Scared but thanks!!

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Posted by Suzi on January 07, 2004 at 05:56:45:

I came across this board today and I just wanted to say thank you to all the Mazers and those who have shared their stories and shown there is a light at the end of the tunnel for those suffering from AF. I feel very stupid for sharing my story, but Im very scared and just hoping that maybe one of you will be able to give me some perspective back on life. I know this is long and I must seem very neurotic but please bear with me if you can.

I am a 33 year old female. Approximately 2 and a half years ago I suffered a one-off attack of what the doctors believed was paroxysmal A-fib. Not knowing what I have since learned about triggers for AF I had eaten a fairly large dose of MSG on an empty stomach. I was stressed waiting for some university examination results to come through the mail, as the postman called my dog barked, I jumped up and my heart went into a kick-ass routine in my chest – Im sure you are all very familiar with what I mean! I had experienced this sensation briefly (about 10 second runs) a couple of times previously after taking decongestant tablets but this time it didn’t stop. Panicking I drove to my friends house, feeling light headed and as if I was going to pass out at any moment – she took one look at me and bundled me off to my doctors office. At the doctors office (after having to stop to pee about a million times!) they found my heart doing a little under 150 and tried to do an ECG – they got a strip but they weren’t convinced the machine was working properly. They then sent me off to the emergency room. The ECG at the emergency room showed normal sinus rhythm although I was panicking and my heart was 120-130. They admitted me for observation and started doing a multitude of tests but they couldn’t find anything wrong – my heart was structurally normal via echo except for a trivial mitral regurge which the cardiologist said was within normal range, all my bloods and other tests came back normal and in short they couldn’t find anything wrong. I had some runs of sinus tachcardia usually when a doctor approached which the consultant said were most likely down to my lifelong fear of hospitals!

After three days in the hospital I was told by the consultant they couldn’t find anything wrong with my heart or anything else, whatever I had experienced they weren’t sure but it was most likely paroxysmal A-fib which was unusual but no big deal in anyone my age, it wasn’t going to kill me and they could easily control it, if it came back but at this stage they decided no treatment was necessary – except for a low dose beta blocker not for the a-fib but to control my anxiety attacks.

This is where the “fun” started. I went to see my doctor to pick up my prescription and he told me A-fib has no cure and an extremely grave prognosis, and it was associated with a very high risk of stroke (although I do not have any of the risk factors) and in short I shouldn’t make any plans for the future. He painted a very black picture of how the disease would progress and then most likely end in a stroke.

I left the surgery in tears and completely devastated. I was just 30 years old with a young daughter and my doctor had basically told me my life was over. That summer I tried to commit suicide three times. All I could imagine was more and more hospitalisations, no cure and no hope.

It is now 2 and a half years on and I have had no more recurrence of the a-fib except a brief 10 second attack of an uneven skipping heart. The doctor has now left (read – been fired) from the surgery but the damage that doctor did is still with me every second of every day. I wake up in the morning I am scared
I will go into a-fib, I am frightened of having a stroke every single minute of every day. I cry a lot, I have given up my job and in short I seem to have given up my life.

I know none of you have a crystal ball, but it seems to me from your experiences that you know much more about the condition that many doctors. Is this prognosis as black as that doc made out. I am 33 healthy and with no risk factors for stroke. Please help, your advice and experiences are so very valuable to me.

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