Comments please...

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/31/2003 10:55:25 PM Central Standard Time,

waw_waw_98@... writes:

Then " when your frustration level gets high

enough and you want your life back, we will put in a pacemaker " ...I

would really appreciate any comments anyone might have on the

pacemaker with the AV node ablation, and your experiences with

Tambacor, and Rythmol. It seems to me, to go off Betapace slowly is

a good idea...Again, any comments would be welcome. Thanks, Marie

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Marie

I don't know where you live but I think your EP is out of date. There are

other drugs to try, dofetilide has been very effective for many of our members.

I

am successfully taking amiodarone which has many side effects and I was

hoping there would be more options before the side effects caught up with me

but I

am afraid they have. There are other ablation procedures that cure afib. What

your EP is recommending is to totally elliminate your sinus node which is the

source of heart beat commands and make you totally dependent on a pacemaker.

This is the last resort and I encourage you to get a second opinion and a

third if necessary until you get all of your options explained to you.

If you search our data bases you will find descriptions of probably all the

options also.

I expect you will get many other responses from this group.

Guy

[Guest guest]

Dear Marie,

I agree with Guy. You should get second and even third opinions. A number of

us, myself included, have been cured of afib via ablations. If you are in or

are near a major city, perhaps members of the group can suggest doctors they

have faith in.

Best wishes,

[Guest guest]

Marie,

Please get a second opinion. Your Dr. is recommending a drastic procedure at

this early stage of your AFib life. There are other drug therapies and

Ablations that can either help or cure you.

I don''t know where you live, but the best AFib heart hospitals that can help

you are in

Cleveland, Oh. The Cleveland Clinic #1 in the US if not the world. Dr.

Natale. Others are in Houston, Tx., Boston, Mass.,Minneapolis, Mn., Birmingham,

Al.,

Oklahoma City, Ok., Los s, Ca., Michi

Michigan, Raliegh-Durham, NC., and there are several others.

With out knowing the particulars in your case, I would still shop around for

another opinion. Once a sinus node ablation is done, you can't change it back.

I had a successful full ablation just over a year ago and have been AF free.

A Fib is not life threatening in itself. Pace yourself! (no pun intended)

Rich O

[Guest guest]

I've been very busy through January, so wasn't able to read the

posts as much as I like..However this morning, I had a

problem...episode...what ever label they want to stick on it. First

a little history and try not to make it too long. I was diagonosed

with a-fib one year ago in Feb. I was put on Cardizem..and

coumadin, about 10 days later I was driving to work, sudden feeling

of nausea, dizziness and was sure I was going to black out, I called

911 from my cell phone, and ended up in the ER, was chemically

cardioverted. (not sure what it was, here if you don't specifically

ask each question, the answers are slow in comming.) That time I was

given a higher dose of cardizem, still on coumadin. Then at the end

of May I was hospitalized and switched to Sotolol (Beta Pace) I

didn't do well on BetaPace at all, terrible pressure in my chest,

extreme fatigue, really scared most of the time. Constant break-

throughs. In October I went to an EP, he weaned my off sotolol and

put me on flecainide (100 twice daily) and .25 digoxin, plus the

coumadin. I was not hospitalized for the flecainide. The EP wants to

do an AV Node ablation and pacemaker. So far I have refused. On

the tambocor I still have break throughs, but not nearly as severe

as the ones on betapace..and I feel almost normal. Except I have

been retaining fluids, so when I went to see my regular Dr last

thursday he prescribed Dyazide 37..5.25 once daily. over the week-

end I lost 6 pounds. When I got up this morning, laying out my meds,

fixing coffee, turning on the computer, I started feeling reallly

strange..dizzy..nausua..my tongue was tingling on the tip and way

back in my throat, clamminess. I knew I was breathing but felt like

I wasn't getting any oxygen. I felt certain I was going to pass

out, and at one point I did pass out. I put one nitro under my

tongue, felt a little better after a few minutes, but my husband

called 911 because I was shakey and blue around the mouth. Once the

emt's arrived and started an IV and got oxygen going, my BP got up

to 127/81...my HR was good...I DIDN'T go in a-fib...my ecg looked

better that for ages. Now the dr in ER gave me ??? for anxiety, and

a prescription for vertigo...I'm not happy...I definately think I

could have been dehydrated..but would it have caused all this?

