....I've Got NO Rhythm....Again....

Almost 18 months to the day after my successful cardiac ablation to stop arterial fibrillation (afib – irregular heart beat), my afib returned Saturday night. I had laid down for bed, and just felt weird. A little off. I took an EKG with my Samsung Galaxy5 watch (which has been on my wrist virtually 23 hours a day for the last year) and instantly recognized afib. Crap.

I took a more detailed EKG with my Kardia, a hundred dollar, size of a stick of gum device that can do a doctor-grade 1 lead EKG or 6 lead EKG. Called my cardiologist's on-call backup and sent him the EKG. He looked at it, advised me what meds to take, and said that unless there were serious symptoms, this did not require a trip to the ER (Emergency Room).

Sunday morning, my unstable rhythm was a little more stable, and further discussions with professionals reached the same conclusion.

There is a cardioversion somewhere in my near-term future. Meanwhile, I feel like crap and get easily winded. A cardioversion should put me back in rhythm, hopefully for the long term.

One takeaway from this is that if you have a heart condition, a Samsung or Apple watch is a good investment to provide a degree of continuous monitoring. And a Kardia is a must-have small investment. Being able to provide a high-quality EKGs in 30 seconds was the difference between a midnight trip to the ER and "This doesn't look too bad. No need to go to the hospital unless things worsen."

If your lights flicker, it's just me getting a cardioversion.

Funny story about my last cardioversion 18+ months ago. My cardiologist uses a very fast-acting agent to knock me out for literally 5 minutes or less while the shock is given. Counting backwards from 10, I usually don't make it past 7.

But last time, 9....8....7.....6....5......(why isn't this working?)....4.....3....2.... (why isn't the doctor doing something???)....1....¾....½.....¼....0.....–1....–2....

When my partner came back into the room after the shock, I was still counting! Apparently having some problems.... 7.....5....4.....6.....7.....4.....

A minute or two later, I wrote up and asked why the procedure hadn't been done, and refused to believe it was.

Was your ablation done surgically?, or via a catheter?.

Mine was done surgically as one of three heart operations in one (buy one get two free ), double bypass, attempted mitral valve repair, and ablation.

It seems to have worked anyway - plus all the pills I take as well

When I was ambulanced to hospital following a heart attack my heart rate was randomly varying between about 60 and 240, and they kept me hooked up to an EKG for about half of the ten days I was in hospital. The normal procedure would have been to send me straight to a larger hospital where they do heart ops - our local hospital doesn't even fit stents - but they couldn't do that because of the afib.

It took a further ten months to actually get the operation - although I remember nothing about it, not even going to the hospital - apparently the operation went well, but the recovery didn't, and I spent three weeks in ICU, and the first twelve days in a coma. According to my wife (no one ever told me anything), my heart rate and blood pressure wouldn't stabilise, my kidneys and liver stopped working, and I had a number of unidentified infections.

Still, I'm doing pretty well now, the mitral valve repair has helped, but not cured the leak - and they have dropped yearly echocardiograms to every two years now - next should be January 2025.

Mine was done via catheter. I think I stayed overnight in the hospital, but that was only because my procedure was done late in the day, and you have to remain flat on your back for 5 or 6 hours to allow time for the plug where the catheter was to....um..... set.

For The Popcorn said:

Mine was done via catheter. I think I stayed overnight in the hospital, but that was only because my procedure was done late in the day, and you have to remain flat on your back for 5 or 6 hours to allow time for the plug where the catheter was to....um..... set.

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Yes, I had an angiogram while I was in the first hospital, and had a velcro'd blown-up 'bladder' strapped round my wrist to stop blood spurting everywhere while it healed Every hour or two a nurse came round and let the pressure out a bit.

I was talking to a taxi driver (taking me to a doctors appointment a few days after I was home from surgery, and not allowed to drive) and he said he'd recently had catheter ablation, and he found the procedure quite 'uncomfortable'.

How did you find it?, I presume you weren't sedated?.

I hope you'll be fine soon. Take care.

I had complete sedation. Didn't feel anything during the procedure and no pain afterwards.

The summer before Covid, after a couple of weeks of severe arm pain, after a 4 wait in emerg. for a low priority triage, they wouldn't give me a Advil, so I drove home got one, and returned quickly to discover I was bumped back to the beginning of the wait, so I just went home Fri midnite and decided to see my GP mon AM. My GP told me I had no palpable pulse in my right wrist. Not good. He gave me a note and directions to Emergency to be fast-tracked for surgery. Two days later a Sr. surgeon at a different hospital told me he tried what I call a "roto-rooter" five times the day before to clean out the clogged artery yet still no pulse. So that day he assisted another Surgeon who did a graft from a spare vein in my leg to the Median artery between my shoulder and elbow which supplies oxygen-filled blood to my rt. thumb and next 2 fingers. I also had 30 medical students in surgery to learn the procedure. 10-9-8-...
They had someone sit in front of my bed in Post-Op to watch me until I had recovered to be transferred back to my shared room, while they filled me with some IV solutions. The next night I filled up two 1-litre bottles in bed while the poor guy next to me with a purple foot was constipated and moaning in pain. That night he found relief after 8 days and now the toilet was plugged up. Before morning I was getting mobile enough with a wheelchair and IV tree on wheels to want to empty some solids but now tried to figure out how to unplug the toilet. Unfortunately, no maintenance guy was available until breakfast. I tried the garbage pail full of water dump trick. It almost worked.

