Reported AF/other Episodes - Should I worry (probably not but I do)

Hi👋🏼

by Lavender - 2023-04-18 21:47:54

Love your interests posted. Singing sax goats-who could ask for anything more? Lol

I can't give medical advice but I can say that worry is never warranted. It simply accomplishes nothing. You have a monitor and your care team is on it. If this was an emergency, you would have been sent to the ER. You were told to make an appointment. Your echo is next week. 
 

You may need an adjustment of something but you are OK. You're seeing the cardiologist in a few days. So, a plan is in place to seek answers/solutions. I would say you're in a good place.  Stress can definitely change up your heart rhythm. My friend had been mowing with his riding mower. It caught fire while he was sitting on it.  He went to get a hose. No luck. He threw sand on it. Finally it burnt itself out to a crisp. 
 

He got a call from the cardiologist saying he had an "event". Uh huh. He knew it. There was a perfectly good explanation. 🙄

You've had your pacemaker 2.5 years and never saw the cardiologist!? No other testing!?  I'm glad you're going. Lol. Get your tune up/maintenance and get peace ☮️ of mind. 

Afib?

by AgentX86 - 2023-04-18 22:29:11

These are pretty short episodes but short turns into longer, and longer, and lllloooooonnngggeeerrr.  It's no emergency and it could be from stress but if it is AF it's not going to go away.  Even so, AF can be a RPITA but it's not really dangerous in itself.  Treat the side-effects (tachycardia and blood clots).  After that, anything else just treats the symptoms (not nothing).

Your cardiologist is doing the right thing.  Just make sure there is nothing else going on.  I know it's hard but don't worry about it.   Don't borrow trouble.  There is no reason to worry at this point and it can't help.

BTW, the hour might be able to be explained by Daylight Savings time.  Pacemakers have clocks but they don't understand DST. Most don't use the clocks so the time change is unimportant. I use the clock in my pacemaker so DST matters.  If I travel outside the time zone, I may be in trouble. 😣

Thank you, Lavender

by Michigan Homebody - 2023-04-18 22:37:35

You're so right. Worrying accomplishes nothing. Thank you for that reminder, and the response!  I feel ok, there's a plan to get answers and God's got me. 

Some things to ponder

by Lavender - 2023-04-19 07:32:50

I tended towards anxiety from my youth. For me, reading stuff like this often...retrains my brain to trust God. 

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 peter 5:6-7. 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Isaiah 41:9-13 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

11 “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced;those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.13 For I am the Lord your God

who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

2Chronicles 20:12 We do not know what to do, but Our eyes are on you. 

2Chron 20:15 For the battle is not yours, but God's. 

Numbers 6:22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:24 “‘“The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

DST

by piglet22 - 2023-04-20 08:01:25

Pacemakers or any other device that needs a clock to log data will have a chip called a realtime clock.

I use these a lot, but not one can deal with the DST changes in March and October.

It's not the most difficult thing to solve, but it can cause havoc.

If the RTC (real time clock) is started during DST, it stays in DST, same with standard time. In the UK standard time is GMT (Greenwich Mean Time or Zulu Time) and an hour gets added in March to give you BST (British Summer Time). If the clock is started in GMT, it stays in GMT. Same with BST.

Computers, phones, "atomic" radio clocks all take it in their stride, but it might be a step too far for the PM

Interesting fact. I live almost exactly on the Greenwich line of longitude. In one of the streets there's a plaque set in the pavement with the line. So you can have one foot in the Western hemisphere and one foot in the Eastern side. And yes, Google Maps does show 0.00 degrees, give or take 50-metres either way.

Afib Episodes

by bobrichards55 - 2023-04-21 15:40:37

Sounds like your episodes are very short, so not a concern in my opinion.  From what I have read and been told these episodes need to be in terms of hours before there is some worry of increased stroke risk.  There could be many reasons for them.  One primary one, as I have found myself, is simply dehydration.  I had always had hours of episodes for years until I started using Biosteel, a hydration drink.  The last two years have been almost episode free.  Try keeping a diary of what you do every day and try to track the episodes to your activities.

Much ado about nothing

by Michigan Homebody - 2023-04-24 15:52:04

update - Bloodwork was fine.  Cardiologist is predicting this week's eco will be fine.  He basically said that we would do nothing for the short afib episode, that I'd had one reported last year that was 38 seconds.  No biggie.  

The brief tachycardia that prompted the phone call from the monitor/tech is, as he says, "benign."  I let him know that being told I should have called 911 for feeling dizzy etc. due to that tachycardic episode caused a lot of anxiety for something that was "benign."  Most of my "symptoms" last week were due to that induced panic and anxiety.  I'm a little irritated about that.

So, I'm good.  Lesson learned...to not answer the tech's phone calls.  Just kidding.  But I'll have my grain of salt ready when I do take them. But, this did result in the realization that the pm is in EST, not EDT and doesn't update.  So that's good to know for future reference. Thanks @Piglett22, and everyone else for your comments.  It helped to know I wasn't alone.  I know, I'm never alone, but you know what I mean ;-)