| Name | Annie |
|---|
| Location | New Hampshire |
|---|
| Age | 53 |
|---|
| Diagnosed condition | A Fib / AFlutter |
|---|
| Years with condition | 5 |
|---|
| Frequency of episodes | started out one every few months, progressed to several per day |
|---|
| Duration of episodes | most under 30 minutes, had one last 24 hrs. |
|---|
| Event preceding first AF | possibly a 3 month stint on diet pills - but I had taken them in the past |
|---|
| General health | overweight, heavy drinker in past, nonsmoker, high bp |
|---|
| Current state | much better on flecainide (3 weeks) - no full-blown episodes |
|---|
| Triggers | caffeine, alcohol, lying down, chocolate, excessive sugar, moderate to strenuous exercise (after), stressful situations (after), my ex-boss, lack of sleep |
|---|
| Preventions | no caffeine and more sleep seem to help; less alcohol decreases severity and duration but no alcohol doesn't stop them completely, changing jobs has helped so far (but that coincided with starting on flecainide). Nothing really helped much until the flecainide. |
|---|
| Current medications/side effects | flecainide - 50mg/twice per day
metoprolol - 100mg/twice per day
aspirin - 325mg/first thing in the morning
Started out on 100mg of flecainide and felt like I was taking poison - Extreme stomache pain, blurred vision, dizziness. I was afraid to sleep because I would stop breathing and wake up gasping. I stopped taking it for a week but then decided to try taking half as much because it did seem to work on the Afib. At 50mg it's working great and no side effects!
Metoprolol made me dizzy in the beginning but that went away. It does make me more sensitive to cold. |
|---|
| Past medications/side effects | Lipitor - made me extremely unwell. I stopped taking it about a year ago. My doctor's not very happy with me. |
|---|
| History of surgery | none |
|---|
| Future plans | I plan to exercise more and lose weight while I still feel well enough to. Am trying to give up alcohol completely but it's proving more difficult than I would've thought. Will probably try some of the vitamin therapies. Hopefully they'll come up with a reliable permanent solution in the next few years. I have my doubts about this - except for the stroke risk they don't seem to take it that seriously. |
|---|
| Personal comments | I still can't believe how much this condition has affected my life. I barely left my house at all for two years. I was exhausted and out of breath and had this horrible feeling of dread all the time. I lost my job because I couldn't cope with things that I had done very well for over 10 years. Only someone else with the condition could begin to understand. Your friends, family and coworkers think you're crazy. There would be months between doctor's appointments and in the meantime you're having to decide on a daily basis whether to take yourself into the emergency room or not. Thank you so much for this website. It's helped me more than anything else. |
|---|
| Check list |  acebutolol | amiodarone (cordarone,pacerone) | anisindione (miradon) | | atenolol (tenormin) |  aspirin | azimilide | | bepridil | betaxolol | bisoprolol (monocor,emconcor) | | bretylium | bucindolol | carvedilol | | cibenzoline | dicumarol | digitoxin | | digoxin (lanoxin) | diltiazem (cardizem) | diphenylhydantoin | | disopyramide (norpace) | dofetilide (tikosyn) | dronedarone | | encainide | esmolol (brevibloc) | ersentilide | | flecainide (tambocor) | gallopamil | ibutilide (corvert) | | lidocaine | mibefradil | metoprolol (lopressor,toprol xl) | | mexiletine | moricizine | nadolol | | phenytoin | procainamide | propafanone (rythmol) | | propranolol (inderal) | quinapril (accupril) | quinidine (quinaglute) | | sotalol (betapace) | tedisamil | timolol | | tocainide | trandolapril (mavik) | valsartan (diovan) | | verapamil (calan,isoptin) | warfarin (coumadin) | asthma | | diabetes | GERD/acid reflux | hypertension | | hypotension | hyperthyroidism | hypothyroidism | | adrenergic | vagal | familial | | idiopathic/lone | paroxysmal | permanent/chronic | | atrial flutter | cardiomyopathy | CHF | | PAC | PVC | SVT | | syncope | bradycardia | tachycardia | | heart block | myocardial infarction | rheumatic heart diease | | sick sinus syndrome | stroke | WPW | | electrical cardioversion | defibrillator | pacemaker | | ablation | bypass | maze | | Male | Female | |
|
|---|