Later that morning before breakfast, I found where the nurses get coffee and helped myself to my usual 1 or 2 cups and shortly after when the Surgeon was coming around for his morning rounds. He shouted down the hallway, "Mr. Stewart. I am so glad to see you on your feet." He had told me my surgery went well and my plumbing was perfect and will never fail but I had an electrical problem and being an EE I should understand. ( I now have permanent neuropathy in my right hand with pain, and tingling, primarily in 1st 3 fingers, presumable from the 5 roto-rooter nerve damage) but said I was lucky he was able to save my hand )

Now with type X blood thinners, I understand why Aleve ( which tends to clot platelets) is bad for me but I must not cut myself as clotting can take hours instead of minutes. Unfortunately, I've had 2 incidents with tools that cut fingers in my left hand so I have matching neuropathy. The last time I avoided the routine 4-hour emergency wait and used high pressure with cyanoacrylate to stop the bleeding. It worked. Emerg. in the US is $$ but only a 15-minute wait.

So those in America with private healthcare may get better service in the end our medical experts did a fine job. Despite other MRI and Doppler scans, I wonder why only that artery was inflicted with plaque. I suspected it was my abusing a lappie touchpad for weeks all day, but the Surgeon said I would have to be an Olympic weightlifter to have abused that artery so much. (not)

Post-hospital treatment, it took me a year to be physically useful with my arm again, now I play pickleball and love it.
I tried to get a neuropathy cure within 3 months before the nerve damage gets permanently "sealed" (myelin sheath) I was even willing to pay $25k for a Tesla Stym from Slovenia for pulsed EMF but could not import it. I eventually got a Chinese clone and repaired my little dog's knee without surgery which would have cost much more at $8k plus $4k in physiotherapy. Even my excellent Vet, the Xray Radiologist and Surgeon didn't know it was possible to cure a knee-displasia with Omega-3 supplements, Nigella Sativa (blackseed oil) and pulsed EMF but she has been walking on all 4's for 2 years now. ( My wife now has 2 titanium-ceramic knees and loves it, while her surgeon said he wished he made as much as animal surgeons).

The bottom line is one must take full responsibility for one's health, consequences, symptoms and recovery then consider any alternatives with hope. and don't procrastinate over it. Oh, it's just a little pain. Listen to your body.

We were on a cruise while I was on Eliquis (blood thinner), and the rest rooms (wash rooms) have a coat hook in the middle of the door that I somehow have a tendency to snag with my arm, which tears off a layer of skin.

One day, I stopped at the restroom, then went to lunch. One of the wait staff said to me "Sir, are you all right?" I replied "I think so, why do you ask?" He pointed to my arm, where there was blood running down to my hand and dripping off my fingertip!

Yeah, the blood thinner was working! A few minutes of direct pressure on the skinned area with a napkin solved the problem.

For The Popcorn said:

I had complete sedation. Didn't feel anything during the procedure and no pain afterwards.

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Interesting, as far as I'm aware it's generally done here while you're still awake?.

From other posts in this thread, it looks like most of us are on blood thinners

I was on Warfarin for a couple of months when I first came out, then I was dropped back to Edoxiban as I was on before the op.

To be fair, I don't bleed too excessively, I've seen a lot worse.

The risks increase rapidly with the area of the leak and systolic pressure.
There is a 3 hr medical explanation of the XIII types of chemical processes in blood that optimize flow and blocking leaks with plugs, mesh proteins, coagulant cascade, plug breakdown and return to homeostasis. The feedback control system is multi-factor control loops and the reason why one solution is not best for every problem and each med has different properties. The type Xa direct coagulant inhibitors have an "x" in the generic name.
https://www.drugs.com/drug-class/factor-xa-inhibitors.html > Take at least 3 exercise breaks if you watch this. Don't sit for too long, daily walks and frequent raising your feet above your heart in bed are the best advice.

I prompted this GPT response which is consistent with medical advice. https://chatgpt.com/c/7114ca45-d46b-4c8b-af71-525a32741980

After the doctor telling me the sooner the cardioversion, the more likely long lasting success, and every message to his staff met with a response of "I'll send a message. It way take a few days for a reply.", I went to the hospital emergency room. Success!

Good.

Yet the Kardia reported it? or just a transient condition.

Follow all the Dr's advice for prevention.

My Samsung Watch5 detected it. The Kardia provided EKGs that the physicians believed and could take action on.

The afib recurred after a medication change. And hopefully stays gone now.