Afib

[Qs Laptop]

My PCP and Cardiologist both said I had Afib - strictly paroxysmal. This went on for years and I took expensive blood thinners for a long time. But they had never actually "seen" my Afiv on an EKG. Finally, I talked my Cardiologist into a 2 week monitor. Guess what? No Afib but rather SVT. Big difference though some overlap in meds and potential treatments. Some can detect Afib by "feel" but SVT is difficult NOT to detect. Without an actual EKG diagnosis it's possible to mix these two conditions. I suppose you could also have both. YMMV

In my case, I could easily detect Afib, but not these heart rate spikes I'm currently experiencing. With Afib I would get light headed, have yawning fits and get tired from climbing stairs. Plus many times I could feel something wasn't right with my heartbeat.

With heart rate spikes, or SVT, it's hard to detect them and the only telltale sign is a slight tickling in my chest for a second or so followed by a yawn about 30-60 seconds later. I have confirmed the rate spikes are occurring when I feel the tickling with my smartwatch.

As you supposed, I'm beginning to think I've got both Afib and SVT. The Afib was probably taken care of during the ablation procedure. The doctor said he treated 23 sites inside my heart for spurious voltage origination points. He said that was a lot of sites. I've probably got other sites in my heart that create voltages that cause the SVT that came to the forefront when the prominent sites were sealed off. Which is why they're probably going to want to go back in there and treat those sites. I actually felt great for about 3 days after the procedure with normal heartbeat. Then the rate spikes started happening.

Zio heart rate monitor came off this morning and is being mailed in today. I don't know why but it takes about 3 weeks for my electrophysiologist to get the results. Three weeks!

 

[Qs Laptop]

In my case, I could easily detect Afib, but not these heart rate spikes I'm currently experiencing. With Afib I would get light headed, have yawning fits and get tired from climbing stairs. Plus many times I could feel something wasn't right with my heartbeat.

With heart rate spikes, or SVT, it's hard to detect them and the only telltale sign is a slight tickling in my chest for a second or so followed by a yawn about 30-60 seconds later. I have confirmed the rate spikes are occurring when I feel the tickling with my smartwatch.

As you supposed, I'm beginning to think I've got both Afib and SVT. The Afib was probably taken care of during the ablation procedure. The doctor said he treated 23 sites inside my heart for spurious voltage origination points. He said that was a lot of sites. I've probably got other sites in my heart that create voltages that cause the SVT that came to the forefront when the prominent sites were sealed off. Which is why they're probably going to want to go back in there and treat those sites. I actually felt great for about 3 days after the procedure with normal heartbeat. Then the rate spikes started happening.

Zio heart rate monitor came off this morning and is being mailed in today. I don't know why but it takes about 3 weeks for my electrophysiologist to get the results. Three weeks!

Thought I'd give an update. For those that are interested in Afib, sorry for the delay.

My Zio heart rate monitor showed 0 episodes of Afib.

Here are the results as copied-and-pasted from my report:

Summary:
1. Zio is unremarkable
2. Symptoms mostly occurred in association with sinus rhythm without ectopy; rare/occasional PACs or PVCs were present with some.
3. No atrial fibrillation detected.

Patient had a min HR of 40 bpm, max sinus HR of 108 bpm, and avg HR of 63 bpm. Predominant underlying rhythm was Sinus Rhythm.
Isolated SVEs were rare (<1.0%), SVE Couplets were rare (<1.0%), and SVE Triplets were rare (<1.0%).
Isolated VEs were rare (<1.0%), VE Couplets were rare (<1.0%), and no VE Triplets were present.
--

So, although I was in Afib one week after the procedure (as measured with EKG in doctor's office) apparently my ablation procedure was successful after all. It just took a month or two for the scarring inside the heart to "firm up" and seal off the points where spurious electrical signals were originating.

Since the highest max heart rate was 108 bpm, which happened only once, apparently I'm not having heart rate spikes, I'm having inaccurate smartwatch readings.

