Re: OT: The Dutch way with atrial fibrillation

Bill Sloman wrote:
When I woke up this morning, I realised that I was in atrial fibrillation again; irregulatr heart-beat, and going upstairs to my study made me breathless.

Last night I'd noticed that getting up the stairs to my study was suddenly hard work, so I figured that it had set in earlier that evening.

It is easy for a cardiologist to fix it - they knock you out with a fast acting anaesthetic, stop your heart with a big electric shock, and start it up again with a smaller shock, and the heart almost always starts up beating regularly.

The catch is that if they don't do it within 48 hours of the onset of fibrillation, your blood gets to pool in the stagnant bits of the upper chambers of your heart (the atrium) and forms clots, which would get spread around the body when the heart was shocked back into normal rythm.

This is also fixable. They give you rat poison - wafarin - for about six weeks, until they are sure that your blood-clotting time is about three times longer than normal, and any blood clots are too soft to produce a stroke or deep vein thrombosis, and then - and only then - do they give you the electric shocks.

So I spent the morning ringing my GP - who couldn't do anything, but likes to have his authority acknowledged - and then the hospital that looks after my heart. It took two phone calls before the assistant who answers the relevant phone got to understand why I wanted my electric shock today, but she then gave the cardiologist the right message, and I was given the okay to go to the cardiac emergency room at the hospital.

I got there at three in the afternoon, and spent two hours lying around while they measured everything that they could think of - and even X-rayed my chest - before deciding that they agreed with me.

They knocked me out at five, and when I came to at about 5:30 pm the problem had been fixed. I had to lay around for another half hour to prove that there weren't any residual problems from the anaesthetic, and I had to hang around for a little longer before my wife could pick me up, but I was home again at 6:30pm, and had no problem with the stairs up to my study.

And it won't cost me anything - beyond what I already pay for my compulsory (and universal) medical insurance.


Bill,
My Dad told me that when he was in medical school they
called a-fib "old heart," figuring it was inevitable,
even normal with age. It needn't be.

The base cause is usually clogged coronary arteries
near the sino-atrial node, which starves the wet-ware
heart-clock generating electronics there of oxygen
(ischemia) and nutrients. That makes them a little flakey.

Fortunately you've got redundant timing facilities, so
a-fib is usually just a nuisance, knocks your pumping
capacity down 20% or so, makes you tired, but is
not especially dangerous. Lifespan isn't affected.

You can often reset an a-fib yourself with a valsalva
maneuver (hold breath and bear down), and omega-3s are
valuable as well.[1] (use extreme care though, since
you're on anti-coagulants. Fish-oil is also an
anti-coagulant, and may potentiate existing meds. Any
supplementation would have to be coordinated with
medical supervision--you don't want to stroke out)

You might also evaluate your magnesium intake. It's
vital for proper rhythm, present in whole grains,
and deficient in many diets.[2] ISTR some buzz that
the ratio of Ca to Mg is what governs, and that
supplements are not preferred. You might want to
Google it.

So, me not being a doctor, that's an engineer's guide
to a-fib.

Cheers and good health,
James Arthur

[1] e.g. http://www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/110/4/368
[2] http://www.afibbers.org/arrhythmias.html
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: The Dutch way with atrial fibrillation
    ... Last night I'd noticed that getting up the stairs to my study was suddenly ... acting anaesthetic, stop your heart with a big electric shock, and start it ... up again with a smaller shock, and the heart almost always starts up beating ... called a-fib "old heart," figuring it was inevitable, ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: OT: The Dutch way with atrial fibrillation
    ... Last night I'd noticed that getting up the stairs to my study was suddenly ... acting anaesthetic, stop your heart with a big electric shock, and start it ... up again with a smaller shock, and the heart almost always starts up beating ... relevant phone got to understand why I wanted my electric shock today, ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: OT: The Dutch way with atrial fibrillation
    ... Last night I'd noticed that getting up the stairs to my study was suddenly ... acting anaesthetic, stop your heart with a big electric shock, and start it ... up again with a smaller shock, and the heart almost always starts up beating ... And it won't cost me anything - beyond what I already pay for my compulsory ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: OT: The Dutch way with atrial fibrillation
    ... It is easy for a cardiologist to fix it - they knock you out with a fast acting anaesthetic, stop your heart with a big electric shock, and start it up again with a smaller shock, and the heart almost always starts up beating regularly. ... The catch is that if they don't do it within 48 hours of the onset of fibrillation, your blood gets to pool in the stagnant bits of the upper chambers of your heart and forms clots, which would get spread around the body when the heart was shocked back into normal rythm. ... I had to lay around for another half hour to prove that there weren't any residual problems from the anaesthetic, and I had to hang around for a little longer before my wife could pick me up, but I was home again at 6:30pm, and had no problem with the stairs up to my study. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: OT: The Dutch way with atrial fibrillation
    ... Last night I'd noticed that getting up the stairs to my study was suddenly ... acting anaesthetic, stop your heart with a big electric shock, and start it ... up again with a smaller shock, and the heart almost always starts up beating ... to go to the cardiac emergency room at the hospital. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)