When I had V tac it felt like I was going to be sick. My GP took one look at me and called 911. No real pain just a very leaden feeling. I had already had bypass surgery and an MI about a year earlier before the v tac.
As far as my ICD and the a fib. I don't know the details other than it fired (almost fainted) and the doc said a fib. I don't know if this makes a difference but my ICD is dual chamber. It is not a common use for the ICD but since it's there I guess it works on a fib if needed.
how fast was your a fib when you got zapped? I was told the ICD has no way of distinguishing bewteen supraventriclar and ventricular when it gets over 188, but mine will override by pacing, to keep it below 188.......it has done this for 5 minutes, no zap. Maybe you should have an ekg.
just wondering about your v-tach experience...did they find u have a heart condition which lead to your v-tach...what did your v-tach feel like?
You can definitiely have both afib and a low heart rate. I'm in afib right now and my resting HR is between 50 and 70. The meds you take, like sotalol, lower the heart rate while in afib. You may in fact be drfting into and out of afib during the day. It's really difficult to tell from the pulse itself whether you are having PACs, afib or runs of PVCs. I thought I was in afib two months ago but when put on an ekg, my heart appeared to be bouncing btween NSR and atrial fluter (with a HR of about 100) from minute to minute on that particular day.
I was surprised to learn that your ICD fired during afib. Is it supposed to do that? I thought that was only supposed to happen when you have v-fib/v-tach.