Damn Denis, bad day. I'll do the same.

Len,
PM me buddy. I obviously wish your family well. I just don't think you should post your brother's complete med history.

Rick has given you a lot of good info. Many things can cause decreased heart function. Things that are exposures like drugs and alcohol, infectious agents that are viral or parasitic, vitamin deficiencies, hormonal states, brain conditions too many to mention.

Some are reversible. You just don't know until it happens and diagnosis made. He may be a transplant candidate or not. There are also other therapies out there which are more experimental.

My thoughts are with you and your brother. Positive thoughts sent your way..
Christian

PM sent Peter. Thanks again guys.

Len -

Just saw all of this. Very best to you both; your brother will be in my thoughts. Wish I could do more....

Jim

Best wishes for your brother and your family. Hope it turns out well.

Len,

Hope things go well for you and your Brother. He is in our prayers.

Joe

Best wishes to your brother, Lendaddy.

My best thoughts and prayers for your brother, len.

I've got two brothers and couldn't imagine losing them (even though both work in dangerous fields). My thoughts are with you.

I sure hope for the best for your brother (and all of you family) Lendaddy, and also to your friend Speeder...thinking positive here!

Thanks again guys, I should get more info today.

Art, I was hoping you would show up...

Len, Art can fill you in much better than I can, he's a heart doc, I am a general internist. Sorta like talking Porsche to a Porsche mechanic vs. a European auto mechanic.

Thanks Rick, you have both given me great info.

Len, hang in there and hopefully they caught things in time for your brother!

Thanks again guys,

PMs sent to Art and Rick.

I just want to thank you guys again and give a brief update on my brother.

They were going to try and fix his afib problem Saturday(to hopefully ease some symptoms and allow more accurate monitoring), but they did an ultrasound on his heart and he has blood clots in there. These need to be dissolved before they can move forward.

The doctor also observed that he has severe sleep aptnia (sp?) and he feels this could be a contributing factor???

They have had him on various blood thinners and what not and are actually sending him home tonight until the clots dissolve.....then they'll bring him in and start over. I do not know if he is going to be ordered to bed-rest or what.

At this point they do not know what caused this.

Peter and Rick have been very helpful via PM and I cannot thank them enough for helping myself and my family understand what is going on. Once again the Pelicans come through, you guys are great!

folks with bad sleep apnea have to sleep hooked up to a machine that delivers oxygen to them while they sleep at night thru a hose. i know several people that have to use the machine. sounds like your brother may be a candidate for this, len.

My father actually had a severe case of it himself. He had a surgury where they removed all the extra skin, fat and goodies from the back of his throat and it cured him. This was 10+ years ago. I wonder if it's genetic?

Glad to hear he is heading home. He will likely be on coumadin for 2-4 weeks prior to cardioversion (resetting the heart as you put it). This will help protect him from a stroke from the clots being shot out of the heart once the atria (top chambers) start pumping normally again. Expect him to be on coumadin for 6 weeks or so afterwards as well since the atria are stunned and don't pump normally for a while even after the electrical pattern has been corrected. His doctors might also keep him on blood thinners long term if they think his heart might go in and out of atrial fibrillation since the stroke risk is the same for those who pop in and out as it is for those who are in it all the time. Plus, with an ejection fraction that low, he is at risk for developing clots along the walls of the ventricles (pumping chambers) due to pooling of blood.

Obstructive sleep apnea could be a contributing factor since it lowers the amount of oxygen in your blood while you sleep due to poor air flow. This causes the pulmonary (lung) arteries to constrict, raising the pressure in the lungs. This puts increased workload on the right side of the heart (the side that pumps blood to the lungs) and thus can cause or worsen heart failure.

No problem on the info, I get lots of car info from here, happy to give a little info back.

Sleep apnea has been linked with atrial fibrillation. Alot of the "links" are anecdotal, but they seem to be there...

Mike

Actually, I think that relatively short episodes (less than 48 hours) don't represent a significant stroke risk. At least that's my understanding (I am not on any blood thinners besides beer). :>)

Mike

Len,

Can´t believe I have missed your thread about your brother. Very sorry to read about him. I wish you all the best.

Adult heart conditions are not my area. My knowledge only extends as far as the newborns and their various heart defects. But it is amazing to see what vast knowledge there is on this piston head forum.

The only situation where atrial fibrillation poses no additional stroke risk is called lone atrial fibrillation which is essentially atrial fibrillation in those without any cardiopulmonary disease and who are not elderly.

