{"id":5934,"date":"2015-11-29T15:47:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-29T20:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/?p=5934"},"modified":"2015-11-28T20:48:56","modified_gmt":"2015-11-29T01:48:56","slug":"a-diagnosis-atrial-fibrilation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2015\/a-diagnosis-atrial-fibrilation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Diagnosis: Atrial Fibrilation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally a diagnosis and next steps! While the Stress Test was inconclusive<\/a>, wearing an event monitor for one day provided conclusive evidence and a diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Atrial fibrillation is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that commonly causes poor blood flow to the body.<\/p>\n

During atrial fibrillation, the heart’s two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly \u2014 out of coordination with the two lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart. Atrial fibrillation symptoms often include heart palpitations, shortness of breath and weakness.<\/p>\n

Episodes of atrial fibrillation can come and go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I had 2 episodes in less than 12 hours of wearing the monitor. \u00a0The monitor is a 3-lead EKG monitor that has 3G technology and functions in two ways. \u00a0First, when you feel an event you trigger the monitor which then sends a segment of data back to the manufacturer which then reviews the data and forwards it to the doctor. \u00a0The second function is that the monitor itself watches your heart rhythms and sends data back to the company if it detects anything abnormal.<\/p>\n

I had 97 episodes during the entire time I wore the monitor and only one of them did I submit. \u00a0The first one, was while sitting on the couch at home watching TV! \u00a0I didn’t get the opportunity to review all of the the episodes, which would be interesting to see when they were happening and if there was a pattern that correlates to my activity or behaviors.<\/p>\n

So now that I have a diagnosis, what’s next?<\/p>\n

The first step is medication – Metoprolol\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0a beta-blocker, blood pressure medicine. \u00a0And an Aspirin daily, even though my stroke risk is a 0, they still wanted me to take an Aspirin as strokes are a risk of AFib.<\/p>\n

If Metoprolol doesn’t work, there are other medicines that could be used. \u00a0Given my age and overall health I am also a candidate for cardiac ablation – a catheter procedure to change the heart structure to prevent future Atrial Fibrillations from occurring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally a diagnosis and next steps! While the Stress Test was inconclusive, wearing an event monitor for one day provided conclusive evidence and a diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that commonly causes poor blood flow to the body. During atrial fibrillation, the heart’s two upper chambers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-my-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4iaAv-1xI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5943,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2015\/almost-ablation-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":5934,"position":0},"title":"Almost Ablation Time","author":"crossn81","date":"December 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In just over a week I'll be going in for a \"simple\" procedure called a cardiac ablation. \u00a0 A few weeks ago I wrote that I finally had a diagnosis for what I was feeling in my chest while running sometimes (first reported here). \u00a0It seems that I've been suffering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5924,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2015\/exercise-stress-echo-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":5934,"position":1},"title":"Exercise Stress Echo Report","author":"crossn81","date":"October 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I've written before about how much I dislike treadmill running... Well taking a treadmill stress test is much worse! Not a casual walk in the park during the test you are essentially hooked up to a EKG monitor the whole time running on a treadmill and not being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"20150916_152611","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/20150916_152611-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1936,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2010\/finally-some-good-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":5934,"position":2},"title":"Finally Some Good News","author":"crossn81","date":"April 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally got an MRI done on Tuesday and the results on Thursday. \u00a0The good news is that the results don't show any damaged parts. \u00a0My ligaments,\u00a0cartilage,\u00a0meniscus, etc all looked fine on the MRI images. \u00a0The only thing that showed up was swelling, which was the obvious. \u00a0This is really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Running"","block_context":{"text":"My Running","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/my-running\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1975,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2010\/lyme-disease-aprils-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":5934,"position":3},"title":"Lyme Disease & April’s Thoughts","author":"crossn81","date":"May 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Lyme Disease. \u00a0That is my my final diagnosis for my knee. \u00a0When my sports doctor got back from a conference the final results from my blood work had arrived and showed that I had a confirmed case of Lyme Disease. \u00a0This is the dreaded thing ticks carry. \u00a0We aren't sure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Highlights"","block_context":{"text":"Highlights","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":215,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/shays-autopsy-released\/","url_meta":{"origin":5934,"position":4},"title":"Shay’s Autopsy Released","author":"crossn81","date":"March 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ryan Shay, 28, who died tragically last fall during the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials, died of natural causes. From the New York Times: More than four months after Shay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death, the medical examiner completed the autopsy and toxicology reports, describing his condition as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cardiac arrhythmia due to cardiac hypertrophy with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2546,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2011\/a-look-at-heart-rate-training\/","url_meta":{"origin":5934,"position":5},"title":"A Look at Heart Rate Training","author":"crossn81","date":"March 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After a scare on a run in January where it felt like my heart was in my throat the doctor encouraged me to start wearing a heart rate monitor and to keep my workouts under 60% of my Maximum Heart Rate. Note: The doctors said my heart appeared to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Base Training"","block_context":{"text":"Base Training","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/base-training\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5936,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions\/5936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}