update

Ok so I cant find my message to update, I guess I will start a new one. For those of you that read my last frustration wits end post:

I went to the new EP cardiologist today for the second opinion. I was sort of funny, I could barely take him seriously as he was dressed for halloween wearing a sweat head band and a cheerleeding skirt (and pants of course). HILARIOUS! nice way to meet a doctor. Anyways. I briefly explained what I was feeling and the problem I was having with my current cardiologist. He looked at my trends. He said it is no wonder that I have been feeling ill. He said that I have been having a lot of atrial tach and when my atria is beating at 170 so much and my ventricle is only beating at 110, he said of course I am not going to feel well. He said that it was great that I tried it without any meds and letting the pacemaker do its thing, but obviously it is not working. Said my pacemaker is great and doing a perfect job by not responding, but that I need "symptom" control. FINALLY someone understands!!! So we are doing an echo to check my heart function and then I will restart back on my flecainide and hope that it calms down some. My old cardiologist had the "high atria rate" alarm set so high that it was not recording my atria tach, which is why he didnt believe me. So he lowered it so he can get a better idea of how often it is going "off to the races". He did say that since I am set to do a mode switch at 130, it did record how many times it switch. In one month, it mode switched 250 times. Which means my atria rate was over 130 that many times. That seems like a lot to me. But this doctor was very nice and was willing to take over my care, so I am so done with my last doctor. We arent going to raise my top rate (set at 70-110) because he doesnt want to let my ventricle respond to the fast rate. I this point I havent felt anywhere close to exercising anyways so might as well leave it another month and get the flecainide started to calm things down. Thank you for all your support! I am so thankful for the wonderful board.

4 Comments

Sounds like a winner

by ElectricFrank - 2009-10-30 10:10:54

It is great to find someone you can work with.

The description you wrote makes a lot of sense. Now it will just be a matter of finding the combination that works.

best of luck with it,

frank

other meds

by sam78 - 2009-10-31 03:10:33

He did ask me about the midications I had tried. He said we had three to choose from... Tikosyn, Droninderone (however you spell it).. or back to my flecainide. At this point I just want to get things settled down and not have to go through the trying different meds things. Of course there is a lot out there abour Dron... but Tikosyn has been around a lot. My only experience with Tikosyn was watching a health lady go into V-Tach from it. So needless say i am a bit nervous about tikosyn.

good news!

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-31 06:10:16

Glad to hear you found a doctor who will listen and is responsive! Good luck getting the meds straightened out.

tikosyn

by thomast - 2009-10-31 11:10:17

I have been ob Tikosyn for 3 years and it works great for me. It has to be started in a hospital for 3 days. They give it twice a day, and 1 hour later you get an EKG. If it works OK, then you get to take it at home. Some doctors are not authorized to prescribe it.

Thomas

You know you're wired when...

You trust technology more than your heart.

Member Quotes

I've seen many posts about people being concerned about exercise after having a device so thought I would let you know that yesterday I raced my first marathon since having my pacemaker fitted in fall 2004.