AFibbers Database: female

Name	female
Location	usa
Age	48
Diagnosed condition	paroxsymal a-fib
Years with condition	one
Frequency of episodes	1-2x a month
Duration of episodes	few minutes to 12 hours
Event preceding first AF	hypertension, hypothyroidism, poss menopause, stress
General health	they tell me good, enjoy my glass of wine a few times a week
Current state	fustrated, part time employed, active, mother of 3
Triggers	i was first diagnosed after being at a wedding, drinking, eating, dancing, all the things most normal people do at weddings. my heart was racing and i felt faint. thought i drank too much. went to er, hr 170, converted to nsr after iv digoxin. after one year of this, i'm not sure what triggers it. food, menstral cycle, stress, anxiety, have had acid reflux for about 2 years prior and untreated hypertension which is now under control.
Preventions	i have tried to change my eating habits. i have stopped all caffiene, soda, hard alcohol. I do occassionally drink my glass of red wine. I joined a gym, excercise 3x a week. I don't think it has made much of a difference, but it makes me feel better emotionally. When it is coming on i can feel it, I sit down quietly, take deep breaths, massage my neck, and i take a zanax, this controls the anxiety you get which to be seems uncontrolable. feeling calm helps to get me through the episode. certain times of the month, perhaps going with the menstral cycle, i feel more anxious than others. on these days taking a xanax .25 or even a half helps. I feel as though i have stopped the a-fib from coming on. not sure if this is so, or because i have eleviated the anxiety. but xanax can be habit forming they tell me, so you have to be aware of yourself and not abuse. also, calming walks outside help while taking deep long breaths, but doesn't make it go away. on occasion when i don't convert on my own within a reasonable time frame, my cardiologist suggest taking extra cardizem. this does seem to work. my kdneys have been checked to make sure i am not producing too much adrenilin. ( not sure of spelling.
Current medications/side effects	180 cardizem, synthroid for hypothyroidism in the a.m. diovan for hypertension noon time 240 cardizem and coumadin in the evening. no problems with any except for occasionally low heart rate 49-50. then i skip a dose of the late cardizem, and start over in the a.m. this sometimes leads to a fast resting heart rate. not in a-fib though because it is steady.
Past medications/side effects	it took about 3 months to get me to the med dosage i am on since onset. nothing has changed since. i am tolorating well.
History of surgery	3 c-section babies
Future plans	i am on my 2nd cardiologist. he is informative, encouraging and reassuring about my a-fib. however, i have an appointment to see a rythum specialist to further educate myself on this fustrating problem. i look forward to hearing what she will say.
Personal comments	in retrospect i know now that i have probably had this problem for about 6 years. my first time i had a racing heart was as i was driving to the mall, it was like a panic attack. it happened again several times, when i would go to the doctor and explain, he would do an ekg, listen to my heart, find nothing wrong. i complained for a long time, even about pulsating sounds in my ear, acid reflux. nothing was found. not even my hypertension was found because the doctor always checked my left arm, it was not until another doctor took my pressure in the right arm, that i was told i had a problem. I had begun treatment to my hypertension prior to my initial episode. all of my symptoms that i complained about all that time went away, except for this a-fib and occasional anxiety. my echo cardiogram show trace of l atrial enlargement, which they tell me is from my undiagnosed hypertension. this may be causing the a-fib. so excersise, medication and knowing that this is just some thing i have to live with is some what reassuring. I would like to take a trip to europe next year, i said to my cardiologist, what happens if i go into a-fib in the plane, he replied, who gives a shit, what are you going to do , turn the plane around. just enjoy and don't let the a fib run your life. easy for him to say!
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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