Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

So off and on for years, I've had butterflies...

...in my heart.

I don't remember when they first started, but I know that for years and years, my heart has decided to skip and jump a little bit, evey once in a while, here and there, off and on, from time to time, until it was ready to get back to business, pumping my blood efficiently through my body.  That cannot have been very easy for it at times in my life, I've not always eaten healthy like I do now, and my weight's never been this low before --I'm still losing a few more, but my health has improved immensely since I dropped the majority of the pounds.  I guess that's one of the major reasons I started getting REALLY concerned when, even though I've got a perfect blood pressure and the resting heart rate of an athelete, the heart palpitations didn't go away.

This past summer, when I was smack in the middle of the craziness that was my exit portfolio, I had a LOT of episodes of heart palpitations.  I tended to agree with my sister in law, Girl, that it was probably just panic attacks and stress from having to write so much, and fight so hard to officially be granted my B.A.  But the university powers that be gave me the official nod on my B.A., I was finally cool as a cucumber, and basking in my hard work and job well done, but I was still having episodes of palpitations.

I started telling any doctor I saw that I was having these episodes.  Several didn't really pay attention to me, one shrugged it off and said she didn't "know what it could be" and that was the end of that, but one FINALLY said she'd refer me to a cardiologist after I told her I'd gone to the emergency room for palpitations, and they had suggested I go see the doctor in my area the very next day.

So I saw the cardiologist, and it was decided that I would have a 24 hour EKG monitor, to try and "catch" any signs of palpitations.  Well, being MY heart, of course the damned thing acted all nice and polite in front of company, and never once in the close to 24 hours I was wearing the blasted monitor, did it make a palpitational peep.  So back to square one. 

I didn't hear back, and didn't hear back, so finally one morning I call the cardiologist's office to let them know that I'd not heard anything from them about any further appointments.  The night before I had had palpitations, asked the E.M. to take me to the emergency room, and of course they stopped before I was able to even get inside.  This was how it usually happened, whether I called the ambulance, and they showed up right as the palpitations subsided, resulting only in arrousing the interest of my curtain twitching neighbors, or the E.M. and I went in our car to the emergency room, the palpitations always stopped before anyone could get me hooked up to any machines to try and get a trace of my heart.  After speaking with the cardiologist's secretary that morning, I worried that they were going to just drop me, and I'd not get another appointment with them, even though I have some minor surgery waiting on the outcome of all of this cardiology carfuffle.  I stressed out over it all day.

That night, I had palpitations.  I had just gotten off the phone with my mother, taken my last trip of the night to the bathroom, and was getting in bed, all snuggly and warm, when I felt them come on.  Immediately I told the E.M., rather flatly and frustrated, "Call 999 and get an ambulance sent out, MAYBE they can finally catch this crap if I stay perfectly still until they get here."  So after what seemed like an endless barrage of questions from the emergency call center, they FINALLY told the E.M. they'd send someone out.  They finally arrived, and I was still having the palpitations!  I had to walk down to the ambulance, and I thought "Okay, this is it, this is when they stop, and we're back to square one again."  They didn't stop, though!  I've NEVER been so happy to know that my heart was going all crazy and abnormal.  They actually did get a scan on the ambulance!!  Well thank goodness. 

I almost got sick in the ambulance, actually, because I was actually scared then; I mean, the palpitations had always stopped by then, what if they weren't ever going to stop now, and I'd have to live with that feeling for the rest of my life?!  What if this was it, and the palpitations were finally going to kill me?  I was freezing in the back of the ambulance, riding backwards made me feel sick and that I was going to fall off that little narrow bed with every turn of the vehicle; my palpitations were still going, and watching my crazy heart rate climb and drop without any sign of stopping was freaking me out.  I was wearing an oxygen mask, and feeling almost giddy:  Was it the oxygen making me feel that way, or was my heart finally giving out on me?!  I was scared, cold, sick feeling, miserable, and after what had seemed like an eternity, we were STILL on the way to the hospital.  I didn't even know if I was still having palpitations, so I asked the guy in the back of the ambulance with me. 

"Do you still feel them?" he said. 
"I don't know, I don't think so?" 
"Yes, you're still having them."

So the very excellent ambulance guys got me to the emergency room, and they HAD gotten a successful scan of the episode!!  I was beside myself with that happy fact, and now that I was out of the back of the ambulance, I wasn't feeling sick anymore.

So now it was just to wait to be seen by a doctor.

Which didn't take long, actually.  And we ended up really lucking out, because the head resident was actually the doctor who months earlier had suggested it could be paroxysmal atrial fibrillation during one of my failed emergency room attempts to catch the palpitations on a scan.  (She even ordered an xray of my heart that night, and it was clear and clean as a whistle.  I have no heart problems at all, and never have.  I've had various scans and tests throughout the years and have always had a healthy heart.)  The E.M. had seen her when he came in, and asked me if that was the same doctor.  I said yes, and we both watched her like a hawk, not wanting her to get away.  Finally I heard her say something about being off in 15 minutes, so the E.M. went over and spoke with her.  SHE REMEMBERED US!!  She came over and looked at the scan from the ambulance, and said that it was paroxysmal atrial fibrillation according to what she saw when she looked at the scan; she showed me the print out, and where the little funky blips were, and what they meant.  I asked her a BUNCH of questions, and even though she was officially off the clock by then, she stayed around to talk with us about it, and to answer all my questions patiently so I understood.

So that's where we left off with that.  The next day, the resident wrote a letter to the cardiologist, and while I was in the US the cardiologist sent a letter with an appointment date.  That appointment is tomorrow.  I'm feeling pretty good about it, I swear a weight's already been lifted with just the palpitations being caught finally where others can see them!

I'll be letting y'all know what happens.

In the meantime, here's a rather interesting FAQs page about paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.  This FAQs page even addressed some of the symptoms I've had that had stumped the office doctors each time I told them about them.  The doctor who shrugged off any problem even looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned it.  HA HA HA on HER!! :P

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