If I go along eating really well, and I have been for let's say a year, then I eat what I like to call a "gut bomb" it hits my system almost like a, well, bomb, lol!! So if you hadn't been eating foods with msg, or foods you are not use too, your system could reject it some way, only speaking for me. I am no doc. But with your history (what history I know of) with your heart, it could be a few things. Yes, stress gets to me, I realize I can make myself sick, so I try to do something even a walk, or whatever might get my mind off negative things. I was getting upset watching the rallies for Trump, and I have to turn them off. Please keep us posted, hugs Yvonne, denise
I had Vagally Mediated Atrial Fib on a regular basis for over 20 years. I always knew when it started and when it ended. It was like turning a light switch on and off. I would generally go back to normal sinus rhythm within 8 to 24 hours without any meds. A simple thing like bending over to tie my shoes could trigger the afib or swallowing to big a bite of food. I joined a ON LINE Support Group for Afib and learned more from it than I ever did from my Cardiologist. Because of the Support Group I was able to get an appointment with one of the World's top Cardiologist/Electrophysiologist--Dr Andrea Natale. I went to San Francisco 2010 and he performed a Pulmonary Vein Ablation which took care of my Afib. It was a non invasive procedure of inserting a wire through your vein and into the heart locating the hot spots that are causing the afib and zapping them. It takes a few months for the hot spots to heal and you could have one or two episodes of afib until fully healed. Dr. Natale is much in demand obviously and does the procedure in Texas, San Diego & San Francisco. Your Cardiologist would know his name I am sure. Oh--Other than the AFIB I had no other heart problems and always had normal blood pressure.
Thank you, @Ren Tanner . I actually had a similar operation done about two years back. It was a new procedure developed at Nashville at Vanderbilt University. I was not the first person that it was done to here, but it was still a fairly new procedure. Besides the catheter ablation, they also went inside my chest and scraped the outside of my heart. They said that by doing both procedures, the chances of it permanently stopping the fibrillation were greatly increased. It was done in two separate procedures, by two different specialists, and took most of the day to do it. My heart has been fine ever since, as far as not being in fibrillation. However, at the time of the operation, my heart failure was so bad that my heart was only operating at 23%EF, and I was not even sure that it was strong enough for me to survive the operation. My cardiologist said that was a possibility, but if I didn't have the operation, then my heart would continue to get worse; so there really was no other option for me than to try. You can imagine how joyful I was when I woke up afterwards and realized that I was still alive ! ! I remember asking Robin if she was real, and being so happy when she answered and said that it was really her, so that meant that I was actually seeing her. Anyway, after that I began the search to take the best care of my heart that I could, starting with eliminating inflammatory foods from my diet, and adding the anti-inflammatory ones. Eventually, I was well enough to begin and exercise program, and added swimming as a regular part of my daily life. For the last two years, I have been fine, until this episode yesterday. Hopefully, my doctor will be able to tell what went wrong, or maybe it is just one of those flukes that happen sometimes, and won't happen again. In any case, I will keep on taking care of my heart the best that I can, and hope that this won't happen anymore. http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/12/huntsville_hospital_first_in_s.html
Today, the Heart Center made an appointment for me to come in. Since it is always a month or two to get an appointment with my actual cardiologist, they sent me to see the nurse practioner. She went over the test results from Saturday's labs, and they didn't find anything bad in there to have caused the sudden transition into a-fib again. My heart is still beating a little irregularly, they said, but not in actual a-fib like it was before they shocked it on Saturday. Now, they will do an echocardiogram and see if anything has changed with the problems that my heart has, and also they are making an appointment with the doctor who did the actual operation 2 years ago, and maybe he will have an idea what caused this to happen, and whether it is some hiring that was just a fluke accident, or something that is likely to happen again . Anyway, in the meantime, I am just taking it easy, and recuperating from the whole event. Tomorrow is voting day, and I am hoping that it won't be huge lines where I have to stand and wait a long time. We don't have any kind of early voting here, or I would have already done it .
