| Name | W Mather |
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| Location | South East UK |
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| Age | 37 |
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| Diagnosed condition | Atrial Fibrillation |
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| Years with condition | 7 |
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| Frequency of episodes | paroxysmal prev. and more recently- intermittant |
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| Duration of episodes | All the time or until cardioversion |
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| Event preceding first AF | Over then underactive thyroid gland |
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| General health | Ex smoker/low alcohol intake poor but improving diet |
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| Current state | Post 2nd ablation |
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| Triggers | No known triggers as such.
1st time I was diagnosed with AF was in May 2001. I was given Warfarin and Bisoprolol to keep me in check. My rate remained irregular and fast until cardioversion in Feb 02.
In April 05 it returned again...after a couple more cardioversions I was put forward for catheter ablation. This took place in April 07...It was successful and only one blip in June 07 which required a further cardioversion.(this is an expected occurance after ablation)
After a fairly stressful year 07-08 the AF returned in May 08 which I was given intravenous Digoxin to releive in A+E. The rate slowed and returned to sinus rythmn 3 days later.(East Surrey A+E were much appreciated turning me out at 0330hrs!!)
Two weeks later it returned and I was cardioverted the following day and changed from Flecainide to Sotalol 2x40mg a day. In August I saw my consultant and after a nudge he agreed to attempt a furhter ablation. (don't ever be scared to push, it is your health!!)
That was ok till Sept 08 when it returned again. I was given Digoxin to no avail and also given Adenosine (to stop and restart heart) to no avail either. I was cardioverted on the ward the following morning.
3 days later it retuned again. Due to the events days earlier, they opted to give me another Sotalol to see what moght happen. 4 hours it resored to sinus rythmn again. Due to it's repeat nature, they upped my dosage to 3x 40mg Sotalol a day and wrote to my consultant to urge my ablation...fortunately I got seen last week instead of waiting till January.
I am now 4 days past a secondary ablation and can feel that my heart has stopped trying to go ut of synch. Only annoying bit is restarting the Sotalol after stopping them 5 days prior to procedure.
I would say i was more tolerant of Flacainide than Sotalol but they chose to keep meon the Sotalol as is apparently better at keeping the rythmn.
My typical heartrate at rest when AF is active is between 130-175bpm...my ECG post ablation was 71. |
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| Preventions | N/A |
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| Current medications/side effects | Thyroxine 150mg a day
Warfarin 5mg a day
Sotalol 3x40mg a day
Omacor x1 a day
Alverine Citrate 2x 1 a day (IBS)
Only side effects encountered are with the Sotalol...Sore head, light headed, nauseous and when restarting after stopping for surgery- visual problems whereby I have to lie down as getting like kaleidoscopes spinning in my perippheral line of vision |
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| Past medications/side effects | Similar with Flacainide but not as bad as Sotalol |
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| History of surgery | 2 x catheter ablation |
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| Future plans | To eat better diet and be fitter again as AF does tolerate excercise so well.
I was at a good level of fitness prior to AF recurrence in 05.
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| Personal comments | To anyone encountering AF...and reading this...Just keep pushing your doctors to get the result you require...catheter ablation may sound nasty and look scary on reading up on it but it aint too big a deal at all and so if you can push to get it done, then do...AF is a shitty condition you would only wish on those who have done you wrong...it controls your life cos you never know when your next episode might kick off...
Good luck to any other sufferers and hope that your episodes are short and get dealt with asap. |
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| 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 | |
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