Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

Hi David, I'm Nancy (shortshot80) I did not know I was out of rhythm, nor I did not know I ever had AFIB as I have a pacemaker and have had for over 10 years, I'm on my 2nd pacemaker and have had it for over l year. I also have two kinds of lung cancer. I have mesothelioma on my left side and plain small cell cancer on my right side. I have had chemo, immune therapy, and finally radieation on my right side. Nothing can be done on the Meso side, (so far I don't have any pain) Radiation twce on my right side and that is because I was coughing up blood. That is all I can have. I found out that I had this in 2016. I had surgery and the doc put a 4 foot plastic tube in my lung and let it drain for for days, then told me I had "meso" . Nothing can be done for this. Next month I will be 87 years old. Yea!

Hi there, new member here and wondering if there is a way to search the discussions for a particular topic/condition?

Hi, I’m David. I have 2 stents already and one day started having AFib when I walked. I was given pills and bought a monitor, checking 5 times per day. Apart from an episode a few weeks later, I have no signs of AFib showing up on my monitor. I do note that I get chest pain when my heart rate is up from walking up hills. However once I rest and then go in, it’s fine until another hill. I wonder if this is AFib or a small blockage.

Three quick points about training my brain to knock off its pressure to have me urinate. First, my problem may be different from yours. For example, I have an inherited kidney defect that causes me to rely on Amiloride, a specialized diuretic designed to preserve/reclaim potassium. The diuretic speeds removal of water (and wastes) from my body. As a result, my brain has been trained to respond earlier and more often to stimuli that suggest my bladder needs relief. Second, perhaps I made a mistake in using the word "exercising," suggesting a regimen that we haven't yet developed fully. Third, I was a victim of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) that stole a lot of the space in my bladder and encouraged my brain to take that into account; a golf-ball sized hunk of prostate flesh was removed by a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) several years ago. That said, here's the other advice from my nephrologist.

First and foremost, I am much more conscious about hydrating my system regularly and more often than in recent years. By over-consuming water somewhat, my brain is expected to learn that I need more water in my organs and that my bladder should tolerate more pressure than my urine has been developing there. This helped us understand why rolling over in bed at night -- in effect, simply irrigating bladder lining on one side that has been "drying out" from lying horizontal for a couple of hours -- wakes me up and sends me to the bathroom. The challenge here is to find a position in bed that I can maintain for longer periods.

I should try to drink each day at least 8 cups of water between arising in the morning and 3-4pm (we have dinner about 6pm and retire about 11pm). Routinizing the schedule here might train my brain to expect hydration at fixed times, so changing the schedule every day is being tested for effects. We're looking for a way to slowly increase water consumption over a couple of months in order to increase my capacity for maintaining better hydration without resorting to urination.

I also should try to consciously reject bladder signals to urinate when they are triggered by an environmental experience. So far that has meant "holding" my urine when thoughts of drinking water, washing hands, taking a shower, doing the dishes, or getting my feet wet triggered an impulse to urinate. It remains to be seen whether routinizing my daily exercise, conducting it longer, changing motions, and changing start times and duration might have an effect. Martin

Hi, I’m David. I have 2 stents already and one day started having AFib when I walked. I was given pills and bought a monitor, checking 5 times per day. Apart from an episode a few weeks later, I have no signs of AFib showing up on my monitor. I do note that I get chest pain when my heart rate is up from walking up hills. However once I rest and then go in, it’s fine until another hill. I wonder if this is AFib or a small blockage.

Since you already have two stents you know you have CAD, Coronary Artery Disease, which means maybe there is another small blockage slowly building up somewhere in your coronary artery system. Only way to know is to go to your Cardiologist and get tested to determine if the extra exercise on your heart is having the pain caused by another small blockage.