Because I found out today that’s what I’ve got. Would love to hear stories about how other folks deal with it. I’m glad it’s not afib, but it still ain’t fun.
Currently the doctor has me on metoprolol (a total of 125mg per day, 50 mg in the am and 75 in the pm) to keep my heart rate down, but it’s making me feel rather tired and crappy, along with not doing quite good enough a job, so on Monday we’re going to switch to diltiazem. Not looking forward to that (switching around these kinds of meds is not fun at all), but I do hope in the end it’ll control things a bit better without the tiredness.
And speaking of tiredness, I also managed to talk the doc into sending me for a sleep study even though he says I don’t ‘fit the profile’ of someone who might have apnea, because I’ve been sleeping like shit and I’m sure that isn’t helping this mess either.
Sorry to hear that.
I had ventricular tachycardia from birth until the age of 30 when it was corrected by catheter ablation.
…and I’ll leave it there. I just thought I’d throw it out there, as there might be some overlap in terms of the treatment options and overall clinic experience. But in terms of symptoms it sounds quite different.
Hope you find a med that works and get your energy back.
Thanks! It’s my understanding that ablation can be used as a treatment for this but currently the doc thinks this can be controlled with meds, so here we are. I guess we’ll see.
Two years ago I was diagnosed with tachycardia and A-fib. I was put on metoprolol and Eliquis, and then later they scheduled me for an ablation. My metoprolol dosage is only 50mg every morning.
The problem I ran into is that I also have anemia, and a blood thinner like Eliquis aggravated that. The alternative was to install something called a Watchman in my heart; this is supposed to prevent atrial clots from forming (or something like that). This allowed me to be taken off the blood thinner.
I haven’t had any incidents in over a year now. But it’s still something I have to keep in mind; I have a home heart monitor that I use to check my heart rate and detect possible A-fib.
I had a cardiac ablation for AFIB and recently had a Watchman installed for stroke prevention. Both are common and easy procedures. I’m looking forward to being off Eliquis in two weeks!
They had taken me off the blood thinners briefly before they installed the Watchman, then put me on low-dose Eliquis after installing it until they were sure it was properly “seated”. I’ve been off it for a while now, which is a relief because I’m no longer having to go in for endoscopies to check for and fix bleeders in my stomach.
I’ve had A-fib for about 20 and, except for the blood thinner, it doesn’t seem to bother me at all. Before eliquis, I took rat poison every day (what’s it actually called?) and that required blood tests and dose adjustments every 6 weeks, which was a PITA. Now with eliquis, it is painless. I also started having brachycardia about 15 years ago and they installed a pacemaker and replaced it about a year ago. The only thing that means to my lifestyle is that TSA has to wand me instead of sending me through the X-ray machine. Also I cannot have an MRI. My pulse is a constant 60.
How uncomfortable or scary is an ablation? I had atrial flutter once (curbed by a procedure called cardioversion), but my cardiologist threatens me with ablation if it comes back, as her way to browbeat me to lose more than the 70 pounds I have already lost.
My ablation was done by running a catheter up to my heart from my groin and freezing the errant nerves. I was obviously knocked out during the procedure, and was sent home as soon as they were sure the insertion point was healed (the next day). I haven’t had an AFib incident since.
In addition to whatever feedback you get here, I’m aware of two forums for people with (primarily) afib, many of whom end up getting ablations and sharing their experiences.
There’s also a relatively new technology (Pulsed Field Ablation) that’s both interesting and promising.
I can’t tell you anything about atrial tachycardia, but boy, metoprolol is a familiar name. It was one of several medications I was supposed to be taking after my PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention, formerly called angioplastly with stenting) but after a while I stopped taking it because of side effects. They weren’t the same as what you report; in my case, metoprolol was causing me to distinctly hear the sound of my heartbeat in my ears, which was disturbing at night. I was supposed to be taking 25mg in the morning and again at night. My cardiologist is trying me on bisoprolol instead, but if that has side effects too we’re just going to give up on beta blockers, as I already take another medication for blood pressure.
AIUI, an ablation is performed with a catheter inserted either through the groin or through the wrist. I have no experience with it but I have had PCI done as mentioned above, and it’s performed in a similar way. In my case the catheter went in through my wrist and then up to my heart, and was used to insert stents, which are basically tiny metal tubes inserted into blockages in cardiac arteries to open them up.
Anyone who might need any such procedure will be reassured to know that as scary as it sounds, it’s totally a nothingburger. You’re not knocked out (at least not for PCI) but are given good drugs including a powerful painkiller (probably fentanyl). The dreamy state induced by the drugs and the futuristic look of the catheter lab made the whole experience actually rather pleasant. I still fondly recall the cute little robot hovering over my chest, bopping and whirling as it delivered real-time images of the proceedings to guide the doctors.
The only caveat is that I was informed that there was a small chance that the procedure could induce a heart attack, but as the doctor said, if you’re going to have a heart attack, the cardiac ward of a hospital is the best place to have it!
Well, that’s certainly different! I’ve taken beta blockers for decades and have generally tolerated it well. I’ve decided to stick with the metoprolol for the time being - it occurred to me if the sleep study points to something I can do to get better sleep, that may be all I need to do regarding the tiredness. Better than going through beta blocker withdrawal while trying to figure out the dosage of a new drug.
I’ve had AFIB for15 years at least. I used to go to get my INR tested every 6 weeks (my clinic is close by) but I almost never had my dose adjusted. Now I have a test at home kit, which is far more of a pain. (They closed down the INR testing service.) No impact on my life, though. Warfarin costs me nothing with Medicare.
I’ve been on diltiazem since the beginning of my AFib, and have had almost no problems with it. The single exception was that one night the vein in my arm started to throb badly enough that my wife could both see it and feel it. Since it was the middle of the night, I went to the emergency room. My cardiologist reduced my dose and I’ve been fine ever since.
Except for taking the pills, AFib hasn’t affected my life one bit.
Pretty much the same for me, except they zapped the extra nerve with a laser.
I can also add that it was their second go at an ablation for me.
The first time was around the year 1995. They couldn’t successfully isolate the nerve and gave up after 6.5 hours (!). Not much fun waking up after GA for that long, and they had to put a cast on my arm because apparently I kept trying to pull at my IV.
Around 15 years later, during a regular check-up with a doctor, he was astonished that I was still living with ventricular tachycardia and strongly suggested I consider the surgery again. And he was right – in the intervening time the technology for isolating the nerve had advanced, and they found and zapped the nerve in a straightfoward 1.5 hour surgery. The only uncomfortable bit was after removing the catheter they have to put pressure on the wound to aid healing.
Yeah, that’s it. The basic problem is the thin line between a minimal effective dose and a dangerous dose. It can cause a stroke. Eliquis can’t. Another problem with coumadin is that you can’t eat brassica since vitamin K (which is named I think after the German word Kohl for cabbage) destroys it.
A friend of mine had a pulmonary embolism and was on Warfarin for years, and had be be careful about what she ate. I’m not sure if she’s still taking it; she has (like me) a number of health issues and her various doctors are always having to play “musical prescriptions” when she starts having problems.