My ongoing issues - Night sweats and AFIB - SleepyHead chart attached

[MyronH]

Okay thanks. I saw a couple CA and open airways where it looked like I stopped breathing and thought these could cause the issues I'm having.

[kiwii]

Oh! Yes, of course! I don't know enough to say anything about CA's or to help with your charts, and did not mean to imply that those were not a problem. I was only speaking to the small part of the one issue that I might be able to help with.

[Styx]

I have also been awakened in AFib. Was to the ER twice because I woke up that way. I had to have cardioversions to get back to a normal rhythm. Then I woke up in it again but I converted on my own and the fourth time I had been waiting to have a sleep study done when it happened again. We found during a sleep study that my oxygen level was into the 70s which is very low. The cardiologist told me that it is the sleep apnea causing the afib and the low oxygen level. I never converted this time and he would not do another cardioversion so I am going to end up being in A-fib for the rest of my life. I had a nighttime pulse oxsymmetry done and they found that my O2 saturation was still into the 70s. For some reason the sleep doctor did not want to do that study using the CPAP. So I'm supposed to see him in November and he believes he's going to do another one while wearing the CPAP which is what myself and the respiratory therapist thought he would have done the first time. I was waking up in AFib and sweating like a bull and out of breath each time. I don't know, maybe your problem is your oxygen level is falling very low at night. What was your oxygen level like when you had a sleep study done? Could it possibly be that your oxygen level is falling during the night on the cpap? It may be worth talking to your doctor about the oxygen level during sleep.

[Hojo]

You may want to discuss the Beta Blockers with your Cardiologist (not family doctor unless he/she is really outstanding).  Some Beta Blockers have a side effect of shortness of breath which can make you feel very anxious as well.

[kiwii]

... so I am going to end up being in A-fib for the rest of my life.

Is ablation not an option for you? We are in a small town and I've been shocked by the lack of care the cardiac patients get here when there is a remedy so close at hand. Thank goodness my husband went to another doctor and did not stay with the local guy.

[MyronH]

My doctors are all about to write me off as some anxiety freak. Today my Primary doctor still had no answers on my night sweats and is referring me back to my Electrophysiologist. She talked with him about ablation, and thinks it is best choice for me. But she said there is some serious issue with ablation that can manifest years later, and cause some type of other deadly issue. I don't remember what it was caused. But something about ablation causing shortness of breath years later and heart failure. I'm on "Multaq" for AFIB, and this stuff scares me, since it can have a lot of side effects.

So, ablation is an option, but is it the right thing for me? After multiple ECG, multiple 14-day holter monitors, they never caught any AFIB. The only thing those showed was Tachycardia around 100-130 at night, and my cardiologist said that is in the normal range. Really? Asleep and get woken up with 100-130bpm racing heart? My cardiologist just wants to treat the Tachycadia part with Beta Blockers since he has no other answer for me. In the hospital, it took about 9 hours for me to convert out of AFIB. Then they immediately put me on this Multaq medicine. That was end of August, and have not caught myself in AFIB. I have a Kardia Mobile device to test if I'm in it or not.

Maybe I am still getting low oxygen at night. During my sleep study, I was dropping to low 80's.

My sleep specialist doctor wanted to change my APAP to CPAP constant pressures, because she read some article that for AFIB patients, a constant pressure is recommended. But when i asked her for the article that says that, she couldn't find it.
So I'm not sure if i should believe her or not. Sounds like she is just googling stuff.

[Styx]

Low 80s is to low. Normal they like to see it at least 95 but anything below 90 is low. Maybe a night time pulse oximetry while on your apap is just what you need. Ask your doctor about it.

I cannot have an ablation due to other health problems. The cardiologist also told me that unless we can get my oxygen level up at night it's only going to happen again even after the ablation. So I have to get the low oxygen level figured out first.

[MyronH]

I finally got an image link. I was looking through the details. It appears at around the same time as I was awakened, at 3:55am, I had an OSA that lastest 21sec, and a CA(Clear Apnea). So I'm not sure if that means I wasn't breathing for 21 seconds?