Answer:

Thank you for your question. It would seem you are having sudden changes in your heart beat that should be evaluated by a specialist. This can be due to electrical disease in the heart or other heart conditions. I would suggest that you see a cardiologist or an electrophysiologist at your earliest opportunity.

Answer:

Thank you for your questions. You may have one of a variety of heart rhythm disorders encompassed by the overall category of supraventricular arrhythmias. Please consult an electrophysiologist for expert management of this condition.

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Thank you for your questions. It seems that your afib and breathing problems could be related. This should be explored with a pulmonologist and electrophysiologist. Advair should be safte and so should steroids. Multaq is unlikely to cause these effects of bronchospasm.

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Thank you for your question, Kate. Antiarrhythmic drug pretreatment makes the longer term success of a cardioversion more likely. Amiodarone is effective but quite toxic and sideeffects can easily develop within one year. We prefer to use other agents first such as sotalol, dronedarone or propafenonse. We would need to know why your ejection fraction is depressed to decide the best drug choice. Some of these drugs are contraindicated with heart failure. You may wish to dicuss this with your cardiologist.

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Thank you for your question. Caffeine in modest amounts should not be an issue so one cup of regular coffee should be fine.

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Thank you for your question. In view of the long history of AF, and tachy/ brady syndrome, I would prefer to do a dual site atrial pacemaker to prevent it in combination with limited ablation of the right atrium or pulmonary veins. This is done on a backgournd of antiarrhythmic drug therapy. This approach was pioneered by our group and is very effective in this situation. This is our preferred approach in the elderly, if a pacemaker is needed etc.

Answer:

Thank you for your queston. I would like to know if you have high blood pressure. It is unclear to me as to why you were on warfarin. If you have a CHADs scor eof 2 or greater this should continue. If you have no high blood pressure or other cardiac illness, no history of clot formation in the limbs or stroke, or heart failure, you may stay on aspirin. There is no data on the efficacy of low dose versus high dose aspirin after ablation or even if aspirin has any value. In the absence of formal data, I would continue your current regimen and consider going back to warfarin if you develop other heart conditions or high blood pressure after the age of 65..

Answer:

Thank you for your question. Your recent medical illness and its recovery is still in its final stages. The heart beat abnormality that you have developed needs to be evaluated for any risk of sudden heart rhythm disorders that can lead to problems like loss of consciousness or even cardiac arrest. I would advise you to see an electrophysiologist in consultation. It would be appropriate to do so at this time.

Answer:

Thank you for your question. The echo report has many components. It can identify slight stiffening of the heart muscle as it may have done in your case but have no effect on overall performance of the heart muscle in contraction and pumping blood. I would simply monitor this with annual echocardiograms, check for high blood pressure and its control and discuss this with a cardiologist.