| Name | Sam |
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| Location | Los Angeles, CA |
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| Age | 62 |
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| Diagnosed condition | lone atrial fibrillation |
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| Years with condition | 8 years |
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| Frequency of episodes | 6 per year |
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| Duration of episodes | half hour if I reduce my heart rate with a calcium blocker |
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| General health | I live an extremely healthy life with the hope of avoiding AF. |
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| Current state | I take Tambocor to reduce number of episodes |
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| Triggers | fatigue, emotional or physical stress,sleeping,alcohol, coffee |
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| Preventions | With AF I have a very high heart rate. A calcium blocker, reduces my heart rate and AF in a half to three-quarters of an hour. Recently I have also tried carotid artery massage and holding my breath. These actions enable me to take less of the calcium blocker to reduce the heart rate and restore normal rhythm. |
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| Current medications/side effects | Tambocor and Warfarin: If I forget to take Tambocor, which I take mostly in 25 mg. doses (for a total of 75 to 150 mgs. per day), then it can trigger AF, especially if combined with one of my other triggers. |
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| Past medications/side effects | Amiodarone:episodes of atril flutter
Atenolol: made AF more frequent
Calcium Blocker: regular use as a single medication did not stop AF, even though I take a dose now to reduce my heart rate during an episode.
Digoxin: sent me to ER with a heart rate close to 300bpm
Tambocor: Present medication-not perfect, but it combined with a calcium blocker during AF keeps me out of ER.
Warfarin: The side effect is mostly the misery of trying to balance my diet to avoid the inconvience of driving out to get my blood tested. |
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| History of surgery | None for heart related matters. |
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| Future plans | Hang in with the medications until I detect that my health plan will provide an EP who is sufficiently experienced and skilled to do an ablation. |
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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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