| Name | Vim Venders |
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| Location | Toronto, Canada |
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| Age | 38 |
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| Diagnosed condition | atrial fibrillation, atrial fluter |
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| Years with condition | 8 |
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| Frequency of episodes | daily |
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| Duration of episodes | few minutes to 10-12 hours for fibrillation, up to 1 hour for flutter |
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| Event preceding first AF | started after heavy meal (an iteresting thing: one of the doctors I saw has a theory that fibrillation is caused by infection from a bird I had at this time - small $14 budgie - as this bird gave afib&flutter to the person I gave it to (?)) |
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| General health | good general health, no other heart problems, don't smoke, drink or get involved in sport |
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| Current state | more or less same condition for the past 5-6 years (daily afib episodes) |
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| Triggers | coffeine (coffe & tea including decoffenaited coffe and coffeine-free natural teas, cola drinks, chocholate), fruit (bananas caused the worst arrhythmias I had to date apparently due to thyramine they contain; also apples and citrus fruit; mellon fruits are fine), smoked meat (thyramine again), aged cheese, soya products, junk food, spicy food, beans, MSG in various food (stay away from chinese restaurants). Also, some medications I tried in the past (Naturopath supplenets like vitamins, minerals; traditional Chinise medicine and even regular Aspirin - regular, low-dose or coated) seems to trigger Afib so I am not taking it. In the past I also tried Coumadine (blood thiner) but I had to discontinue its use after severe chest pain (so I had some kind of reaction to this drug) |
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| Preventions | strict diet (avoiding all known triggers or consume them sporadicaly as there is a some kind of treshold until I can 'violate' my diet so e.g. occasional coffe is ok as long as I dont take the next one for 4-5 days), moderate physical activities, medication |
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| Current medications/side effects | For the past 5 years I am taking Verapamil (2x80 mg) and Sotacor (also 2x80 mg). What this does is to control Flutter (fast but regular heart beat) but does very little (not to say nothing) for Afib. The major side effect is the fact that my energy level is really low so I constantly feel tired. No other side effects. |
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| Past medications/side effects | In the past 8 years I tried Rhytmol, Digoxin, Tambocor, Amiodorene, traditional Chinese medicine (this actualy triggered Afib), some Naturopath supplements (also, some of the supplements actualy triggered Afib) - all in all, medications I tried so far either don't do anything for Afib or even worse - they trigger it. |
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| History of surgery | Radio Fequency Ablation in 1997 was attemt to cure Atrial Flutter but was unsuccesful (by the way, it was done using only local anaestethic so I could actualy feel the burns they are making inside the heart and after an hour or so this burning caused unbearable pain so they had to stop - so much about 'painless ablation procedure') |
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| Future plans | In my case the most effective way to deal with Afib is to control the food I am taking (although it is very difficult for me to do it constantly as I enjoy good food) combined with Verapamil & Sotacor (which does nothing to Afib but seems to control Flutter reasonably well). Also, I will continue to search for other possible ways to deal with arrhythmias. |
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| Personal comments | I don't thing there is miracle cure for Afib and it seems like chronic condition which is here to stay. Only thing we can do is to control triggers and make sure afib does not cause some other damage (stroke). In my opinion Afib belons to the same category as diabetis or hipertension - they can not be cured but can be controled and by doing so hopefuly be able to live long and reasonably healthy life. |
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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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