Hi folks long time away june was a bad month all new stack of meds.went to see my heart nurse found out my cardioversions on the 7th,of august meds have got rate down from in the 170 to 61 beats.blah blah also putting me down for angia gram she could not believe i have not had one yet.i was here last year going for cardioversion when it went back into sinus rhytm i dont think thers much chance of that hope they dont put me on a treadmill i will explode after 10.seconds on it
All the best for the 7th. You've had a rough time recently.
With an echocardiogram they can give you a drug that increases your heart rate as if you are exercising. I expect that the same applies to an ECG stress test.
Hi popeye, you be careful - the idiots wanted me to go on the treadmill . me, with chronic bronchial asthma ,,, you may guess what I told them ,,,
that you would be delighted to give it a go?????
sorry couldnt resist...
I know what you mean, they only treat that illness and dont look at anything else or how it links in....... sometimes (frequently) i wish i could get them into the room together to go over everything and .... then why stress myself about it ........ All good wishes Popeye hope it goes well and is another step on the treatment road
Sress tests are very unreliable. I've had three (1993, 2000. 2011) that produced false positives and caused me to have angiograms that showed my arteries to be clear
Good luck with that! I'm going for mine on August 3rd. First one lasted 11 months but luckily I have no symptoms and feel perfectly well with lots of energy. Was only originally diagnosed at a pre-op medical.
Hi Popeye, Well how about that, just got the news that my cardioversion is on the 20th August so you beat me by a fortnight!! At least now you sound like you are getting somewhere, I felt great after my first cardioversion, just like my old self. Sadly it did not last but I did speak to someone on the Health Unlocked forum who is still in normal rhythm after her cardioversion January 2014 so there is hope for us yet. I wonder if there is anyone out there who has had their cardioversion last?? Would be interesting to hear from them but not everyone is on a forum. Good luck and let us know how you are? xx
Wow, guys I was cardioverted once and it lasted 18 hours. Then they put me on cardivert or something like that and within a week I was back in normal rythem. Drugs will only last so long and then you'll need an ablations. I'm a fib free I take a 81mg of asprin. You won't believe how good you'll feel once you stop taken all those heart meds. I feel for each one of you, but if you want to stop the maddness get an ablation as soon as you can. Best of luck to you all
When I was in to have my pacemaker fitted last week four others were there to have cardiversions. All of them had had previously had a few. I asked the Sister doing them if any patients get away with just having one. Most come back again she said.
My first cardioversion lasted for fifteen momths and the second one for nine. As you take 81mg aspirin rather than 75 you are obviously in the USA. It is not all that easy to get an ablation in the UK NHS system.
H, Lankylass, just wondering how long do you consider a cardioversion to be a lasting one?
My first, back in Jan, only lasted a few days.
My second, in mid-March (after being put on Amioderone) is still going.
Ejection fraction has gone from 25 to 58% during this time and I'm feeling great!
So it would seem that the Amioderone dug me out of the hoe that I was in.
Cardiologist wants to get me off the Amioderone as it is a potentially nasty med if taken long term and get me onto Sotolol.
Whilst I think this is a good move, I'm a little anxious about going in AF after changing over.
Guess I just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best!
(and keep a close eye on everything!)
Amiodarone is good but as he says you dont want to be on it a day longer than required.
Have you Googled "The history of amiodarone"
I'm living in Australia and have private health cover, so not reliant upon the public system here (which I would probably have to go on a long waiting list for an ablation). My cardiologist says that I'd only be a candidate for ablation if I went back into afib again.
Going on what I'm reading in these forums, I suspect that this is more of a 'when', rather than'if'!
My cardiologist told me that only 60% of ablations are successful on the first attempt! and given that this is an emerging area of medicine, when they are still making improvements and perfecting various techniques, I'm in no rush to have one ATM, but suspect it may be inevitable.
My older brother had an ablation a decade ago after being cardioverted several times and was found dead six months later (autopsy was inconclusive, but was probably a fatal heart rhythm). This adds to my reluctance to rush out and get an ablation at this point in time.
I guess my cardiologist and I both seem to be working on the same principle, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!".
Hopefully by the time I need one, there'll be a better than 60% success rate.
