failed cardioversion

Hello,

I hope someone might be able to give me some insight into what comes next for me.   I am 48 years old and have always had palpitations.  About 6 weeks ago I got AF with an erratic heart rate between 80 and 140.  My cardiologist put me on Carvedilol beta blocker and Digoxin, and two weeks ago I went onto Warfarin in prep for an electric cardioversion.  Three days ago I had the cardioversion, but reverted back to AF last night.  My cardiologist did say that we would "give it one try only and if I reverted back quickly then that is what my body wants to do and I would have to live with it".

I am reasonably fit, and felt great for those 3 days with a strong heart rate of around 60 bpm.  Now once again I am light headed, nauseous and sometimes short of breath.

If a cardioversion can't work, then what could be next?  Will I ever get back to 60 bpm?

Thanks for any replies.

Mick

[Jerry_NJ]

I feel your pain, but I have had better, if not perfect, luck with Electrocardioversion, which each time took me back to a resting HR in the 60s and let me return to running for my primary exercise.  It was my relative good fortune to get up to 18 months of NSR following electrocardioversions.  That has ended due to an enlargement in my left atrium... along with my advanced age.  While I'm still working on a couple of plans with my Cardiologist to get back to NSR I have been living with AFib for over 2 years.  My symptoms are not troubling beyond the fact I can't run anymore - but, again I'm an old guy so maybe it is good I quit running.

At your younger age it seem reasonable to me for more aggressive measures to be taken, such as an ablation.  Has that been discussed with you?  As it stand I will not get an ablation because my Cardiologist believes my symptoms don't justify the risk.  Yes, there is a risk associated with ablation, but then there are risks associated with every thing.

To your question, I say stronger medication and if that doesn't work, an ablation.

[MickMc]

Jerry,  thanks for the feedback.  Quite a lot has happened in the past 5 weeks. I went back to my cardiologist who put me onto Amiodarone (Cordarone)  - 600mg to start and then reducing to 200mg over three weeks.  The good news is I went back into NSR for 4 days after the fist week but then unfortunately reverted back to irregular.  I am repeating that treatment now and have been back into NSR for 5 days (except unusually for about 6 hours).  So it looks like it might be working.  I go back to the cardialogist in 3 weeks to see how I have progressed.  He did say last time that Amiodarone can only be a temporary measure due the the dangerous side effects.  He also did mention ablation for the first time during my last visit....so next steps will be interesting.  I also managed to see a second cardiologist who confirmed the treatment.

Enjoy your Xmas.