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (i.e. where it pops in and out of the abnormal rhythm) poses the same stroke risk as chronic atrial fibrillation.

Now, if you are talking about the first episode of atrial fib, then you are correct in that you can be cardioverted within 48 hours of onset. The problem there is that a significant percentage (50% or more) of atrial fibrillation episodes are asymptomatic, you can't feel them. Thus it is often impossible for the doctor to know if that is truly your first episode or if you are just paroxysmal and just now felt it.

FWIW, my father had some nerve issue that made hi heart beat crazy fast in episodes. They did a procedure where they remove one of the nrves that was triggering the other and he's all set now. I don't think that is atrial fib though is it?

Depends.

It sounds like you are talking about an atrial tachycardia which is when a small area of the atria gets irritable (for whatever reason...kinda like a woman) and begins to fire off impulses rapidly. This overrides the normal pacemaker of the heart and makes the heart beat rapidly. Sometimes we can treat this with medications and sometimes it requires an ablation where we go into the heart with a catheter (through the arteries) and locate the problem area and then burn it to kill it.

There are multiple causes of a rapid heartbeat which might be treated with ablation, if your father had this come on late in life it is more likely the be the situation I described above.

Different than a-fib though.

My father was diabetic and had sleep apneia and may of the same heart problems, in addition to kidney and circulartory problems. I wish your brother the best.

I hope he/you/whomever was involved with the doctors had revealed to the doctor his 'bodybuilding' additives.

This goes a LONG way towards diagnosing and curing ailments; indeed doctors #1 pet peeves tend towards a lack of information revealed by patients....

Agree, and yes all information was shared.

That would be me. Mine is also paroxysmal as I convert on my own. Lone can still pose a stroke risk, though, if you don't convert within 48hrs.

Mike

No, actually it doesn't. If you truly have lone atrial fibrillation your stroke risk is the same as the general population.

Lendaddy,
Are they going to relook at his heart function soon?

I honestly don't know, I'll find out next time we talk. Thanks again!

I just called him and he's out. He says he'll be into work tomorrow?????

He said they didn't recheck his heart function before he left either. I'm sure there are some things I'm not getting and he'll fill me in tomorrow.

Well I wouldn't expect them to check it right now, but maybe at around the time they try to get him back into regular rhythm.

Sorry to hear about your bro and I wish him the best.
I had a weird thing going on with my heart about 5-6 years years ago. The doctors called the situation premature atrial contractions. Suggested that I reduce caffiene intake and the weirdness, sporatic rapid heart, went away on its own. I know this isn't what's going on here but I wanted to share this information.
Clint

Clint,

Had a friend years ago who was drinking 15-20 Mountain Dew soda's. He got into a situation much like yours and had no idea what was going on.

While the docs were looking at him he had his girlfriend go and get a soda. She returned and handed it to him, the docs put a stop to it and the amounts of caffein he was consuming came out in the open.

He did not realize what was in what he was drinking, stopped it and all is ok now. Wonder if all the people drinking Red Bull and their clones are doing the same thing these days?

Lendaddy
Make sure he's staying away from salt. I cannot stress this enough. People have died from hamburgers. Seriously.

At this point it is an idiopathic cardiomyopathy. Sometimes these cardiomyopathies can improve, sometimes dramatically. Often the ones that resolve are thought to be secondary to a viral infection, i.e. a viral cardiomyopathy. The most common cause of a cardiomyopathy would be a blocked important coronary artery, aka coronary artery disease. I am sure his doctors will rule this out. It is also possible that if he has been in atrial fibrillation with a rapid ventricular rate for a long time and he didn't know it, that he has a tachycardia induced cardiomyopathy. Sometimes this can improve as well when the heart rate is slowed. There are many good therapies now that are proven to decrease mortality. Things like afterload reduction with ACE inhibitors and things like beta-blockers. Hopefully things will turn around for your brother. The important thing is that he receives the medical attention he needs.

Holy balls! That's like having 8 gallons of strong coffee a day, from what I understand! :eek:

I remember reading about the guy who won the SF->NY Cannonball race one year on a Suzuki Hayabusa set-up for touring, he had a tank bag filled w/ Mountain Dew and a tube from his wiener to the rear license plate so that he never had to stop to whiz. The MD supposedly has more caffeine than any drink known to man, he was sharp as a tack after 28 hours straight @ 100+ average mph. :D