Give us a break!

[Gemma]

Hi everybody,
Some of you may recall that a year ago today, Jim was admitted to the Cardiac Care Unit of our local hospital in atrial flutter (or SVT depending on which doctor you listen to...). Since then he's been taking sotalol to control it, which hasn't been without its problems - at his last cardio appointment in November his dosage was reduced and since then everything's been hunky-dory, no more ectopic beats etc .
Anyway, last night we shared a bottle of beer and went to bed a little while later. When we got around to going to sleep, Jim's heart rate didn't seem to want to slow down. It wasn't VERY fast (the lights were out so couldn't see the clock to count it), but certainly about 50% faster than his usual resting HR. He thinks maybe it was the beer. Possibly the fact he was worrying about it and tossing and turning in bed didn't help either.He took another 1/2 a sotalol pill and eventually it slowed down. But he also had about 3 ectopic beats or something like, where he jumped up in bed, scaring the living daylights out of me, because he said it felt like his heart was going to skip a beat or speed up again (incidentally, I had been thinking it was beating more normally ).
I'm hoping it was just a one-off, caused by the beer, and being tired as it was his first day back at work after the holidays, and that once we get back into the swing of regular walking and swimming (had a bit of a break over Christmas!) everything will settle down.
But, what if it doesn't? I guess we'll have to go back to his cardio (next scheduled appointment is August) and demand an EP study to find out what's going on and see if an ablation is possible. I contacted a cardiologist at a nearby hospital specialising in ablation of arrhythmias a few months ago and he suggested this should be our plan of action - i.e. cure rather than suppression of the flutter, but at the appointment in November Jim didn't mention it because he wanted to avoid it if possible. However, if this carries on it's going to start seriously damaging our lives.
All I want is for us both to have jobs where we earn enough to buy a house together and live happily ever after. Is that really too much to ask? I'd really been hoping that this would be the year everything fell into place. I just feel so exhausted from worrying about what might happen, and worrying about how to get Jim to stop worrying!! I spent the best part of last night on the verge of tears.
I'm really hoping this was a one-off and we can get on with living our lives. Feel slightly better for getting it off my chest . If anyone's got any words of wisdom please feel free to share. Or add us to your prayer list if you're so inclined.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Gemma.

 

[Ross]

It's the beer! Alcohol will do that. I wouldn't worry unless it does it in the absence of alcohol.

 

[Gemma]

Ah Ross, the voice of reason - thank you, I think I was really in need of a reality check. Think I'm getting a little melodramatic in my old age . Hopefully you're right.
I know this is off topic, but to attempt to explain my meltdown - We visited my friend last week, who is a month younger than me, totally sorted, with a great job, husband and lovely home. To be honest I'm a little jealous of her and all my other happily settled down friends. Even my ONE single friend has her own place. Meanwhile Jim and I are still living with our parents with me staying at his place every night. It's driving me crazy and I'm sure isn't healthy!!
So the plan of attack is as follows - Jim buys a reliable car (although lovely for summer country roads, the 1970s Mini isn't the greatest on wet muddy gritted winter ones) so he can get to a better job further from home. Jim gets better job. I get better job, or stay in my current position and get more qualifications so get more money. We get a house. Wander hand in hand into the sunset. Hopefully before the end of the year. If not I may be using the Internet lounge at my friendly asylum this time next year. And what we certainly don't need is any arrhythmia issues rearing their head again. It's taken Jim this long to start to feel really better, think it hit him harder than a lot of people realise having AVR sprung on him like he did. He's concerned that if anything happens to him I'll be lumbered with the mortgage repayments . We just need a few more months of good days to get back on track. And I need to chill out a bit I suspect!

 

[Karlynn]

Ross is right, as usual. It's the beer. Sometimes alcohol will affect you like that. Sometimes it doesn't. It probably has to do with what you had to eat, how hydrated you are, etc.

 

[Abbanabba]

Gemma, I really hope Jim's flutters were just an effect of the alcohol. It's hard enough when you have these sorts of things to worry about, but it never helps when you're not in a comfortable environment either. I'm sure things will start falling into place in time. At least if you have an idea of what you want, you have somewhere to start as far as making those things happen. Hang in there and try not to stress too much. If you're really worried, see if you can get him in for an echo or ECG as soon as you can - at least that way you'll know if there's actually something to be worried about or not.

Sending positive thoughts to you both...
Anna : )

 

[Harpoon]

Was probably the beer.

