It was 9:30 p.m. on Monday, October 13th. I was walking back and forth between my standing computer work station and my normal computer desk in my home office. I was trying to find a missing login to a website. I was getting really pissed off that I couldn’t locate what it so I completely freaked out and screamed at my desktop computer. Real mature I know, but I was really upset and everyone knows that if you just scream at the computer at the top of your lungs your problems will be solved.
After letting off some steam I sat down to look some more for that damn login (yes, I was still fuming but I wasn’t yelling). Within minutes of sitting down my heart took off. At first I thought it was just a few palpitations but then they didn’t stop. I knew right away I was having a full blown afib episode. Here we go again…
I picked up my AliveCor monitor (the greatest heart rate monitor ever created for afibbers) and sure enough, the EKG confirmed I was in afib:
As a side note, AliveCor recently updated their app. You no longer have to send your EKG reading to have it analyzed. The app now automatically detects if you are in atrial fibrillation. That saves you the $5 of having it analyzed. However, they do give you a warning that you should not rely on the “instant analysis” and that you should submit it for confirmation. But even the makers of AliveCor say the instant detection is something like 95% accurate. I’m sure the warning is just a legal thing they need to do.
My wife was upstairs getting ready for bed so I texted her the “good” news:
As you can see, I was pissed off. If you’re wondering what procedure I was referring to, I’m in the process of getting an ablation scheduled.
I walked into the kitchen and popped my 3 white pills (300mg of Flecainide) and downed them with 8 ounces of water, mixed with my usual 350mg of Natural Calm magnesium. This has become my standard cocktail when I have an episode. However, unlike my previous episode, I did not spray my chest down with magnesium oil.
I then went downstairs to relax in my reclining chair and watched TV. The first hour I was in afib I was having some intense heart palpitations. These were similar to the ones I had in my previous episode but instead of occurring towards the end of the episode, they were occurring right off the bat – and they continued nonstop for an hour. There were moments when I was really light headed because of them too.
I was really looking forward to hour two because every time I have popped Flecainide, I have converted almost exactly two hours later. Unfortunately, hour two came and went. I didn’t convert as expected but the intense palpitations subsided – thankfully.
One thing that usually happens when you are in full blown atrial fibrillation is you’ll have to go to the bathroom a lot. During the second hour and into the third hour I went to the bathroom four times! And like my last episode, every time I got up to go, I got really light headed and had that “faint feeling.”
About half way through the second hour I started feeling a lot better but I knew I was still in afib. I was tired of waiting around to convert so I just got ready for bed. I knew I was close to converting because I was able to go up two flights of stairs and pop my contacts out and go through my usual bedtime routine without being light headed or faint. The atrial fibrillation was still there – just not that intense.
Finally after 30 minutes watching TV in bed it was gone. It literally happened that quickly. One minute I was in afib and the next I was in normal sinus rhythm. It was like a switch. I was so relieved because mentally I was preparing for a trip to the ER to have my fifth cardioversion. I was even planning on shaving my chest to save the nurses some time (when you have an electrical cardioversion they have to shave your chest so the electrical pads stick to your skin).
I grabbed my AliveCor monitor to confirm I was in normal sinus rhythm and everything was back to normal:
It’s amazing how great you feel after you convert from atrial fibrillation. I can’t even describe it. You feel on top of the world. Afib episodes take a lot out of you both mentally and physically so when it’s all over, it’s a huge sigh of relief – especially when you avoid the ER and another shock treatment!
In fact I was so happy that I stayed up and watched another episode of Family Guy to have a good laugh and unwind a little. And then as I always do after an afib episode at night, I popped .5mg of Ativan and went to sleep around 1:45 a.m. I probably don’t need to take the Ativan but I always take it if I have an episode at night to prevent my brain from keeping me up all night with negative thoughts about this afib crap.
Possible Triggers
Well this one is easy and I think a trend has developed. While the stress I was obviously experiencing was the spark (i.e. yelling at my computer), the fuel was lack of sleep once again. I got only 4 hours of sleep the night prior and I was running on fumes.
In fact I was so tired when I woke up Monday morning that the first thing I said to myself was that I was going to have to take a power nap. But here’s what’s really scary. I literally said to myself that I would probably have an afib episode today given how tired I was (and my history of sleep deprivation and afib). When I went into afib, besides being really angry, the first thought that came to mind was, “I called it. I knew I was going to have an episode!” This was the first time I had ever “called an episode” before.
What’s also interesting about this episode was I was given a warning. Sunday evening I laid flat on my back on the living room floor to play my son in Mario Cart on the Wii. Within a few minutes I felt my heart suddenly take off. I immediately sat up and held my breath for a minute and the “run” stopped. I knew I had just avoided a full blown afib episode. Little did I realize it was just a precursor of a full-blown episode to come.
There is no doubt now that for me, lack of sleep is a huge trigger and predictor of an atrial fibrillation episode. The solution seems obvious then – get more sleep! I wish I could but I’ve been suffering from insomnia for years now. If I get more than 5 hours of sleep in a given night, it’s a miracle.
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