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Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group
Welcome to the Heart Rhythm Conditions group on Mayo Clinic Connect.
Did you know that the average heart beats 100,000 times a day? Millions of people live with heart rhythm problems (heart arrhythmias) which occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate heartbeats don't work properly. Let's connect with each other; we can share stories and learn about coping with the challenges, and living well with abnormal heart rhythms. I invite you to follow the group. Simply click the +FOLLOW icon on the group landing page.
I'm Kanaaz (@kanaazpereira), and I'm the moderator of this group. When you post to this group, chances are you'll also be greeted by volunteer patient Mentors and fellow members. Learn more about Moderators and Mentors on Connect.
Let's chat. Why not start by introducing yourself?
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Hi my name is Richard and I have A F
This has been so for a couple of years
I had two surgical procedures 2022 and all was fine know I have this irregular heart beat, is there any connection to covid / vaccinations?
Cheers Richard
@faithb I am also new to this. Everyone is different. I am in an evaluation for autonomic disorders. There seems to be a link between my events and stress. The stress I feel and my reaction to it isn’t really me and seems more physical than emotional. But it seems very important to keep the stress in check to prevent a snowball effect. More sleep helps and so do simple things like getting in the shower or tub or being in nature. These things get me out of my head and into a better state. Hope you feel better soon.
@rjeggo Unfortunately, yes. It can be part of 'post-COVID' or part of the wide spectrum of 'long-COVID', but the vaccines have also come under increasing scrutiny and it's not looking great.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11886-023-01921-7
A study that counters the foregoing somewhat:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article
Yet another study indicating there seems to be a strong post-vaccine association:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1762082/abstract
Hi I am what they call a lively 78 year old. I have read many of your posts and find them very positive and helpful. I hope someone in the group is a bit similar to me. I have afib which started 3.5 years ago after a strenuous hike with friends. Everyone had left the remote parking lot and I realized I was probably having an MI. I was a nurse; it was the famous LAD. I was 'fine", but aflutter, then afib showed up over the next 6 mos. I was 24% afib when I was rxed in 10/23. EF 72%,etc. Cardiologists kept saying do you have symptoms? I was puzzled. I did not have palpitations, pain, tiredness, sob. ALL the cardiologists said "well, do what you do; exercise is good; you seem to feel well." Since I was a lifetime athlete, I knew how to be careful not to overexert now that I had a "condition". I listened to my HR, I slowed down....did many of the same things slower. I even climbed a tall peak last year on my first trip outa the country in years. Then BOOM, in Feb, I had chest complete fullness, left side jabby pain, palpitations for about 3 days. I then began to realize none of the cardiologists had mentioned my enlarged left atrium... 51ml in 10/23. 60 ml now. I began to research. I went to CClinic. I was thinking Convergent. Wadsni said no ablation. Soltesz said COX 4 surgery is the only real treatment that will allow enough visualization to lay down good bilateral lesion sets and actually get at an enlarged left atrium to clamp off the appendage.
I have put a lot of "research time" into WHERE the dysfunctional cells are that cause the arrhythmias...and therefore, why some procedures may work for one person, but not for another. That, combined with each individual's total heart function. At present I have gone from 72% ef to 60% ef in 4 mos, often feel 8 month's pregnant. I walk an hour a day on flat ground.
In my case, it is both the afib and the Left Atrium size that create a reduced timeframe of good function. My great LV squeeze can't keep up with the bucket of workload in the LA forever.
Anyone else here had a standalone Cox 4? Barnes Jewish actually has a vast data set and the greatest number of these procedures done in the USA. Their 'success" rates are fairly good: 80%ish.
I will say...I have had to face 3 cardiologists here in too ruralworld who wanted to do a cardioversion 5 mins after meeting me AFTER the LA was 60ml. That is 0 successful.
Another kept me on med rate control when - at 24% afib and 50mlLA - I MIGHT have had a successful ablation or cardioversion.
And another said he disagreed with a COx4 b/c he believed in "doing no harm". ????
He had no suggestions of how I SHOULD proceed and did not seem to be aware of the harm being caused by not addressing the LA.
My hope for everyone with a cardiac arrhymia is that you CONSIDER a couple of ideas from different practioners and educate yourself in how to read an ECHO, maybe do at least a 3 day holter...and basically try to understand what all those numbers mean yourself.
Thanks for reading this long winded piece. Any other enlarged left atriums out there?