I'll add though that fatigue can also cause ectopic beats AND that they will occur from time to time in perfectly "normal," "heart-healthy" people.


What you should be worred about (at least in my humble, uneducated opinion) is if the ectopic beats are several in a row or keep happening over an hour or more...

I've gotten ectopic beats from time to time and I really don't fet over it unless they keep coming up or persist over the course of a few hours.

The other sign that there might be a problem is if you're feeling them and you start to feel light-headed or just overall lousy. That may mean that yoru circulation isn't strong enough to supply enough oxygen to your brain and other parts of your body and that would require medical intervention.

One or two skipped beats isn't much to get excited about. A LOT of them or feeling like yer gonna topple over is much mroe serious.


And again, almost EVERYONE experiences ectopic beats when they're really tired... It's a big sign of sleep deprivation.

 

[Guest]

I know this is off topic, but to attempt to explain my meltdown - We visited my friend last week, who is a month younger than me, totally sorted, with a great job, husband and lovely home. To be honest I'm a little jealous of her and all my other happily settled down friends. Even my ONE single friend has her own place. Meanwhile Jim and I are still living with our parents with me staying at his place every night. It's driving me crazy and I'm sure isn't healthy!!

*grins sheepishly*

I read this...and thought, gosh darn it...she's talking about ME.

*sighs*

I've never felt pressure directly from my family about moving out of the house. But, with my sister and her fiance now in their own home, and most, if not all, of my friends with their own place and/or a significant other (mostly and, of course)...I'm really feeling the "pressure".... I knew I wasn't the only one that was a bit jealous, but it sure felt like it...until I read this.

*shrugs*

Do I see things changing anytime soon? Unfortunately, not. My parents keep telling me that I should "spread out" now that my sister is out of the house, but I keep resisting that, figuring that, if I do that, I'll feel that much more "at home".... While I've been looking at a very cool loft (in an old shoe factory, nonetheless), the price seems to be right, but since I'm also feeling the need to get a new job...perhaps out of state, even, I'm relunctant to simply "go for it".

*shakes head*

As the Oak Ridge Boys sing: "Someday tomorrow will smile ... Dream about the world we're going to live in, one fine day, Dream on"


Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 31swm/pig valve/pacemaker
'72/'6/'9/'81/'7, train/models = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/
MC Guide = http://www.chevyasylum.com/mcspotter/main.html

 

[Gemma]

Hey everybody, thanks for replying!

Anna - seems like it bothered me a lot more than Jim, so I think for the time being I'll just work on not freaking out! If anything like that happens again without an obvious cause, maybe then we'll get it checked out, but for now I think Ross, Karlynn and Harpoon are right - it was the beer! And I suppose the large slice of Christmas cake he had didn't help either - not the best combo straight before going to bed!! It was probably more the unexpectedness of the whole episode that scared me (and the fact I'd been thinking a few hours before that he'd been a year without any flutter recurring - should've know really shouldn't I!) In future I think Jim will be drinking his beer with a meal, not as a nightcap!! And dehydration could've played a part - he had a headache at work and said it was really hot in there so no doubt a couple of extra glasses of water would've helped. Hindsight's a wonderful thing...

Cort - we are victims of the "comfort zone". When your parents don't try to rush you into your own place, it somehow makes it harder to decide what to do I think! Although I like Jim's parents I'm going out with Jim, not them, and I just want somewhere of our own where we can shut the door on the rest of the world when we feel like it!!! We've got the added problem of house prices in the UK being horrific - something like an average of 5 times the average salary, which both of us earn less than . If we could afford a decent house (with garage space, a workshop and a driveway ) we'd be in there like a shot!!!

 

[inlaguna]

I know you didn't mention it and maybe this is obvious, but caffeine will also cause problems. I was drinking 1 to 2 cups of coffee and started to experience problems. I stopped and A-fib/PVCs etc went away. That was about 8 years ago.

 

[Guest]

Cort - we are victims of the "comfort zone". When your parents don't try to rush you into your own place, it somehow makes it harder to decide what to do I think!

Hmmm...hadn't thought of it quite like that, but yeah, some truth to that, I'd say.

We've got the added problem of house prices in the UK being horrific - something like an average of 5 times the average salary, which both of us earn less than . If we could afford a decent house (with garage space, a workshop and a driveway ) we'd be in there like a shot!!!

*chuckles*

Sounds like me, a bit. I am approved for a decent loan/mortgage, but I'm just not comfortable putting myself into the type of payments that would require.....

*grumbles*