AFibbers Database: don

Name	don
Location	San Diego
Age	58
Diagnosed condition	paroxysmal a. fib /a. flutter
Years with condition	17
Frequency of episodes	a few per week
Duration of episodes	6-24 hours
Event preceding first AF	1st occurred in surgery after traffic accident
General health	Excellent, no vices
Current state	stable, fibrillating around 15% of the time; almost asymptomatic...just some fatigue; ventricular rate controlled to < 100
Triggers	In decreasing order of importance: Intense exercise fever alcohol Sleep deprivation dehydration heavy meal caffeine,chocolate
Preventions	Nothing clearcut. Reducing weight may help a little. Sleeping on the right side helps a little. Deep breathing can sometimes forestall or postpone an episode.
Current medications/side effects	atenolol (25 mg)...slows resting rate a little, but OK coated aspirin (325 mg)...no side effects atenolol supresses episodes only transiently (for a few days after onset or increase in dose). But it makes the episodes more acceptable (and less potentially damaging) by controlling the ventricular rate.
Past medications/side effects	digoxin: slow pulse, some dizziness disopyramide: slow pulse, slow urination sotalol: slow pulse diltiazem: slow pulse None were very helpful; sotalol had some transient benefits Some degree of listlessness comes with the slow pulse with all of these.
History of surgery	None
Future plans	May try tikosyn or (when a litle older) amiodarone. Prepared to try more drastic interventions (ablation, etc.) but only if symptoms worsen
Personal comments	A few years before my first episode, I began intensive exercise, which enlarged my heart, reducing resting rate from mid 70s to 40. I've seen a few reports of AFib in jocks/ex-jocks, and in animal that have large hearts. Can too much exercise be harmful?? The doctors I talked to were unsure. For a many years, I avoided exercise in order not to trigger episodes, but for the past year or so I've returned to running or biking a bit, staying well below maximum effort. Even this does clearly trigger episodes, but it doens't seem to increase their overall frequency much (it mainly just rearranges their timing), so I suspect that on balance this exercise is beneficial. My first episodes were terrifying, but now I hardly notice them, despite (or because of?) their almost continuous presence in my life. A pleasant surprise relative to the early fears. Episodes were initially very short and infrequent (10 minutes once per year), building up to several/week over several years, but their rate has been stable for past 10 years or so. Good idea to create this site...thanks!
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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