Re: Help, I have AF, I think. (Long)

[Guest guest]

Hi, Larry,

My heart is swimming :-) I tried to read your entire message, but am

sure I missed something.

One question I have is how often you are actually having afib. When

you refer to your monitor " going off " it sounds like it is triggered

by a relatively fast heart rate which could often be perfectly normal.

One thing I didn't learn for awhile is that you can likely tell from

taking your pulse at your wrist if you are in afib. If you feel

pauses and jumbles, that is almost certainly afib.

It is quite possible to have a fast pulse that is normal. It is also

possible to have muscle tremors that seem 100% like a racing heart

but which aren't at all. I have those myself, and fortunately

managed to catch several of them when I was wearing a monitor, and

the ekgs were normal, so now I just check my pulse and ignore them.

If you can determine how often you are actually having afib, you will

have a good leg up on how much treatment, if any, you need.

Yes, a stimulant will certainly cause your heart to race and may

bring on afib.

What city in California are you moving to? Perhaps someone can

recommend a good doc there.

[Guest guest]

Hi, Larry,

My heart is swimming :-) I tried to read your entire message, but am

sure I missed something.

One question I have is how often you are actually having afib. When

you refer to your monitor " going off " it sounds like it is triggered

by a relatively fast heart rate which could often be perfectly normal.

One thing I didn't learn for awhile is that you can likely tell from

taking your pulse at your wrist if you are in afib. If you feel

pauses and jumbles, that is almost certainly afib.

It is quite possible to have a fast pulse that is normal. It is also

possible to have muscle tremors that seem 100% like a racing heart

but which aren't at all. I have those myself, and fortunately

managed to catch several of them when I was wearing a monitor, and

the ekgs were normal, so now I just check my pulse and ignore them.

If you can determine how often you are actually having afib, you will

have a good leg up on how much treatment, if any, you need.

Yes, a stimulant will certainly cause your heart to race and may

bring on afib.

What city in California are you moving to? Perhaps someone can

recommend a good doc there.

[Guest guest]

Hi, Larry,

My heart is swimming :-) I tried to read your entire message, but am

sure I missed something.

One question I have is how often you are actually having afib. When

you refer to your monitor " going off " it sounds like it is triggered

by a relatively fast heart rate which could often be perfectly normal.

One thing I didn't learn for awhile is that you can likely tell from

taking your pulse at your wrist if you are in afib. If you feel

pauses and jumbles, that is almost certainly afib.

It is quite possible to have a fast pulse that is normal. It is also

possible to have muscle tremors that seem 100% like a racing heart

but which aren't at all. I have those myself, and fortunately

managed to catch several of them when I was wearing a monitor, and

the ekgs were normal, so now I just check my pulse and ignore them.

If you can determine how often you are actually having afib, you will

have a good leg up on how much treatment, if any, you need.

Yes, a stimulant will certainly cause your heart to race and may

bring on afib.

What city in California are you moving to? Perhaps someone can

recommend a good doc there.

[Guest guest]

Hi, Trudy,

Thanks for getting back to me. According to my Dr. I only had 1

fibrillation during the month I was monitored. From the ECG trace he

showed me it looked like the AF part was only 1-2 beats long. I did

have very long, multi-hour periods of what he called atrial pre-beats

which I assume are PAC's.

I feel the PAC's when they happen and it feel like the pauses and

jumbles you mentioned. When I asked my Dr. about them, he said that

they weren't the issue except in so far that they might trigger AF.

As to the fast heart beat, my Dr. wasn't concerned about that. The

monitor had an auto trigger which set it off all the time, but my

heart didn't go above 140/minute the entire month. THey actually

asked me to stop sending in my data if the heart rate was under 140,

but since I had no way of determining what set off the monitor or how

fast my heart rate was when it went off I just kept sending in the

data. They called again and asked why I was still sending in the

data with heart rates under 140 and I asked them how to set the

monitor to disply hear rate. I read on the monitors web site that

the Dr. could set it to display the heart rate, but no one in his

office knew how to do this.

As to moving to CA, that at least a year or two away, but I'm

thinking San Fran.

Once again thank you for your reply.

>

>

> Hi, Larry,

>

> My heart is swimming :-) I tried to read your entire message, but

am

> sure I missed something.

>

> One question I have is how often you are actually having afib.

When

> you refer to your monitor " going off " it sounds like it is

triggered

> by a relatively fast heart rate which could often be perfectly

normal.

>

> One thing I didn't learn for awhile is that you can likely tell

from

> taking your pulse at your wrist if you are in afib. If you feel

> pauses and jumbles, that is almost certainly afib.

