AFibbers Database: Walt Woolfolk

Name	Walt Woolfolk
Location	Cincinnati, OH, USA
Age	64
Diagnosed condition	Chronic atrial fibrillation currently controlled by medication
Years with condition	10 yrs - 7 years paroxismal, 2 years chronic, 1 yr controlled
Frequency of episodes	24 x 7 during chronic stage
Duration of episodes	24 x 7 during chronic stage
Event preceding first AF	None known
General health	Good - non smoker, non drinker, no other chronic illness
Current state	Probably temporarily controlled following two RF two ablation surgeries and a cardioversion
Triggers	Exercise Stress Often no apparent trigger I have a bicuspid aortic valve which so far works fine and various doctors are in disagreement whether it could have caused the AF. There is some family history of AF.
Preventions	None
Current medications/side effects	Toprol - fatigue, constipation, coordination, mental dullness Warfarin - no side effects
Past medications/side effects	See checklist - most side effects are related to blanket nervous system depression including difficulty swallowing, poor coordination, unreliable sense of body and extremity position, constipation, mental fuzziness, difficulty making mental connections between obvious topics, mental and emotional passivity
History of surgery	Oct 2003 - RF ablation of pulmanory veins for AFib - resulted in AFlutter - persisted after cardioversion Nov 2004 - RF ablation for AFlutter temporarily successful May 2005 - cardioversion for AFib succesful - so far have to remain on Toprol, otherwise get exercise-induced AFib
Future plans	Reduce load on adrenals caused by low level food allergies and stress, increase fish oils, cont current levels of Mg and CoQ10, add flax seed oil - explore Resveratol, Berberine, and Chinese medicinal herbs - get tested for H. Pylori infection, increase exercise very gradually, retire from stressful job
Personal comments	My suggestions for someone diagnosed with paroxismal AF is to treat it aggressively to prevent it progressing to the chronic stage, avoid the usual early treatment with Digoxin which can make it worse, be very aggessive re diet and supplementation before resorting to surgery, but consider surgery before the AF gets chronic, understand that a different ablation approach is needed for chronic AF than for paroxismal AF, and subscibe to Medscape (free) for the most current info on allopathic approaches to AF. If you are taking Amiodarone be sure to have your liver enzymes checked regularly.
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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