A-Fib: My Story

My first experience with A-fib was when I was in my early 20’s. I was in my apartment, standing on a stool trying to grab a sweater from the top shelf of my closet. All I did was twist and hold my breath at the same time and my heart stated to pound out of my chest. After a couple of minutes, I decided I should lay on my bed to make it go away faster. Probably about 10 minutes after it started it went away. I really didn’t think anything of it at the time.

I remember my next episode happened probably around a year later, I was at work, in a pharmacy and my heart started to pound again. I told the pharmacist that I was working with that my heart was pounding really fast and she just told me.” Mine does that sometimes too, cough and it will go back to normal.” I coughed; it went back to normal. No big deal.

Various other times in my 20’s it would happen but go away within 5 minutes. I never thought anything about it because every time it happened whoever I was with always told me their heart did the same thing. I thought it was normal. Just one of those weird health things that happens occasionally that happened to everyone.

It wasn’t until I was in my mid-40’s that I knew there could be an issue. My mother died when I was 40. She had been having some heart issues, and was getting treated by her regular MD, who was not a cardiologist. She had an episode of a fast, irregular heartbeat about 10 years before she died. She ended up in the hospital for a couple of days. Her MD prescribed a heart medication for her, which was not the right drug for her situation. She took that drug for 10 years. There was no follow-up or lab work. She asked no questions and just took a pill every day. We did not know at the time, that it was weakening her heart.

Fast forward to three months before she died. She got to the point where she couldn’t put on pants without her heart rate going haywire. She couldn’t walk to the end of the driveway without being completely out of breath. I remember she told me she would make my dad watch her walk outside in case she collapsed. Despite all of this, she did not go to the doctor.

About two months before she died, she had another episode in front of my dad, it upset him so much that he made her make an appointment to see her regular doctor. The thing was, he was on vacation for two weeks. So, instead of seeing one of his associates, she waited until he returned to the office because she trusted him that much. He finally referred her to a cardiologist, so she had to wait another month before she could get into see him.

When the cardiologist finally saw her, he determined that she needed to have two valves replaced. The surgery date was scheduled, and the whole family was ready to get this behind us. Less than a week before her scheduled surgery, my dad came home from work and found her on the floor. Still to this day, I personally do not know the exact details of what happened. He took her to the ER, they admitted her, kept her overnight and right when they were going to release her, her heart rate when crazy again, and then they decided it was in her best interest to move up the surgery and have it the next day. The next day I went it to see her early, watched them get her ready for the procedure and saw them wheel her into the OR. That was the last time I ever saw my mother, she died during surgery. The story I got was her heart was very weak from all the episodes of this elevated heartrate and that is how she died. The story has changed several times from my father. He states that they told her she was most likely going to die after the procedure anyway. I do not believe that, I think that is some kind of coping mechanism he has come up with.

Now after all that, lets go back to my issues. The next time I had an episode, it lasted longer than it ever had before. My boyfriend attributed it to the fact that I was thinking about my mom and her death when it happens, and I was also getting a panic attack. He may have been right. You have to remember, he still always said he had the same thing happen to him from time to time.

Over the next couple years, my attacks would come more frequently and last longer, usually several hours. Everyone always said that I was having a panic attack too and that’s why they were getting longer, I just agreed with them every time.

The tipping point was one day, my boyfriend and I went out to run errands. All I did was turn my head to the side, and BAM, it was happening again. This time I was extremely out of breath and couldn’t leave the car when he stopped to go into a store. When we got home, a couple of hours later, I was still having issues. I decided to go lay down to try to lower my heart rate. I think after three or four hours it finally returned to normal. That evening I decided to have dinner with some friends and have a couple of beers. That most likely contributed to my next episode which happened around 1am that night. Once again, all I did was turn my head to watch TV, and it happened again. Never have I had it twice on the same day. I was freaking out and crying trying to make it go away, finally after about four hours of no luck, I made my boyfriend take me to the hospital.

That is when they diagnosed me with A-fib. They converted my heart back to a normal sinus rhythm, made me stay overnight to observe me, sent me home with some drugs, and referred me to a cardiologist. I have been controlled with beta blockers for the most part, I find that under periods of stress, I seem to have more issues.

I am certain this is what my mother had as well. A-fib can also be hereditary. I never got a clear answer from my mom or my dad as to what my mother had. My parents, like most people, put too much trust in doctors and never understand or ask questions about what they are being treated for. They take what the doctor tells them to take and assume that it will get all better because the doctor tells them it will.

So, when I got home, I did lots of research. I wanted to know exactly what I had, how It was treated, the prognosis, what I could and could not do, EVERYTHING. We all have to be proactive in our own healthcare, as stated before, I believe this was part of why my mother died, she did not advocate for herself. I was not going to do the same thing, so I see my cardiologist very regularly, get all the required tests, and take all my medication every day. This is one of the many ways that my mother has influenced my life. As I have stated many times before, I know she is smiling down at me.