AFibbers Database: Lee Joslin

Name	Lee Joslin
Location	NJ
Age	64
Diagnosed condition	Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Years with condition	13+
Frequency of episodes	once or twice a week
Duration of episodes	from 30 to 60 hours
Event preceding first AF	N/A
General health	excellent general health; mild hypertension controlled by atenolol; daily moderate exerciser
Current state	I have adapted to being in and out of AF and lead a full life.
Triggers	Initial triggers: large meals; alcohol (two or more drinks often triggered an immediate AF episode. When I cut down to one drink only it rarely triggered an immediate episode; however, my AF incident records showed that even one drink increased the overall frequency of AF); caffeine (chocolate was the hardest to give up, but I had similar experiences with chocolate to those with alcohol); coming down from emotionally and physically stressful days at work (I am a psychotherapist and worked in a psychiatric emergency service at a University until 3 years ago); occasionally, highly anxiety-producing events (eg, buying a car, taking an exam). These triggers lead me to believe that my AF is both adrenergic and vagal. For the first time in many years I recently forgot to take my atenolol in the morning and by noon was experiencing a rare early onset of AF. Current triggers: Rest; Sleep; I no longer drink alcohol or use caffeine, and I eat smaller meals. I am mostly retired (self-employed and seeing patients one day per week), but AF episodes have continued to increase even as my life has quieted down. This leads me to believe that my current triggers are primarily vagal, probably because atenolol calms my adrenergic tendencies.
Preventions	No known preventions (despite years of carefully kept records of all episodes). Postponers (sometimes): "bearing down"; going up and down stairs a few times Terminators: moderate walking; moderate biking; yoga/calisthenics At this point, these terminators only work on the second (and sometimes third) morning after AF starts.
Current medications/side effects	Atenolol 100mg qd am; Digoxin 0.125mg qd am; Coumadin 2.5mg 5 days per week, 5mg 2 days per week qd pm. Nexium, 20 mg qd am. This medication is usually prescribed for GERD/reflux, for which I have no symptome. It helps me with a mild swallowing problem. Lipitor 10 mg qd pm No side effects from any of these meds. Supplements: Multivitamin (Twinlab daily onecap wo. iron); E 800; Garlic 600mg bid; C 500; Cosamin DS qd.
Past medications/side effects	Quinidine, debilitating diarrhea, did not prevent or stop AF; Flecainide, constipation, urinary retention, did not prevent or stop AF; Propafenone, dizziness, unusual taste, constipation, did not prevent or stop AF; Sotolol, acute depressive reaction, did not prevent or stop AF; Amiodarone, brief trial that did not stop or prevent AF. Supplements: Co Q10, L-Carnitine, Magnesium, Calcium and some others were pro-arrhythmic for me.
History of surgery	None
Future plans	I do not plan to try new major anti-arrhythymic drugs, given my past experience of no benefit and plenty of side effects from them. I keep the maze in mind, but I am not eager to have major heart surgery now that my heartrate while in AF is under 100, and I have learned to live with it. (Living with AF for me means that, although I always know when I am in it and feel uncomfortable and fatigued; I also do all my usual activities when in AF, and it no longer upsets me emotionally.) Ablations are not yet sufficiently consistent as a cure for AF to cause me to consider one. I am hopeful about new treatments that may come along, and appreciate being able to hear what they are really like from other Afibbers who are utilizing them, not just from physicians and articles. Mostly, I try new non-traditional treatments from time to time. They don't cure the AF, but they do support general health.
Personal comments	Being able to communicate with other Afibbers has been a major factor in my adaptation to AF. Thanks to all.
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

Statistics for the first 161 entries.

Please contact the site editor at james@dialsolutions.com
to comment or to suggest amendments or corrections.

First Form™ software © Dial Solutions Ltd 1999