Heart Rhythm Episodes - AFib; Tachycardia, High Blood Pressure

Hi, Did you have nausea after your surgery? Or check to see if you were given IV Zofran before you woke up from Surgery. I never had AFIB before surgery. A side effect of Zofran is AFIB. I have found most doctor's are unaware of this side effect. I found out when they gave me a script and read the side effects. I can still feel it occasionally. I have Metoprolol for it. Doctor's wrote the script for 200mg 3 times a day and the pharmacy filled it. It was supposed to be for 25mg. Let me know if you were given Zofran and if they gave it to you when you woke up. Hope you are doing better.

I am also in persistent AFIB and I am on Xarelto. The greatest risk with AFIB is having a stroke so I’m not sure why ER Dr said no meds.

ER Dr said it was "mild" afib
Same rhythm just not normal?
Cardio did put me on low dose of Eliquis..
Thanks for your reply...

How can you have "mild" afib? I am truly curious. I mean either it is arrhythmic or not, I would think. Maybe the ER doc was referring to your CHADS2VASC2 score-?

That’s what my cardiologist told me also. There isn’t any degree to having AFIB. You either have it or you don’t . However the frequency of how often you experience episodes can vary. Glad the cardiologist did subscribe a blood thinner. Especially being in persistent AFIB.

If it is persistent then how can it be mild, based on frequency?

I have afib once a year or less. One doc still wanted me on a blood thinner and I declined, and the doc later agreed with me.

But if it were "persistent" I would have agreed and glad you did too!

I have "mild" A-fib. Translation, while my arrhythmia always shows up on an EKG, I have no conscious symptoms other than relatively light heart beats that I usually see on my blood pressure meter interspersed between regular (for me) heart beats. Even so, one day six years ago (almost to the day) I developed a small blood clot that invaded my brain and caused a "small stroke." That happened although I was taking an anticoagulant (Warfarin) to prevent it. For some reason the drug had an excessive effect (probably the result of a surprise dose of Vitamin K in a meal) and, working with my medical team, I skipped two daily doses of Warfarin, bringing my INR back down where it belonged. Unfortunately, the clot formed and struck me during a long walk. An MRI a short time later confirmed a small clot in a capillary deep in my brain. The stroke effects have not been disabling, just a little inconveniencing in taste, smell, and hearing. I continued bowling the last six years, averaging about 170 per game as usual for the last 60 years.

A high INR will cause bleeding, not a clot. I am confused! Skipping warfarin brings the INR down as does Vitamin K.

If the drug had an excessive effect, that would cause high INR and bleeding and Vitamin K would be helpful, not harmful.

Sorry about your small stroke but sounds fortuitous in some ways because it gave you warning without serious harm, at least that is how it sounds.

Sorry for the confusion I caused with a mistaken assumption that a surprise dose of Vitamin K might have slowed my coagulation, prompting a two-day avoidance of Warfarin to bring my INR back down. That phrase about Vitamin K should be ignored as erroneous, and I'm glad you brought that to our attention. During the two days without Warfarin in an effort to restore coagulation, we overdid it and the clot formed. Frankly, we don't know what caused the severe delay in coagulation and the related rise in my INR. We only know that it is extremely important that daily doses of anticoagulants be exactly as prescribed every day -- regardless of which anticoagulant is being relied upon.

Sort of confused about disputing a "mild Afib" dx.
If it's persistent/constant then yes, it seems it's a matter of either/or.

However, paroxysmal Afib can have quite a range of frequency, how long episodes last, how symptomatic (subjective) and how extreme the tachycardia and/or bradycardia can be.

My Afib occurs at least several times a week, and (unfortunately) it's lasting increasingly long. Besides that, I'm having it more and more tachycardic.

As for the actual dx of persistent vs paroxysmal, I've heard (from cardiologists) it's switched to a persistent dx if it lasts either a week or two weeks. Well, WHICh is it?

Thinking I need to see a new cardiologist. For me this is somehow nerve-wracking , since there aren't many to choose from locally and I don't want to alienate a long-standing doctor. Also, there are rules about whether and when one is allowed to change to different cardios within a given practice (generally, only if one hasn't seen a particular one for two or three years).

Besides that, I'm not entirely clear which kind of cardios I should see - EP, general cardio, or a still different type.

I just spent hours scanning all the cardios in the Hershey PA medical school - the nearest large medical center to my home, (driving distance is an important factor). It looks like some are listed as specializing in EP AND arrhythmia, and heart failure. Also lipid disorders.)

Not counting surgeons who specialize in transplantation or other surgical procedures. So many combinations.

The only ones I can for sure eliminate for a switch are pediatric and newborns!