| Name | James Driscoll |
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| Location | Leeds, UK |
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| Age | 53 (born 1969) |
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| Diagnosed condition | idiopathic paroxysmal AF |
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| Years with condition | 7.5 (from 26th Jul 1998 to 9th Feb 2006) |
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| Frequency of episodes | none since second ablation but see personal comments |
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| General health | Good, non smoker, very light drinker |
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| Current state | NSR since second ablation (9th Feb 2006) |
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| Triggers | large meals
resting after exercise
bending over incorrectly
sticking head in cold water
vigorous exercise (eg treadmill stress test)
most of the time I go in when I'm at rest
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| Preventions | I was able to delay the onset of AF for about an hour if I ran up a flight of stairs after the first few ectopic beats.
I would often go into AF when in bed and if I immediately got out of bed and walked around as soon as AF started I would sometimes convert back to NSR. If I didn't convert in the first couple of minutes of AF I'd usually be in for many hours. |
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| Current medications/side effects | none
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| Past medications/side effects | sotalol (made me very ill)
flecainide (gave me 1:1 AFlutter)
propafanone (gave me 1:1 AFlutter)
amiodarone (gave me thyrotoxicosis but is the best thing I've taken for the AF -didn't stop it happening though)
bisoprolol 5mg (took for a year with no side affects but wasn't really doing the job)
verapamil m/r 240 mg - felt great in NSR but terrible in AF
metoprolol (taken only when in AF for rate control) - probably the best solution I've found so far
I switched back to bisoprolol for a while to see if it would improve the frequency but it didn't so I've gone back to metoprolol on demand so I'm not as much of a zombie in NSR
warfarin
aspirin
simvastatin (took for 3 months after 2nd ablation, no problem with cholesterol but it helps AF and inflammation)
irbersartan - took after ablation(angiotensin receptor blocker - there's a long list as to why this may be good post ablation)
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| History of surgery | Feb 2005 Pulmonary vein ablation (and atrial flutter ablation)
Feb 2006 Second ablation - (last years flutter ablation was OK but 3 veins had reconnected)
Both ablations performed at Newcastle Freeman Hospital under Dr Steve Furniss |
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| Future plans | ... update 22nd July 2011. Still actively enjoying NSR and completely free of AF since second ablation Feb 2006.
...update 15th Feb 2008 : I'm skiing again! 2 years of NSR and still counting :)
earlier comments.....
Slowly increase my fitness levels so I can get back on the ski slopes!
I was going to try dofetilide but had trouble getting it (it's on a restricted licence in the UK)
I'd like to find an exercise I'm capable of doing in the hope that I can steadily work my way back up to a decent level of fitness.
I'll take some convincing that a 3rd ablation is a good idea (but it'll be either that or a pacemaker if the second ablation doesn't work)
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| Personal comments | Update Nov 2022
Mostly settled state with infrequent episodes of ectopics (less than once a month)
update Dec 2017
the 24 hrs ECG showed over 15000 ectopics and put me in the ablation category but the ectopics have greatly diminished - I'm spending most of my time in NSR again.(echo shows normal heart size). I'm in a monitor and see what happens state, things will have to get much worse before I consider another ablation.
update Nov 2017
apparently unrelated to the AF - I have high frequency ventricular ectopics originating in the right ventricular outflow tract
update Sept 2017
I've been having 10 to 20 ectopics every minute for about 3 weeks, it's not stopping my activities but can be unpleasant when I'm at rest and my rate is low. being referred to cardiologist...
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update 2014
There's been a steady increase in random ectopic activity, nothing as bad as 2012 but enough for me to report it to the GP. I know some ectopics are entirely normal and many AFers become overly sensitive to what their heart is doing. All I'm doing here is reporting a change I've noticed in case it leads to something else down the line.
I'm going to try get a little fitter to see if that helps the situation...
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update feb 2013
I've had no problems since Sept 2012 and am still skiing so I'm putting it down to severe dehydration and my sensitivity to spotting something that others may not have spotted. (several other players suffered on the day!)
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update 8 sept 2012
I had about 2 hours of irregular rhythm (about 100 bpm) after playing bass trombone in a march on a very warm day. I'll update further if more events occur.
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Although not formally diagnosed, my AF appears to be predominantly vagal. The vast majority of attacks occur at rest in the late evening or when I'm sleeping. I hope this database proves to be useful in our quest to tackle our shared problem !
2 of my pulmonary veins are abnormally large and I suspect
this is the main reason why I have AF
History of AF frequency
none since second abaltion ;
every 8 days post 1st ablation(2005) ;
every day early 2005;
2004 - every 2 days ;
2003 every 9 days ;
Every 16 days for the first 4.5 years.
AF usually lasted 20-24 hours. |
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| 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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