Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

I am a 70 year old female with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation/flutter.I do not have any significant coronary artery disease (I was told by one cardiologist that the echo showed my arteries were "squeaky clean" 🙂 ) I am in regular sinus rhythm most of the time but have episodes of arrhythmia. I may go days, weeks or months without an episode, but when I do have an episode I am very symptomatic with severe chest pain, some shortness of breath, and a very irregular heartrate. I have been told that I have a rapid ventricular response with the episodes, meaning the ventricles also beat rapidly. My understanding is that as a result the ventricles don't have time to fill completely between beats and that can lead to sudden heart failure. I have had two cardiac ablations. The first ablation was unsuccessful. I did well after the second ablation for about 5 years, but the episodes have reappeared and I was recently told by my electrophysiologist that I need to have a third ablation. My arrhythmia has never responded well to medications i.e. none of the antiarrhythmics have really prevented the episodes. With the episodes the chest pain becomes so severe I have to go to the emergency room. Usually I am given a bolus dose of diltiazem followed by a diltiazem drip and that necessitates a 1-2 day hospital stay. I know there are many people who have a-fib and aren't even aware they have it because they have no symptoms or they only have occasional palpitations. My a-fib seems to be a "horse of a different color," and the experience has been very frustrating and disheartening. But at 70, I am grateful for the care I have received that has helped me cope with my condition. (I understand there is a genetic component to a-fib. I am pretty sure my father had it; I know he had episodes of chest pain and a rapid heart rate. He died at age 61, and I often wonder how much longer he might have had if he had the care I have received.) At any rate, I was just curious if there are others on the site that have symptomatic a-fib/flutter and what their experience has been. (Haven't read all the posts, so maybe I will find others who have had similar "journeys.")

A quick medical profile:
I'm a 64 year old male
6'1" 210 lbs
Walk 4-7 miles a day
I take magnesium supplements
I drink 1 cup of coffee per day
I avoid sugar
I eat no red meat
Yet, I've had 2 heart attacks and have had 3 stents placed
Test data says the plumbing in my heart is great, but…

I experience as many as 34,000 pvc waves per day, 72% are classified as bigeminy, some trigeminy.
– To date they're benign; not increasing with exertion
– Symptomatically, I can become light headed, dizzy and sometimes short of breath
– I can be out of breath after feeding the dog, but be fine 20 minutes later doing a 3 mile walk.
– I had an attempted ablation, but the origin of the PVCs was not accessible.

I've subsequently been diagnosed with severe central sleep apnea… my breathing stops on average of once every 60 seconds (severe apnea is considered more that 20 times a hour.)

Additionally, my brain has become desensitized to the constant stopping of breaths and surges of adrenaline resulting in Cheyne-Stokes breathing.

Both of these are likely drivers of my PVC's.

I'm now on a type of CPAP; an Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV) sleep machine that has eliminated the occurrence of apnea events and seemingly reduced the PVC load. By how much is hard to say until I wear a monitor again, but interruptive symptoms are down to about one hour a day.

I'm here because I want to make sure I'm not missing anything in my control that I can do to avoid a lifetime of medication without compromising my health.
Are you aware of any holistic approaches to mitigate or eliminate pvc waves or interventions not requiring meds?

Thank You!

A quick medical profile:
I'm a 64 year old male
6'1" 210 lbs
Walk 4-7 miles a day
I take magnesium supplements
I drink 1 cup of coffee per day
I avoid sugar
I eat no red meat
Yet, I've had 2 heart attacks and have had 3 stents placed
Test data says the plumbing in my heart is great, but…

I experience as many as 34,000 pvc waves per day, 72% are classified as bigeminy, some trigeminy.
– To date they're benign; not increasing with exertion
– Symptomatically, I can become light headed, dizzy and sometimes short of breath
– I can be out of breath after feeding the dog, but be fine 20 minutes later doing a 3 mile walk.
– I had an attempted ablation, but the origin of the PVCs was not accessible.

I've subsequently been diagnosed with severe central sleep apnea… my breathing stops on average of once every 60 seconds (severe apnea is considered more that 20 times a hour.)

Additionally, my brain has become desensitized to the constant stopping of breaths and surges of adrenaline resulting in Cheyne-Stokes breathing.

Both of these are likely drivers of my PVC's.

I'm now on a type of CPAP; an Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV) sleep machine that has eliminated the occurrence of apnea events and seemingly reduced the PVC load. By how much is hard to say until I wear a monitor again, but interruptive symptoms are down to about one hour a day.

I'm here because I want to make sure I'm not missing anything in my control that I can do to avoid a lifetime of medication without compromising my health.
Are you aware of any holistic approaches to mitigate or eliminate pvc waves or interventions not requiring meds?

Thank You!

A quick medical profile:
I'm a 64 year old male
6'1" 210 lbs
Walk 4-7 miles a day
I take magnesium supplements
I drink 1 cup of coffee per day
I avoid sugar
I eat no red meat
Yet, I've had 2 heart attacks and have had 3 stents placed
Test data says the plumbing in my heart is great, but…

I experience as many as 34,000 pvc waves per day, 72% are classified as bigeminy, some trigeminy.
– To date they're benign; not increasing with exertion
– Symptomatically, I can become light headed, dizzy and sometimes short of breath
– I can be out of breath after feeding the dog, but be fine 20 minutes later doing a 3 mile walk.
– I had an attempted ablation, but the origin of the PVCs was not accessible.

I've subsequently been diagnosed with severe central sleep apnea… my breathing stops on average of once every 60 seconds (severe apnea is considered more that 20 times a hour.)

Additionally, my brain has become desensitized to the constant stopping of breaths and surges of adrenaline resulting in Cheyne-Stokes breathing.

Both of these are likely drivers of my PVC's.

I'm now on a type of CPAP; an Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV) sleep machine that has eliminated the occurrence of apnea events and seemingly reduced the PVC load. By how much is hard to say until I wear a monitor again, but interruptive symptoms are down to about one hour a day.

I'm here because I want to make sure I'm not missing anything in my control that I can do to avoid a lifetime of medication without compromising my health.
Are you aware of any holistic approaches to mitigate or eliminate pvc waves or interventions not requiring meds?

Thank You!

My daughter who is 11 has been having fast heart rates for over 2 yrs now. They pound so hard you could see it. The first and only time a doctor saw it was a field day and it was going so fast she couldn’t get it. She sent us to get an ekg and a referred us to a ped cardiologist. The ekg said Long qt. The cardiologist said just a glitch no way she had that. Now over 2 years later 3 different cardiologist, multiple heart monitors which showed beats over 200, tachycardia, sinus rhythm, and on a beta blocker for over a year we still have NO diagnosis. She repeated a stress test Good Friday in which the doctor said SVT. But all 3 cardiologists all say no. She even had one of those doctors tell us it was normal to have fast heart rates and nothing was wrong with her. Really? Never heard of that being normal. She was tested for Lyme 2 years ago after having a tick on her stomach after visiting an animal shelter. She’s been misdiagnosed with pheochomocytoma and a benign tumor on her brain. Why is it 3 doctors in 2 different states can’t figure this out. She has no energy but wants to play sports. She’s also afraid her heart will start pounding again and will have to quit. Somebody please help us figure this out. Getting her retested for Lyme this week. Any and all suggestions are welcomed.