Atrial fibrillation: “I was at around 150 beats”

On the occasion of the atrial fibrillation awareness day or atrial fibrillation on December 12, Why Doctor collected the testimony of a patient treated for this heart rhythm disorder at Pitié-Salpêtrière (Paris).

“I will be 70 years old. I was a teacher for forty years and since 2014 I am retired. Here is. So currently I’m fine. I try to have a good sports activity, especially the gym almost every day.

In the last quarter of 2015, after returning from a trip to Spain, I had very severe bronchitis. So I went to see the general practitioner who put me on antibiotics. But this bronchitis has not passed. So I had a new course of antibiotics and cortisone. And it still didn’t work. Around December 2015 I felt really out of breath. I had swollen feet. And there, for somewhat bizarre reasons, we entered into a medical wandering and my problem was not diagnosed immediately.

Towards the end of the year, I went back to see my GP and told him that I was not well at all. My feet were swollen, he examined me and realized that my heart was beating abnormally fast. I was about 150 beats. So he made an appointment for me with my city cardiologist who immediately told me that I had to be hospitalized.

“A single shock was enough to put my heart back into rhythm”

But since it was New Year’s Eve, it was very complicated and he gave me treatment. But I managed to have an appointment at the Pitié hospital and I was hospitalized on the first of the year 2016. So I had a coronary angiography, then an electric shock. Obviously, I don’t remember it since I was anesthetized. But when I woke up I had found a normal heart rate, around 70 beats. From what the doctors told me at the time, only one shock was needed to get my heart back into rhythm.

And when I woke up, I was a little euphoric, I remember. I think it’s the anesthesia that must have euphoric components. I was told my pace was OK and I was happy. After that, I stayed for two days under observation, I was hospitalized for about a week. Then, I went home with the advice to follow my treatment well. When I got out, I was prescribed a cardiac rehabilitation course. I did this in a hospital not far from my house. I no longer remember the name. It is near the Gare du Nord. It was in the morning: half an hour of gym, half an hour of cycling or training and also gymnastics in the water, in a swimming pool.

Possible atrial ablation

I did this for a month. There was also an interview with cardiologists and an interview with a psychologist and a dietitian. I thought it was very well done, very complete and I feel like it did me a lot of good. Especially since I didn’t play sports and so there I started to play sports again. So somehow my accident was a blessing in disguise. Since then obviously I, on the advice of the doctor and also because I felt good, continued a sporting activity.

Today I am on a beta blocker and a blood thinner, a blood pressure medicine and a cholesterol medicine. I’m doing well. But according to my cardiologist, who is probably right, the arrhythmia is there. He therefore suggested that I do an atrial ablation. The operation will take place on January 28: it will be either an exploration or an ablation, depending on what they will see.