Ok guys a Cardiologist is not the person to be talking to about your afib. You need to see a electrocardioogist. Cardiologist takes care of the plumbing of your heart and EC takes care of your electicial side of your heart. The EC preforms the Ablation. However, your Cardiologoist can try and correct your afib/aflutter using drugs to control or correct your issue but when drugs stop working and they will you'll need to go to a EC. While its true my first one didn't take but it did last me for 18 months I then developed a case of a flutter and a slight case of afib. It's been 9 months now and I hope all is well for the rest of my life. the heart meds really screwed with me, I was depressed and feeling useless with afib. I feel for each of you but their is a working cure for afib, seek out a EC and talk with him or her about your case. It's really a simple procedure your in and out in 36 hours
HI Simon, I wonder why they put you on amioderone? They gave me that intravenously the day I went into AF, (June 2014) and it didn't send me back into sinus rhythm, I am a little anxious about that drug as lots of people on this site have had bad experiences with it. Before I had my first CV, I was on 5mg Bisoprolol morning, 5mg at night and 4mg warfarin, I saw the cardiologist a month later and he took me off the 5mg at night. I felt great, was able to walk miles, (well, up to 5 or 6 miles as I did before my CV), and had no side effects to speak of with the remaining 5mg bisoprolol. I did ask the warfarin nurses if they were seeing anyone who had a cardioversion which had lasted, when I say lasted I really mean years instead of months, if most of us are only getting 7 or 8 months out of them then what's the point of doing them? It's not exactly nice having a few thousand volts going through your body is it? I just wondered if there's anyone out there who is a real success story? I don't know when hospitals did the first cardioversion but AF has been round a long time, however, I know this sounds odd but the very first time I heard the word atrial fibrillation was when my friend was diagnosed about 5 months before I was? I asked the same question on a site called Health Unlocked, (I think that's it) and someone said they had their cardioversion a year last January and it was still holding, I think if you make it through the first year you have a good chance of it staying. Anyway, hope that you keep well, cheers,
Hi Derek, I know that I have replied to you before and I do get your posts in my e-mail, you probably get mine too, I am due for my next CV on 20th August after the first one lasted for 7 months. You did pretty well with your first lasting for 15 months. Are you stil in sinus rhythm? Did you have a third after your second lasted for nine months or did you go down the ablation route? I am considering that if the next one doesn't last, not looking forward to it but like Popeye, if it helps you get rid of these horrible feelings you get with AF then it's worth it. Cheers,
It seems that outside factors cause my AF. My aortic valve replacement at 77 caused the first one in May 2012 with the later first cardioversion lasting for the fifteen months. Stimulation of my vagus nerve during a colonoscopy put me back in it and the next CV lasted around nine months until I had a DRE (digital rectal examination in urology) in January that again stimulated it and I have been in and out to AF since.
My seven day ECG monitor in May did not have me in AF all the time but it showed that I had tachy bradycardia and up to three second pauses between heart beats and needed a pacemaker.
Look for my recent long post, My pacemaker experience.
For some reason my heart rate went from a recent average of 72 up to 100 after the pacemaker was fitted. The cardiologist was happy to leave it like that untreated until I go back on a blood thinner and get another new health problem sorted out and see him in six months to discuss ablation or another CV. I spoke to another doctor beforte lreaving the hospital and she has prescribed Diltiazem that I am rather wary of but over this week it has brought my heart rate mainly into the 60's and 70's and only about half of my BP readings are showing the irregular symbol.
Hi Mike, you are spot on with the electro cardiologist advice.
My cardiologist has already told me that if I go into AF again, that he would refer to to an electro-physiologist for an ablation. As I said before, this is probably just a matter of time until this happens for me as most cardioversions tend not to last.
Hi Lankylass, My understanding is that Amioderone is the 'big gun' of the anti-arrithmia meds, and because of it's potentially nasty side effects with longer term use. In Australia, they seem to prescribe it as a last resort and then try not to have you it for too long if possible.
i was prescribed several different antiarrythmia meds when I was first diagnosed last Dec., unfortunately none of these worked for me at the time.
I'm guessing that I'll eventually end up having to have an ablation at some point, but will just have to keep an eye on things and just take it as it comes.
I certainly was expecting all this at the 'tender' age of 49!! 
(also wasn't expecting prostate cancer at 45! - kind of feeling like I'm falling apart about 20 years too soon!!)
My kids are only 10 & 12, I'd really like to be around long enough to see grandchildren if possible, hopefully that'll happen for me.