Anyway glad to be NSR...Sorry about the length of this..Any comments

would be welcomed. Have a call in to my cardio now...Thank you all

again " for being there " Marie 66 Pacific Northwest

[Guest guest]

Marie - I'm sorry you had such a tough time, but to me it sounds like you need

to go to your cardiologist asap and hash out all the drugs you are on with

him/her, since it sounds like you've gotten too many from too many different

doctors and each may not know enough about the other to safely perscribe

anything!

I think often doctors will view one problem, like the vertigo, and say " lets

treat that all by itself " without saying.. gee.... maybe her bp dropped too low

for a brief period of time, for who knows why, and perhaps we should concentrate

on trying to figure out why THAT might have happened, instead of just

perscribing a drug for vertigo.

Likewise the anxiety... it's easy to just perscribe a pill and make you feel

like it's all your imagination, but the right thing to do would have been to

figure out why you might have been so anxious.. WAS your heart up to something,

which would explain the blue lips.. that had cleared itself up by the time you

got to the ER? Sometimes our bodies go into automatic anxiety because something

is physically going on that we may not even be aware of..sort of a survival

mechanism...

Anyway.. I do wish you the best in this, but I would seriously talk to your

cardiologist about all the drugs that have been perscribed by these different

doctors and let him or her have the last word on what you should be taking or

not.

Stef

Marie wrote:

I've been very busy through January, so wasn't able to read the

posts as much as I like..However this morning, I had a

problem...episode...what ever label they want to stick on it. First

a little history and try not to make it too long. I was diagonosed

with a-fib one year ago in Feb. I was put on Cardizem..and

coumadin, about 10 days later I was driving to work, sudden feeling

of nausea, dizziness and was sure I was going to black out, I called

911 from my cell phone, and ended up in the ER, was chemically

cardioverted. (not sure what it was, here if you don't specifically

ask each question, the answers are slow in comming.) That time I was

given a higher dose of cardizem, still on coumadin. Then at the end

of May I was hospitalized and switched to Sotolol (Beta Pace) I

didn't do well on BetaPace at all, terrible pressure in my chest,

extreme fatigue, really scared most of the time. Constant break-

throughs. In October I went to an EP, he weaned my off sotolol and

put me on flecainide (100 twice daily) and .25 digoxin, plus the

coumadin. I was not hospitalized for the flecainide. The EP wants to

do an AV Node ablation and pacemaker. So far I have refused. On

the tambocor I still have break throughs, but not nearly as severe

as the ones on betapace..and I feel almost normal. Except I have

been retaining fluids, so when I went to see my regular Dr last

thursday he prescribed Dyazide 37..5.25 once daily. over the week-

end I lost 6 pounds. When I got up this morning, laying out my meds,

fixing coffee, turning on the computer, I started feeling reallly

strange..dizzy..nausua..my tongue was tingling on the tip and way

back in my throat, clamminess. I knew I was breathing but felt like

I wasn't getting any oxygen. I felt certain I was going to pass

out, and at one point I did pass out. I put one nitro under my

tongue, felt a little better after a few minutes, but my husband

called 911 because I was shakey and blue around the mouth. Once the

emt's arrived and started an IV and got oxygen going, my BP got up

to 127/81...my HR was good...I DIDN'T go in a-fib...my ecg looked

better that for ages. Now the dr in ER gave me ??? for anxiety, and

a prescription for vertigo...I'm not happy...I definately think I

could have been dehydrated..but would it have caused all this?

Anyway glad to be NSR...Sorry about the length of this..Any comments

would be welcomed. Have a call in to my cardio now...Thank you all

again " for being there " Marie 66 Pacific Northwest

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