What are odds I will have A Fib again?

[Gobobcats]

I am a 35 yr old male.  6 ft 3 and 200lbs.  I dont smoke, drink rarely and work out 4 x a week.  I am in good physical shape, no previous medical conditions.  I was playing basketball 3 weeks ago and went to the ER b/c my heart was racing.  I was at 250 - 300bpm.  After the drugs did not return me to sinus, they cardioverted me.  My cardiologist thought I had WPW or A Fib and scheduled Cath Ablation surgery.  It was complete but found not to have WPW but working diagnosis was A Fib.  He put me on 50 mg of Toporol.  Since I feel like I am walking on egg shells, every minute I feel like my heart is going to go nuts.  Now I feel like my heart is skipping beats which can be a rare side effect to Toporol I hear.  I am worried about working out and I have a ski trip to Utah in 2 weeks and I am freaking out.  My Dr. who is a electophysilogist says stop worrying, work out, go on with life, but I feel like I am going to die at the next heart beat, or lack of one!  It is a common for this to be a once time thing?

[LindaTX]

Glad you clarified that for me.  I know it's scary but Jerry's right...have fun skiing,  you'll probably be fine and may never have another attack, or maybe I should say episode.  Did you have any antihistamines or energy drinks or anything you can think of that might have triggered it?  Mine all seemed to start with ephedrine in diet pills back in the 90's.  The thing you do need to be aware of is, as one Dr told me.  "The heart has a memory."  If those electrical pathways get off track, or change from the norm, those new abherent paths become more ingrained and it becomes easier and easier for arrythmia to return. So be vigilant but try not to overreact. Are you going to be in a totally different altitude where you are going?  That probably won't affect you because you are so fit.  I'm curious, did they keep you in the hospital 24 hrs before they decided to cardiovert you?  And I am contemplating an ablation....eventually, maybe, but I would say that's one thing you do not want to jump into, at least not for a very loooong time.

[Gobobcats]

I had a episode of A Fib from what they say, they scheduled me for a ablation thinking it was WPW.  Once they got in there, they said it was not WPW, so they didnt ablate anything, they just cardioverted me and sent me on my way.  Post op my Dr. says run on the treadmill, exercise, do whatever and that it was "lone afib".  I am now just really scared to get my heart rate going above 50!  

[Jerry_NJ]

Follow you doctor's advice and enjoy your ski trip.

Wear a chest strap wrist display (one type I use) to monitor you HR and be sure it doesn't run away on you.. such as going over 180 or so.  If it does slow down, and stop skiing or whatever is driving you HR.

You age an history and the fact you've been checked out by one or more doctors make me believe you should try to put the heart condition out of your mind and then take it up again with your doctors when you return.

I suffer from AFib and the only limitation I have is the same as everyone else:  keep my exercise at a level that doesn't overdrive my heart rate, for me that's below 150.  Of course with AFib I don't have to work very hard to get up to 135+ and I can no longer run any distance... but I can exercise and ski - I can't do Black Diamonds anyway.

[LindaTX]

Did you say that you actually had the ablation after one episode of a-fib or are you scheduled to have one?