Hello. 20m here
I was diagnosed with Afib last November when I was running for the bus (I missed it) and my heart didn’t slow down at all. I was in Afib RVR for 16 hours which was no fun.
Had 4 heart tests (echo, ct coronary angiogram, treadmill + 2 weeks monitor) which all came back fine.
In Feb then I had my second big episode, 14 hours and self-converting like the first.
Then I had another episode (a few seconds, 11 days later).
I’ve been on flecainide 100mg twice daily since then and have had no issues since. I’m also on propranolol 80mg twice daily.
I then saw an EP for the first time (I previously sought out a regular cardiologist) and he basically said this:
‘I explained to [me] that it is unusual to develop paroxysmal atrial fibrillation at such a young age with a structurally normal heart. One possibility is that he has a more organised (AV nodal) tachycardia mechanism and
his atrial fibrillation may be a “tachycardia induced tachycardia”.’
‘One option is to simply proceed to a diagnostic EP study +/- ablation of an AV nodal mechanism. The other option is to consider proceeding to EPS +/- ablation of an AV nodal mechanism and if this study is negative, proceed on directly at the same sitting to a pulmonary vein isolation procedure.’
Now this all is going ahead on May 21st!
Frankly I feel really alone. I feel like no one my age gets afib and I’m unsure what my future will look like. The idea of getting a stroke absolutely terrifies me.
All I can think about is what will happen if the ablation and medication stop working? Based case is I get a few years before that happens, but even if I get a whole decade I’ll only be 30! What then??
The possibility of it progressing too terrifies me.
All of it is getting too difficult to cope with. The uncertainty around this condition feels like too much for me to handle and I don’t know how to be happy.
I want to live a long life but I’m convinced I’ll run out of options at 30 years old and will have a stroke or something.