@Yvonne Smith is that the general way or the exception for each state to do? I never heard that before, but then I imagine that all states have their idiosyncrasies. Here in Texas we had last week to vote, and many of us were able to vote by mail. I'm not sure what qualified me for voting by mail, but I'm thankful for it. When they shock your heart, does it hurt, or are you asleep. I hope your asleep. Just the idea puts fear in my bones.
I don't have an answer for you about what all of the other states do. Proabably @Ken Anderson will know a lot more about that part. I was hoping that we had early voting, and looked it up to make sure I was registered to vote since they never sent me anything to say that I was registered, and to see where was the closest voting place to where I live. Thankfully, it is a church just down the road from here, and easy to get to. I just don't know how busy it will be, but I will go around 10, hoping to miss the before-work people, and before the lunch-break people. If it looks bad, I will ask them if they have any resources for elderly people who have bad hearts and can't stand very long. About the shocking the heart question, YES, YES, YES , thankfully, they put me out first. ! ! I thought I wasn't falling asleep fast enough and was terrified that they would turn that thing on before I was completely out. I am SUCH a coward, Ina ! They let Robin come in and hold my hand while I waited for the medicine to hit me. The next thing I remembered was fuzzy-looking blurry people waking me up again, and telling me that everything worked.
I had a patient who had an internal defibrillator. He was prone to V-tach so when his rate got too high, he was zapped. He would complain that he couldn't get mad at his wife, he couldn't get mad at his kids, and he couldn't even get mad at the news because every time he did, he'd get a shock. He also had a habit of not taking his medication.
Did it hurt your friend when the internal defibrillator shocked his heart back in rhythm, @Ken Anderson ? I am still having heart problems, and the fibrillation is getting a whole lot worse. It is about constant again, and I have been really dizzy and light-headed for the last week or so. I have been in contact with the heart center, and they set me up for an emergency doctor appointment tomorrow. I think that my cardiologist is going to put one of the Holter heart monitors on me so that they can see what exactly my heart is doing now. There is no sense in just going to the emergency room and having it shocked if it is not going to stay in rhythm afterwards; so it is possible that they will want to change my heart meds or even do another heart ablation like they did 2 years ago. Last time, my heart was in such poor shape that I didn't know if I would make it or not, but now, because of the exercise and healthy eating, my body is in much better shape, and when they did the echocardiogram in November, they said my heart is much stronger now than it has been for many years. I have not felt well enough to even go to the fitness center, and the nurse told me to wait until I see my cardiologist tomorrow before he decides if i am well enough to even try swimming right now, if I did feel well enough to try and go. Actually, I have been laying down and resting most of the time for about the last week, but the heart is hurting worse anyway; and we have talked about going to the ER several times. I am glad that I can see my doctor tomorrow, and hope that we will at least have some answers. Please keep Bobby and myself in your prayers, and also that my doctor can make the best decision for my heart health when we go in tomorrow.
For all members that suffer with Atrial Fib--- Do a Google Search on Dr. Andrea Natale. I was most fortunate to have my ablation from this world class physician that pioneered the procedure performed on me 20010 in San Francisco after dealing with A Fib for 25 years. I have been in Normal Sinus Rhythm since. I found him from a A Fib Online Support Group and was able to get some ones cancelled appointment.
I'm so sorry @Yvonne Smith I don't know much about your exact heart condition, but I know some will have too slow a heart-beat, some too fast, and some are erratic, I think that's the word for it. I have a pacemaker for a heart-beat that would not go over 40 bpm. So they put in a pm. that kicks in whenever my heart "tries" to beat below 60 bpm. And when I exert, it simple goes up to a normal amount according to my exertion. When the pm kick in, it is run on a battery as well, but it has never given me a "shock" sensation or pain of any kind. I should read back a ways and try and find what it is that you've been diagnosed with. I'm surprised they didn't get you right in though. To have to wait until tomorrow for an appt. doesn't sound right to me at all I'll pray along with @Joe Riley for things to get worked out properly for you. There is one lady here I know of, that has recently had a defibrillator put in as well. Her and I play Yahtzee once in awhile and I'll ask her about hers