Name | xn28dpos1946 |
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Location | San Diego Ca. |
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Age | 55 |
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Diagnosed condition | A-fib (formerly also a-flutter) |
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Years with condition | three,although I suspect it was intermittent and undiagnosed before. |
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Frequency of episodes | None, a-flutter removed with ablation and a-fib controlled with flecainide. |
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Duration of episodes | Before ablation and flecainide 1 Hr to 8 hrs. However if I am having esophageal discomfort then it's continuous. |
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Event preceding first AF | Gastric distress, esophageal spasm. |
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General health | Recently diagnosed hypothyroid. Long term nonsmoker, former moderate drinker. Regular excercise all my life, until this last year. |
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Current state | a-fib is controlled by the flecainide. A-flutter is cured. |
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Triggers | Triggers in my opinion: Acid reflux which causes the esophagus to become tender-the corresponding discomfort is the major trigger,
Other triggers include not sleeping on my right side and foods that promote gastric distress (dairy, heavy foods before sleeping, acidic foods, mexican food etc..)
Other major trigger, alchohol, caffeine. |
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Preventions | Controlling gastric distress with Gaviscon (coats stomach) and advil for esophageal discomfort.
Flecainide 225 Mg daily (75 mg 3x daily) My prescription is for 150 mg 2x a day but with my physician's consent I am attempting to reduce the dosage slightly but take the remainder in 3 doses.
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Current medications/side effects | Flecainide 150 mg daily. I suspect that the drug is causing reduced libido, drowsiness, and reduced general "drive". Energy level seems within the range of "low normal"for me. Some weight gain with this drug but much less so than with Cardizem. With a very strict low fat, no sugar, no dairy, no alcohol, heavy food-suppliment vitamin-rich diet I am able to maintain proper weight.
Thyroid Armour-120 mg/day
CoQ10, Magnesium Asporotate, Fish Oil, Acetyl Cystine, Acetyl Carnitine, Lipoic acid, Mega Antioxidants and high potency vitamins. |
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Past medications/side effects | Previously, cardizem (diltiazem) in maximum allowable dosage, produced significant weight gain.Sotalol (betapace) was also used in conjunction with the cardizem for a while. It had a Prozac-like effect upon me.
Amiodarone was attempted at one point but was unsuccessful in correcting my a-fib.Also it was brutal on my veins.
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History of surgery | Epigastric hernia about 8 months before the first visit to the ER for A-fib. However I suspect that I had intermittent episodes as much as 15 years earlier, and I am unclear as to whether the hernia operation exascerbated the gastric distress which I believe was a primary trigger. |
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Future plans | I will continue to explore ways to reduce my dependency upon flecainide, including idetic imagery.
I am considering a second ablation procedure in which the catheter will penetrate the septum and ablate some focii at the point at which the arteries enter the left atrium. |
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Personal comments | I apparently am one of the fortunate ones that has the situation completely controllable with flecainide. I would like to know if anyone has experience with the sort of left-side ablation that I am contemplating. Also I would like to know if anyone familiar with flecainide has any information about symptoms similar to mine and/or any information as to how to combat these symptoms. |
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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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