atrial fibrillation setback?

[Doofus_jones]

Guys I had a massive blow yesterday when I went for my number 5 injection. The doc was unwilling to give me  interferon or riba because of atrial fibrillation. I'm writing this from a hospital bed waiting for a cardiac angiogram.

I discussed my heart issues with the doc before I started treatment and showed him reports and he said he could handle it. Now I can hear him back peddling, implying he told me to see a cardiologist before treatment. This is not how I remember it.

My bloods of 4 weeks (minus viral load) were all good and it is clear my liver was responding. Now I feel between a rock and a hard place.

Anyone have any experience with AF while on treatment?

best to you all

Doofus

[Doofus_jones]

Pooh - Thanks for writing.

Back home now with ticker fixed and treatment resumed. Not over-joyed to be pegged n riba'd again but happy to be able to soldier on.

Pete

“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”  Winston Churchill.   Thanks to our dear hector for reminding me of this wonderfully inspiring quote

[Idyllic]

Hey No Fear Shakespeare! Glad you got your mirth back! You must have been really far gone to have such a noticeable personality change like that. What a strain that must have been. I tell you with the side effects alone it is easy to question your reality and wonder what is real. I am glad this blip with your heart was detected and treated before it progressed.

I hope you can maintain decent WBC & platelets and don't have to mess with rescue meds and dose adjustments. Thank heavens you have a doctor that sounds as if he knows what he is doing.

I am glad you are OK and 'back in the game' ♫

[Doofus_jones]

Back at home now. The new stented heart seems to be handling the peg and riba much better. One thing I need to watch V carefully is whether any of the 5 drugs for the heart conflict with the peg and riba.  I know one of them is to do with platelets. Need to watch White Blood Count and platelet count.

It had to celebrate being back of peginterferon and ribarvirin, the cardiologist said he could see clearly how in just two days the riba had sucked all the personality out of me, He said I was a different person.

"I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth. And indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame the Earth, seems to me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave oer’hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours."  Hamlet

[Doofus_jones]

I have to go in for a heart op in the morning. A stent to open an artery. It appears the Peg and Riba revealed my heart condition to be more than supposed. They are telling me I'll be out in 24 hours and the hepatologist is assuring me I can get back on treatment. However I am still pretty pissed off with him because I TOLD him of the heart condition and he told me he could work around it. Getting pulled off treatment 5 weeks in is devastating as my bloods were looking SO good.

I got leave from hospital today and have been crossing i's and dotting Ts to ensure my family is OK. Not being morbid, but for my own peace of mind. Back in hospital now. Seeing cardio about tomorrow's op in 1 hour.

Will be back with some good news soon.

Doofus.

[Idyllic]

Wow I wish I knew what to say. You are on the other side of the world. I can imagine it must be impossible to calm yourself down in hospital over the weekend. Add the suspense if you can continue treating and I would be a wreck. Hopefully your cardiac angiogram will be OK and your doctor will have some treatment strategies so you can continue treating. Meanwhile maybe others will add some insight.
Hang in there and keep in touch!!

[Doofus_jones]

Idyllic

This is useful thanks.

So very dfficult checking everything to find out if you're getting the best advice from a guy who's spent 15 years talking the subject and you've had a couple of hours on the internet. I never seem to find any medial pros who have any respect for diet or healthy living. A cardiologist who is a surgeon just seems to want to cut.

Ah - as Rooster said at the end of True Grit: "I have grown old!"

[Doofus_jones]

cheppie

Thanks for this. My pulse is all over the map because of the atrial fibrillation. Seeing the cardio in a couple of hours.

Doofus

[dontworry_behappy1]

I took my blood pressure though my entire treatment.   I watched my
pulse because it was close to 100 beats per minute.  What I have found out
was as soon as I stopped taking the Ribavirin..... my pulse and blood
pressure went back into normal range.  Did I say both were on the high
side of normal before treatment..... and now both are normal.  I seeing
a cardiologist next week to check it out.  Let you know.