I've since started exercising again and I'm seeing max heart rates of around 125 bpm with my smartwatch. Note that when exercising the smartwatch is constantly sampling heart rate; whereas when not working out my smartwatch samples heart rate every 2 minutes. I think that makes a huge difference in accuracy. I'm considering getting a chest strap monitor to wear when exercising.

With my electrophysiologists blessing I flushed my amiodarone, metoprolol and Xarelto down the toilet. I'm no longer on heart meds or a blood thinner. Now that I'm off the meds my resting heart rate has been creeping up. It used to be 58 when I was on the meds, now it is 63. I've noticed I'm sleeping better.

So, great news.

 

[Koolau]

Thought I'd give an update. For those that are interested in Afib, sorry for the delay.

My Zio heart rate monitor showed 0 episodes of Afib.

Here are the results as copied-and-pasted from my report:

Summary:
1. Zio is unremarkable
2. Symptoms mostly occurred in association with sinus rhythm without ectopy; rare/occasional PACs or PVCs were present with some.
3. No atrial fibrillation detected.

Patient had a min HR of 40 bpm, max sinus HR of 108 bpm, and avg HR of 63 bpm. Predominant underlying rhythm was Sinus Rhythm.
Isolated SVEs were rare (<1.0%), SVE Couplets were rare (<1.0%), and SVE Triplets were rare (<1.0%).
Isolated VEs were rare (<1.0%), VE Couplets were rare (<1.0%), and no VE Triplets were present.
--

So, although I was in Afib one week after the procedure (as measured with EKG in doctor's office) apparently my ablation procedure was successful after all. It just took a month or two for the scarring inside the heart to "firm up" and seal off the points where spurious electrical signals were originating.

Since the highest max heart rate was 108 bpm, which happened only once, apparently I'm not having heart rate spikes, I'm having inaccurate smartwatch readings.

I've since started exercising again and I'm seeing max heart rates of around 125 bpm with my smartwatch. Note that when exercising the smartwatch is constantly sampling heart rate; whereas when not working out my smartwatch samples heart rate every 2 minutes. I think that makes a huge difference in accuracy. I'm considering getting a chest strap monitor to wear when exercising.

With my electrophysiologists blessing I flushed my amiodarone, metoprolol and Xarelto down the toilet. I'm no longer on heart meds or a blood thinner. Now that I'm off the meds my resting heart rate has been creeping up. It used to be 58 when I was on the meds, now it is 63. I've noticed I'm sleeping better.

So, great news.

Thanks for the update. So glad you are seeing positive results. My cardiologist says I can be oblated for SVT but so far, I'm controlling with meds and lowered caffeine. Hope you continue to improve!

 

[Bamaman]

My wife's been in three hospitals and 2 rehabs after her back surgery--and later falling and breaking a leg. She returned home yesterday but cannot put weight on her injured leg until 10/15.

Let me just say how thankful we are to have Medicare AND Plan F supplement. There's simply no telling how much 6 weeks' hospital and rehab bills including 2 surgeries will be.

We received the Medicare CMS statement last week for her ablation back at the end of March, and it was $101,056. It shows they can bill us for $2K. Medicare certainly works in mysterious ways.

 

[Koolau]

My wife's been in three hospitals and 2 rehabs after her back surgery--and later falling and breaking a leg. She returned home yesterday but cannot put weight on her injured leg until 10/15.

Let me just say how thankful we are to have Medicare AND Plan F supplement. There's simply no telling how much 6 weeks' hospital and rehab bills including 2 surgeries will be.

We received the Medicare CMS statement last week for her ablation back at the end of March, and it was $101,056. It shows they can bill us for $2K. Medicare certainly works in mysterious ways.

MC probably knocked that $101K down to $4K or $5K to the provider. You are right. MC works in mysterious ways. If we had to go naked in the health racket, we'd soon be broke. Feel kinda sorry for all the young'uns who essentially supplement us when they have to pay more for HI and co-pays, etc. Of course, we did it for our parents generation before. YMMV