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Premature atrial contractions: Anyone have any helpful info on this?
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Jan 26, 2023 | Replies (208)Comment receiving replies
There are different expressions of A-fib. I wasn't in A-fib all the time, but would quite often, in spite of being on a beta blocker, go into deep episodes of 15-20 hours where my heart rate would spike to 180, but my blood pressure would drop very low, to the point that I couldn't function or even stand. Of course, I didn't want to be out on a hiking trail or driving by myself when that happened. Usually a few hours into an episode I would check myself into the hospital if it didn't subside. They didn't like to continually cardiovert frequent fliers with the paddles because of its hit to one's system all the time so I would usually spend the night inthe ER just riding it out on a heart monitor. So no, your heart specialist isn't likely wrong in your case. As I said, it was very debilitating in my specific case, and it felt like my life was over at 50 years of age
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jddart, thank you for the clarification!
Maybeit's time for some reflection, maybe poetry, gardening, planting some trees. Something that connects you to life force.
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Hi, @jddart. Thanks for making the point that there are different expressions of A-fib, ranging widely from those – like mine – that are not consciously troubling (although always apparent on an EKG) all the way up to painful, debilitating pulsations that worry and frighten others and might indicate that ablation would be appropriate. My medical team and I have agreed not to consider ablation under current conditions. However, I have two friends who had much more inconvenient pulsations and other symptoms, and they went ahead with ablations that have worked out for them. Another friend has symptoms similar to mine, and like me he is on Coumadin (without adverse consequence so far). I on the other hand had a “small stroke” last year, apparently an ischemic stroke from a small clot formed in my atrium; it has caused minor problems, but nothing that indicates surgery or medication beyond a beta blocker to regulate my pulse and Coumadin to discourage (I no longer say “prevent”) a stroke. I have the good fortune to have a medical team that considers me a member rather than just a subject for them, and we work well together. Martin