My AFIB all night long and Merlin Monitor

Afib is tricky

by Theknotguy - 2016-01-14 07:01:05

Sorry to hear you had the bout with afib. It really makes you feel run down.

Three things to consider about afib when you talk to your EP next. Not saying you have any of the things I'm going to mention but it's something to ask. 1) Thyroid - any chance you have a hidden condition? 2) Diabetic - any chance you have hidden diabetes? 3) Sleep apnea - any chance you have hidden sleep apnea?

The reason I bring those up is sometimes there are hidden problems that trigger the afib session. Your EP is looking at the heart and not necessarily underlying conditions.

Recently my doctor for diabetes changed my Metformin prescription. Increased the dosage which made me go hypo-glycemic and triggered three major afib sessions. First was 25 hours, second 43, the third was over 24 hours. I'm scheduled to go back in with my EP to discuss treatment options.

In a lot of cases they can't pinpoint things that will trigger afib but if you find a hidden problem it can help with the overall treatment.

Hope things go better for you.

CPAP and thyroid

by Artist - 2016-01-14 08:01:35

Thanks for your comments. The doctor did order blood tests to include TSH, which I found out is to check my thyroid. So, I'm impressed with my doctor. I also do have sleep apnea, but new testing after my PM was implanted showed that my rate of not breathing had fallen to 4.5 incidents a minute and they told me I could stop using my CPAP, but to watch for adverse effects. That was about 3 months ago, and who knows, maybe I need to start using that contraption again. I will bring that possibility up with my doctor after the 30 day heart monitoring is completed and they see what that shows. I have been experiencing occasional bouts of easy fatigue and slight breathlessness which is not typical for me. They now tell me I am 100% paced. It was 78% three months ago.

CPAP usage

by Theknotguy - 2016-01-14 10:01:49

The problem when the doctor says you can go off the CPAP is they don't always catch everything that is going on. Current joke is you don't get much sleep at the sleep study.

Consequently you can be having problems with deep sleep that aren't caught at the sleep study. The newer CPAP's record a lot of information and probably can identify hidden problems but I haven't been able to get the heart doctors to read the reports. There is a big disjoint between what the sleep doctors are seeing and what the heart doctor knows.

I was seeing things on the CPAP report and had told my heart doctor but he didn't pay any attention to it. He could see things on the PM reports but said he couldn't tell the difference between fast heartbeats due to dreaming or if they were caused by something else. So if the CPAP report indicated I wasn't breathing and I was going into rapid heartbeats just prior to having an afib session kicked off, the heart doctor didn't know - and probably didn't care since it was outside standard medical practice. Very frustrating

I feel you should go back on the CPAP during the time you're being monitored for afib. It will show if you're going into afib because of heart problems versus going into afib because you stop breathing and aren't getting enough oxygen. What you don't want is to go through an ablation and then find out the afib is being triggered by an apnea problem.

You might start the discussion with your EP but sometimes they get the nimba (not in my back yard) thinking and refuse to pay attention to you. Ah well.
Maybe someday we can get everyone on the same page.

I know I was having a fight with the hospital when I was in the hospital to let me use my CPAP. You'd think they'd want me to use everything that could help. But no. They were more afraid I'd pick up some infection using my personal CPAP. It was OK if I died from a stroke or heart attack due to sleep apnea. Very frustrating.

I do hope they can get some help for you. Afib is no fun.

Will experiment

by Artist - 2016-01-15 04:01:17

After reading the comments, during my 30 day monitoring I might try using my CPAP for a week and then a week off, alternating usage a week at a time to see if there are any noticeable differences. My recent AFIB problem started 2 hours before I went to bed and lasted through out the night. Thanks for writing such a thoughtful response. I share your experience with the hospital not using my CPAP machine. They insisted that I bring it for my gall bladder surgery but the nurse refused to use it and said I was getting oxygen. I guess she didn't know that when you stop breathing, you also stop getting oxygen.

O2 & CPAP's

by donr - 2016-01-15 08:01:30

I've taken my CPAP to the hosp, also. They WANTED me to use it.

Just about every mask has built-in port connections for a small diameter Q2 hose. IF not, there are adapters that fit into the air line just in front of the mask that have an O2 port in them. I have one of those, also.

Donr

Merlin and afib

by ldebaugh - 2020-07-23 10:41:14

I usually don’t have palpitations. Last night was my first on Merlin and I was short of breath and had many palpitations, I’m exhausted now.  Could the WiFi in Merlin be causing the  Afib?  Could this be your problem too? 

Liz