Atrial Fibrillation with ICD

I had shortage of breath the past two days and when I went to the cardiologist today they took an EKG and I was told that I had gone into atrial fibrillation and that was the cause of the shortage of breath. Doctor also increased one of my heart meds to 3 times a day rather than two. I was told if this does not improve the AF by next week, then they will have to give me an electric shock through the AF device to regulate my heart. I thought that was the purpose of my having this biventricular defibillator/pacemaker implanted to begin with.
Now I am confused!! Has anyone had a similar experience?

2 Comments

afib

by Tracey_E - 2012-09-20 04:09:55

Pacemakers and icd's can't usually do much for afib. Afib is when the atria quivers rather than contracting in a full beat, then the ventricle gets confused and tries to keep up by beating too fast. For the most part, the pm is there to speed your heart up when you're too slow or level you out when you're skipping beats. It can't do much more than watch when the heart goes fast or fibrillates on its own. Sometimes the pm can try to get the heart out of afib by pacing the atria. I don't have afib so I don't know much about that, but it's fairly new and I don't think it's 100% effective (someone correct me if I'm wrong!)

The bivent part is to increase efficiency of the ventricles, unrelated to anything atrial.

The ICD is there to shock you out of a dangerous rhythm.

Fingers crossed the change in meds gets it under control!

CRT-D (also called a biventricular pacemaker)

by Bill T - 2012-09-20 06:09:28

Richard, check out this link from the Cleveland Clinic

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/services/tests/procedures/biventricular_pm.aspx

and it should clarify the purpose of your bi-vent-defibrillator.

As Tracy indicated the pacemaker just correct for slow or missing heart beats. Some pms have an A-Fib function but in my case it caused more problems that it was supposed to solve so I had it turned off.

Thankfully, my CRT-D has never fired and I hope it never does but am glad its there it its ever needed. I have a friend whose ICD has fired a few times and being a good country boy, from the panhandle of FL, describes it as getting in the chest by a mule.

By the way, my CRT has increased my EF (ejection faction) from the 30s to the upper 50s which is about normal, especially for a 75 year old foggie like me.

Hope this helps clarify your concerns,

Bill T

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