I couldn't figure out why I was so winded

[Jalanci]

I just turned 55 and last year I had my usual normal EKG in August. I bike a lot, had 5 century rides last year plus a couple thousand miles on top of that and wore a heart monitor, particularly on hilly rides to make sure I didn't overdue it. Ok. In November, I went in for some elective surgery, they do a pre-op test and find me A-Fib. I get the word from my doc after I just came from the gym doing a mile swim, 30 minutes of running and weight lifting. I start checking my pulse and sure enough it busting 180?!?! I hate the meds too, it takes some fire out of the boiler and looking to go the ablation (sp?) route. Now that I think of it, I felt like the chest had a bag of cats in it at times.

I haven't tried diving this winter yet and glad to see that with the meds there isn't much of an issue. I'll make sure I start easy. I do recall with my regulator that once I forgot to switch the valve that prevents free flow and it made sucking air real tough, after burning half a tank of air it dawned on me that it might be that, made it a real short dive. Thanks for the post! Cardiologist told me there are about 2 million of us out there.

 

[TheMadDane]

Atrial "Fibrillation" and SVT or Sinus Ventricular Tachycardia are different beasts. Atrial fibrillation effects the filling capacity of your ventricles thereby decreasing cardiac output. SVT is when your ventricles contract very rapidly thereby decreasing cardiac output by a much higher percentage than A-Fib. Many people live with A-Fib without any ill effects (besides being put on blood thinners). SVT is much more serious and can kill if not treated, sometimes with meds and some times with electrocardoiversion (Electrically shocking the heart).

 

[jwalko]

Atrial "Fibrillation" and SVT or Sinus Ventricular Tachycardia are different beasts. Atrial fibrillation effects the filling capacity of your ventricles thereby decreasing cardiac output. SVT is when your ventricles contract very rapidly thereby decreasing cardiac output by a much higher percentage than A-Fib. Many people live with A-Fib without any ill effects (besides being put on blood thinners). SVT is much more serious and can kill if not treated, sometimes with meds and some times with electrocardoiversion (Electrically shocking the heart).

Hmmm...interesting. My doctor and cardiologist both told me I have SVT. When I asked to be taken off the beta blockers, they gave me a faster acting one that I can take only when symptoms come on (I think it is Atenolol or something like that). Anyway, they didn't seem too concerned about it...told me I wasn't a candidate for ablation (??not sure of the spelling) because it wasn't serious enough.

All I know is when I would have the episodes, it was a really scary feeling.

Oh...Captain...one other thing I was going to mention. You said you had this feeling with your dry suit. If the neck seal is too tight, and restricts blood flow through that area (I've heard of this referred to as Valsalva...although that is not what I think of when I think of a Valsalva maneuver...which has to do with weight-lifting), it can cause an irregular heartbeat. I was wondering if that could have been a cause as well. Have you tried your dry suit since and has it happened again?

John

 

[Tricia]

Mad Dane, you are right. I didn't mean to give the impression that I had the same thing as Capt. HornBlower. My point was to inspire and reassure people that even with a "heart problem" (Oh God :shocked2, you can still do a lot of activities, as long as you get medical supervision.

Jwalko - I did the Beta Blockers thing, too and I was so exhausted I thought I had mono or some horrific illness. In 1995, an excellent cardiologist put me on a daily routine of "Rythmol" (Propafenone) made by Abbott here in France. It's worked pretty well for me. I still drink coffee (probably too much, I confess) and enjoy wine. You may want to see what your cardiologist thinks on your next visit.

(And Jlanci's comment about having a "bag of cats" in his chest really brought back the memories - agh!)

Good luck!
Tricia

 

[MasterGoa]

I did feel like crap, but just about the same time as I started feeling bad my Doc had put me on high blood pressure medicine and I thought the Benicar was what was making me feel so crappy, so I just pushed through it. I mentioned to my Doc how crappy the Benicar was making me feel and said he hadn't had any other patients experience what I was going through, but every time I was in his office my pulse was pretty normal (low 70s to low 60s) so we just didn't put it together.

They did tell me about the alcohol so I quit for a month and now limit myself to a glass of wine, or two at most; I really miss my scotch and soda:depressed:.

Hi Captain!

I friend of my in his early 30th was diagnosed with intermirrent
fibrilation. It would start without notice and with no apparent
cause. It happened about once a month.

They fixed it by doing a scan and noticing that his heart
had developped auxiliary nerves that double shocked
the heart muscle. They went in with a tube and burned
the ecess nervers and he stopped having those fibrilations
altogether.

He had the intervention at the Montreal Heart Institute.

Hope this helps!

Pierre in... Montreal

 

[TSandM]

Just to clarify -- SVT stands for "supraventricular tachycardia", meaning that the electrical impulse that is making the heart beat fast is coming from the upper half of the heart. SVT can be dangerous, if the heart rate is extremely fast (250 or more) or if the person experiencing it has coronary artery disease. Heart rates of 200 (more typical) are generally tolerated reasonably well by young, healthy people, at least for short periods. There are a variety of possible causes for SVT, and some are amenable to ablation. Consultation with an eletrophysiologist is generally a good idea if episodes are recurrent.

Ventricular tachycardia is an entirely different animal -- there, the impulse is not coming from the top of the heart, ventricular contraction is uncoordinated, and generally not much blood is getting pumped. Vtach generally requires countershock. It is frequently associated with prior or coexisting heart attack.

Atrial fib is a common disorder, and usually, if not associated with underlying disease of the heart muscle, can be well controlled with medications, or sometimes ablated.

The lesson to us all is to pay attention to unusual symptoms. It's also a really good idea to get someone to show you how to check your own pulse!

 

[enano315]

Great info!Hope you can continue with your diving

 

[diver 85]

I did feel like crap, but just about the same time as I started feeling bad my Doc had put me on high blood pressure medicine and I thought the Benicar was what was making me feel so crappy, so I just pushed through it. I mentioned to my Doc how crappy the Benicar was making me feel and said he hadn't had any other patients experience what I was going through, but every time I was in his office my pulse was pretty normal (low 70s to low 60s) so we just didn't put it together.

They did tell me about the alcohol so I quit for a month and now limit myself to a glass of wine, or two at most; I really miss my scotch and soda:depressed:.

My wife has AF, 1st episode about 3 yrs ago----has had 4 total AF's in all, the last being last weekend--previous one was 1 year ago....She's been thru all the heart tests & her cardiologist has given her the green lite for diving for several years now......BTW, her 'cocktail' of Rythmol (has) worked perfectly everytime........good luck to all, it was a very scary situation that 1st time....and every episode has started about 3 AMish with zero alcohol in her system......