Atrial Fibrilation

[bernie.freeman]

Well I had a marvellous weekend. At 01.00 on Saturday I woke up feeling very strange, I felt like I had a lump of jelly in my chest. I was taken to A and E by my husband. I was put on a monitor and my heart was beating at 200 beats a minute. I spent 36 hours in the high dependency ward of the Heart and Lung Centre. I have been prescribed a Beta Blocker and Warfarin. Has anyone else had experience of this condition ?

 

[noblehead]

Not the symptoms that you describe but I have had chest pain before and was admitted to hospital, hope the drugs do what they are meant to do and you feel better soon, best wishes Bernie.

 

[zand]

Yes ! I had a beta blocker and warfarin for it too, and yes a lump of jelly in the chest is a good description of what it was like if I tried to push myself to walk further than my heart wanted. What is the next step with you?

 

[Pasha]

Yes I went through this , had shock treatment etc and everything turned out well. I was given Coumadin [Warafin] and of course then needed to be very careful with the amount of vitamin K I consumed ie from vegetables. This and the constant need to test the clotting properties of my blood led me to change to Pradaxa, its an anticoagulant that is not sensitive to vitamin K. It costs me about $100 for a months supply, not cheap at all.I am now 16 months after my AF and everything is fine, at least in that respect.

If all goes well for you , you may be taken off the Warafin after some months pass. In any event I wish you the very best of health for the future.

 

[bernie.freeman]

Not the symptoms that you describe but I have had chest pain before and was admitted to hospital, hope the drugs do what they are meant to do and you feel better soon, best wishes Bernie.

Thanks Noblehead

 

[bernie.freeman]

Yes ! I had a beta blocker and warfarin for it too, and yes a lump of jelly in the chest is a good description of what it was like if I tried to push myself to walk further than my heart wanted. What is the next step with you?

Hi Zand, I have a follow up appointment with the Cardiologist in 6 weeks. Hopefully the beta blockers keep the problem at bay. I have been doing a bit of reading up on the subject and will be avoiding any stimulants to hopefully prevent a replay. Thank you for your reply I appreciate it.

 

[bernie.freeman]

Yes I went through this , had shock treatment etc and everything turned out well. I was given Coumadin [Warafin] and of course then needed to be very careful with the amount of vitamin K I consumed ie from vegetables. This and the constant need to test the clotting properties of my blood led me to change to Pradaxa, its an anticoagulant that is not sensitive to vitamin K. It costs me about $100 for a months supply, not cheap at all.I am now 16 months after my AF and everything is fine, at least in that respect.

If all goes well for you , you may be taken off the Warafin after some months pass. In any event I wish you the very best of health for the future.

Thank you for your input. I really appreciate it.

 

[zand]

So let us know how you get on. I didn't find warfarin was a problem, it just meant weekly trips to the nurse for a quick blood test. I actually preferred it to one of the newer drugs because at least it has been well tried and tested for very many years by people just like me. My sister in law was on one of the newer anti-coagulants and had a few problems. I'm not trying to put you off the newer ones, I'm just giving you my own personal opinion of my experience with warfarin. I took it for 2 separate periods of 2 years each.

 

[bernie.freeman]

So let us know how you get on. I didn't find warfarin was a problem, it just meant weekly trips to the nurse for a quick blood test. I actually preferred it to one of the newer drugs because at least it has been well tried and tested for very many years by people just like me. My sister in law was on one of the newer anti-coagulants and had a few problems. I'm not trying to put you off the newer ones, I'm just giving you my own personal opinion of my experience with warfarin. I took it for 2 separate periods of 2 years each.

Thanks ZAnd for your advice, I will bear it in mind, hopefully I won't have to take the Warfarin forever. x

 

[zand]

Sorry I meant to say 'weekly testing at first' after that it gradually got reduced to testing every 4-6 weeks, which was much easier.