>

> It is quite possible to have a fast pulse that is normal. It is

also

> possible to have muscle tremors that seem 100% like a racing heart

> but which aren't at all. I have those myself, and fortunately

> managed to catch several of them when I was wearing a monitor, and

> the ekgs were normal, so now I just check my pulse and ignore them.

>

> If you can determine how often you are actually having afib, you

will

> have a good leg up on how much treatment, if any, you need.

>

> Yes, a stimulant will certainly cause your heart to race and may

> bring on afib.

>

> What city in California are you moving to? Perhaps someone can

> recommend a good doc there.

[Guest guest]

Hi, Trudy,

Thanks for getting back to me. According to my Dr. I only had 1

fibrillation during the month I was monitored. From the ECG trace he

showed me it looked like the AF part was only 1-2 beats long. I did

have very long, multi-hour periods of what he called atrial pre-beats

which I assume are PAC's.

I feel the PAC's when they happen and it feel like the pauses and

jumbles you mentioned. When I asked my Dr. about them, he said that

they weren't the issue except in so far that they might trigger AF.

As to the fast heart beat, my Dr. wasn't concerned about that. The

monitor had an auto trigger which set it off all the time, but my

heart didn't go above 140/minute the entire month. THey actually

asked me to stop sending in my data if the heart rate was under 140,

but since I had no way of determining what set off the monitor or how

fast my heart rate was when it went off I just kept sending in the

data. They called again and asked why I was still sending in the

data with heart rates under 140 and I asked them how to set the

monitor to disply hear rate. I read on the monitors web site that

the Dr. could set it to display the heart rate, but no one in his

office knew how to do this.

As to moving to CA, that at least a year or two away, but I'm

thinking San Fran.

Once again thank you for your reply.

>

>

> Hi, Larry,

>

> My heart is swimming :-) I tried to read your entire message, but

am

> sure I missed something.

>

> One question I have is how often you are actually having afib.

When

> you refer to your monitor " going off " it sounds like it is

triggered

> by a relatively fast heart rate which could often be perfectly

normal.

>

> One thing I didn't learn for awhile is that you can likely tell

from

> taking your pulse at your wrist if you are in afib. If you feel

> pauses and jumbles, that is almost certainly afib.

>

> It is quite possible to have a fast pulse that is normal. It is

also

> possible to have muscle tremors that seem 100% like a racing heart

> but which aren't at all. I have those myself, and fortunately

> managed to catch several of them when I was wearing a monitor, and

> the ekgs were normal, so now I just check my pulse and ignore them.

>

> If you can determine how often you are actually having afib, you

will

> have a good leg up on how much treatment, if any, you need.

>

> Yes, a stimulant will certainly cause your heart to race and may

> bring on afib.

>

> What city in California are you moving to? Perhaps someone can

> recommend a good doc there.

[Guest guest]

> Hi, Trudy,

>

> Thanks for getting back to me. According to my Dr. I only had 1

> fibrillation during the month I was monitored. From the ECG trace

he

> showed me it looked like the AF part was only 1-2 beats long. I

did

> have very long, multi-hour periods of what he called atrial pre-

beats

> which I assume are PAC's.

Hi, Larry,

A suggestion to run by your doc. Very recently we had a discussion

here about people reducing the number of PACs by taking magnesium

supplements, even though their blood tests did not show a magnesium

deficiency. My cardiologist recommended a supplement called SlowMag,

one pill a day. It probably doesn't work for everyone, but a number

of people had a substantial reduction in PACs within a few days to a

couple of weeks of starting the magnesium.

I can understand how frequent PACs bother you - they drive me nuts,

so I was glad to find that for me magnesium reduces them a whole lot.

[Guest guest]

> Hi, Trudy,

>

> Thanks for getting back to me. According to my Dr. I only had 1

> fibrillation during the month I was monitored. From the ECG trace

he

> showed me it looked like the AF part was only 1-2 beats long. I

did

> have very long, multi-hour periods of what he called atrial pre-

beats

> which I assume are PAC's.

Hi, Larry,

A suggestion to run by your doc. Very recently we had a discussion

here about people reducing the number of PACs by taking magnesium

supplements, even though their blood tests did not show a magnesium

deficiency. My cardiologist recommended a supplement called SlowMag,

one pill a day. It probably doesn't work for everyone, but a number

of people had a substantial reduction in PACs within a few days to a

couple of weeks of starting the magnesium.

I can understand how frequent PACs bother you - they drive me nuts,

so I was glad to find that for me magnesium reduces them a whole lot.

[Guest guest]

> > Hi, Trudy,

p.s. I don't know if magnesium interferes with the absorption of

meds or not, but I take mine three hours after my beta blocker, just

in case.