Quote:
Originally Posted by QuikSand
One Scare Along The Way
In 2016, I had a scary incident... I will spare the tick tock style replay, but it turned out to be a AFib incident. In an ambulance on the way to a hospital, I was told that my pulse was 180. It took medication overnight and they were just an hour or two away from scheduling a "paddles" intervention (that sounded scary as shit) when it dissipated, as they had advised it could/should.
Follow-up with cardiologist, lots of stress testing, etc. No signs of any real defect. Apparently this fact pattern happens fairly commonly. Doc effectively says "take a beta blocker and a low dose aspirin every day, and we'll see you once a year... pretty good chance this never happens to you again." And it has not.
I believe my AFib was a by product of apnea, and I have since gotten a CPAP which I am apparently incapable of wearing for very long, it ends up on the floor overnight.
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I have had two episodes of lone A-Fib, once when I was 35 after basically inflicting alcohol poisoning on myself at a party. Resolved in the Er after being hydrated, didn't even need a IV of meds.
Second when I was 43 (17 years ago now) when I was at the tail end of working in a VERY stressful job, to the point where my exercise was about 1/3 of my usual routine AND I started smoking because of this after not having touched a cigarette for almost 14 years, when i was a social smoker.
The second episode did require I get paddled and it was scary as shit, they knocked me out, zapped me (with wife in the room) I came to. The lasting impression i have from this, is as I woke up, the ER doc, with a look on his face, that I can only describe as a cross between relief and mild surprise, said "Well it worked" Like the outcome could have been much different.
Obviously this was a huge wake up call, so immediately quit smoking, took a 30 K plus pay cut and got another job and went 100% back into my routine of exercise and diet, which I had been allowing to get away from me as a stress coping mechanism, instead of a cigarette.
All of my tests showed the same thing, no sign of defect, good exercise tolerance, etc. Only slight abnormality was my EKG showed a grade 1 right bundle branch block. For those with no underlying condition/risk factors, this is generally a benign condition, but it does make you more susceptible to A-Fib.
Because of this, I need to exercise special caution not doing certain things, drinking too much, avoiding anything that stimulates my heart, like energy drinks, nicotine, etc. So in my case, it was things I did to myself that brought this on and I have not had any issues for 17 years. I see a cardiologist annually, get a stress echo every 3 years, everything is good, so it is just a matter of me being smart.
So diet, exercise 5-6 days a week and stay away from the crap above. Hopefully yours is also just a case of lone A-Fib as well.