[Idyllic]

You are in Hong Kong? I always wondered about the timing of your posts.

Ugh. Sorry about Your Hepa's bedside manner (or lack of one) but  ★depending on your results and other findings★ it sounds like your Hepa is seeing if treatment could still work if the cardiologist can focus on controlling and/or (Heaven forbid) restoring your heart rate and rhythm as well as preventing thromboembolic events.

Keep in mind the known sides:
Ribavirin:
Cardiological events: fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction

Peginterferon:
Cardiovascular disorders: hypertension, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction

________________________________

A guy that was really active on here when I treated before had "family history of cardiac issues, and a personal issue of "arrhythmias, including afib."

You have to scroll down half the page.

jmjm530  Mar 10, 2006
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Had--any-heart-probs-on-treatment/show/91889
I believe he may have had some issues post-treatment

Other than that until others contribute maybe you could search for more recent posts.

Please keep us informed & take care
http://www.gifttree.com/images/large/914a.jpg

[Doofus_jones]

I do have a hepatologist who is THE only person I consult about the HepC (geno2 Fib3)

I can't put my finger on it but I have to say there is something about him I don't like. He is boastful somehow.

When I was first referred to him I had records from another hospital stating I had AF. I showed them to him and I remember discussing this. He said he could deal with it.

But he started to talk about "cardiologists" two weeks into treatment when I was clearly looking under the gun from the interferon.

Yesterday (start of week 5) when he sent me to hospital it seemed to me he had started to spin the conversation in the direction of:  "I told you to see a cardiologist but you wouldn't listen."  This is simply not how I remember it, Of course at the outset he should have said, "Get a recommendation you're fit for treatment from a cardiologist or I won't treat you."

So now I'm 5 weeks into treatment and all bets are off.

I'm seeing a cardiologist who is known to the hepatologist and they are talking to each other. My understanding, at this point,  is, his brief is to control the AF so that I can get back to treating the Hep.


You guys really are a lifeline to me here in Hong Kong where I get the feeling very few in the medical profession have experience with HepC.

I love you all for it. You are saints and angels.

Will let you all know.

Doofus

[Idyllic]

Wow how did you end up in hospital? Is the cardiac angiogram a requirement before your doctor will proceed with treatment? What about these reports you gave your doctor prior to treatment ? Did you have an EKG or some other type of recent cardiovascular evaluation performed prior to treatment?

Did he just now get round to reviewing your medical info or what? I am unclear what set this ball in motion. Is this all completely out of the blue?


I see a GI and I only had to have a basic screening EKG no more than a year old prior to treatment. Oddly an acquaintance is preparing for treatment and her Hepatologist has required a pretty involved cardiac risk assessment. It is weird since she has no preexisiting heart disease. She is stage 3 but in good health. I figure there has to be more to it than that since I never heard of this before and we do not know one another very well.


I hope all this works out. This is very surprising and I am sorry about it.
Please keep us informed.

[pooh55811]

I am sorry to hear you are in the hospital and are having these problems.

I did not have At. Fib. However, I did have runs of Supraventricular Tachycardia of 180 per minute, frequent premature atrial beats, and frequent premature ventricular beats, very frequent. This all started about week 6 or so. I have a history of the tachycardia, but it usually was very infrequent and stopped almost as soon as it started. On treatment this was not the case. The tachycardia, as well and the early beats, occurred frequently many times a day. The tachycardia of 180 per min was stubborn and I often had difficulty terminating it via my normal methods.

These rhythm problems were associated with the severe nausea I was having and once I got on medication (Zofran) and the nausea cleared up, so did the heart rhythm problems.

I am not saying your case is similar. Atrial Fib can be a lot more complicated.

However, I am wondering if you are seeing a Hepatologist. If so, is he working with the Cardiaologist. I think a Hepatologist will be more comfortable making treatment decisions than a regular Gi would be. The less experienced the doc is, the more afraid he is going to be and the less comfortable he will be if any unusual complications pop up.

Wishing you the best.