Heart aflutter again.
I just spent the day in hospital with a heart flutter. I am on beta blockers, as it happened about March last year too. Not sure if it is my age or a follow on from the 2016 chemo but it is annoying t...
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Wow so much has happened since the last post. I did end up in the ER again with Afib. This time the Metroprolol wouldn't do diddly even with an increased dose rate. They were loathe to electronically cardiovert me back into a rhythm for a 3rd time and I had to stay overnight to see a cardio specialist the next day.
Que, fire alarms! They went on for ages with nurses shouting over them what patients to evacuate. My BP and heat rate went up thru the roof and they gave me Valium to settle me down a bit. Of course it was a false alarm but none of us knew that.
The next day the cardiologist saw me at 10am and suggested Sotalol which I had been on years ago and poo'd the aspirin blood thinner of only $2.50 and put me on Eliquis which is $40 a month. At 3pm they finally coughed up one Sotalol pill to try and get me into a rhythm and after an hour and a half it had done absolutely nothing. My BP was still up and my heart rate and it went higher every time someone came in to my cubicle.
Then they finally suggested after two days, maybe we could electronically cardiovert you back in to a rhythm again? But hang on, now its been so long out of rhythm, there is a 1 in 300 chance you could stroke out. They are telling me this while there is a stroke patient in the bed next door to me and she did not sound good. Please sign this waver for the procedure. Oh, and you had lunch, oh sorry they said as they took away my water bottle, you have to fast now for 6 more hours.
I lost it then and a kindly nurse came in to see what was wrong. I blubbered about having to fast for another 6 hours because I ate something after a day and a half of not eating. She said oh bull! So now I had conflicting advice on what to do.
In the end I disconnected myself from the machine, got dressed and demanded to be discharged.
Suddenly there were my long awaited scripts for my meds and a waver to sign to discharge. My son picked me up and we just made the chemists to get the scripts filled before closing.
I took another Sotalol on the spot and went home to a herbal cup of tea and you know what? The heart went right back in to rhythm lol.
Since those awful couple of days in hospital I have seen a psychiatrist who said my subconcious is in a constant state of fight or flight flux and it is setting off the heart rate. He prescribed an antidepressant which of course with my luck gave me diarrhea for a week and the GP gave me a capsule to combat that. Well the antidepressant also had my lymph nodes getting sorer and sorer and when I took it at the same time as my Sotalol pill, it negated the Sotalol and increased the heart rate. I took another Sotalol later on and got back in to rhythm but I cannot take the antidepressant Sertraline again. The anti-diarrhea capsule did the same thing, increased the heart rate and again I had to take a Sotalol so that treatment is out too.
My GP has now increased the dose rate of Sotalol and the blood thinner which the hospital had put the incorrect dosage on and so far although my heart does go off occasionally, the Sotalol puts it back into rhythm.
I am also seeing a new psychologist who kept saying oh no wonder, when I listed all my worries and traumas so I have a really nice understanding woman helping to put things in to perspective now.
I am also doing a Panic course online recommended and payed for by my psychiatrist from This Way UP which is developed by St Vincents NSW.
It has been two weeks ER free and only one more week to go until I see my new Cardiology specialist and get all this nonsense sorted. Until then my GP has banned me from any stress, physical or mental. Life is pretty boring this week.
Que, fire alarms! They went on for ages with nurses shouting over them what patients to evacuate. My BP and heat rate went up thru the roof and they gave me Valium to settle me down a bit. Of course it was a false alarm but none of us knew that.
The next day the cardiologist saw me at 10am and suggested Sotalol which I had been on years ago and poo'd the aspirin blood thinner of only $2.50 and put me on Eliquis which is $40 a month. At 3pm they finally coughed up one Sotalol pill to try and get me into a rhythm and after an hour and a half it had done absolutely nothing. My BP was still up and my heart rate and it went higher every time someone came in to my cubicle.
Then they finally suggested after two days, maybe we could electronically cardiovert you back in to a rhythm again? But hang on, now its been so long out of rhythm, there is a 1 in 300 chance you could stroke out. They are telling me this while there is a stroke patient in the bed next door to me and she did not sound good. Please sign this waver for the procedure. Oh, and you had lunch, oh sorry they said as they took away my water bottle, you have to fast now for 6 more hours.
I lost it then and a kindly nurse came in to see what was wrong. I blubbered about having to fast for another 6 hours because I ate something after a day and a half of not eating. She said oh bull! So now I had conflicting advice on what to do.
In the end I disconnected myself from the machine, got dressed and demanded to be discharged.
Suddenly there were my long awaited scripts for my meds and a waver to sign to discharge. My son picked me up and we just made the chemists to get the scripts filled before closing.
I took another Sotalol on the spot and went home to a herbal cup of tea and you know what? The heart went right back in to rhythm lol.
Since those awful couple of days in hospital I have seen a psychiatrist who said my subconcious is in a constant state of fight or flight flux and it is setting off the heart rate. He prescribed an antidepressant which of course with my luck gave me diarrhea for a week and the GP gave me a capsule to combat that. Well the antidepressant also had my lymph nodes getting sorer and sorer and when I took it at the same time as my Sotalol pill, it negated the Sotalol and increased the heart rate. I took another Sotalol later on and got back in to rhythm but I cannot take the antidepressant Sertraline again. The anti-diarrhea capsule did the same thing, increased the heart rate and again I had to take a Sotalol so that treatment is out too.
My GP has now increased the dose rate of Sotalol and the blood thinner which the hospital had put the incorrect dosage on and so far although my heart does go off occasionally, the Sotalol puts it back into rhythm.
I am also seeing a new psychologist who kept saying oh no wonder, when I listed all my worries and traumas so I have a really nice understanding woman helping to put things in to perspective now.
I am also doing a Panic course online recommended and payed for by my psychiatrist from This Way UP which is developed by St Vincents NSW.
It has been two weeks ER free and only one more week to go until I see my new Cardiology specialist and get all this nonsense sorted. Until then my GP has banned me from any stress, physical or mental. Life is pretty boring this week.