to the AFIB discussion group, there doesn't seem to be a place for me to post. I REALLY NEED SOME SUPPORT. Thank you

Hi (again) Martin......I was wondering if my post that "disappeared" was simply too long? Or perhaps accessing this site from my email page messed it up, but that's how I've contacted both you and Teresa each time I've written. Well, we'll see what happens with this one. I'm going to keep it very short and just ask a few questions. I would really like to know what AFIB feels like for most people, and how long their "episodes" last. To me, it feels very, very similar to my PVC's, but I get a lot more. It seems to happen on and off all day and well into the night. Most times it seems to settle down by the time I'm ready to turn out the light or it is very faint and I'm able to fall asleep. (As long as I can keep my anxiety under control) My PVC's use to happen a few times a day, and then it might be several days, if I was lucky, before I had more. Now, as I said, it's every day. Is this a really BAD thing? Could the fact that this diagnosis is less than a week old and has me so scared, caused my panic disorder to trigger it? I received the Xeralto from the cardio and was terrified of taking it because of side effects. I took it and have had absolutely no side effects. I honestly think I was mistakenly looking at side effects for anti-arrhythmic drugs, which DO seem to have an abundance of side effects....I think I was scaring myself for nothing. Martin, I'm going to close this now in case I lose this one, too. When I went to the Mayo Clinic Connect site directly, I couldn't see where to log in and I could find our discussion. I need some help with navigation as well. I hope you get this......I'm working myself into a panic again. Thanks so much Linda/RubyWitch