Hi all.

School keeps me busy and makes me hate being online after I get
finished with the daily class discussions which seem to go on forever
(warning, writers are prone to long long posts when discussing writing
- surprise).  So I rarely post anywhere anymore and email is even less
likely.

Just finished Spring semester which was both a blast and quite
stressful but I got some great feedback on my writing and a couple of
pieces supposedly worth sending off to lit journals. According to the
prof. anyway.

As to the title of this post.  I began having palpitations and
tachycardia not long after Ike ruined a good week or four last
summer.  I've had palpitations here and there since my mid twenties
but never for more than a few seconds four or five times a year. So
when they kicked in 24/7 last fall I was pretty miserable. Hard to
sleep when it feels like there's a hamster kickboxing inside your
chest.  Initial diagnosis was the benign "SVT" (supraventricular
tachycardia). Been rediagnosed for a little over a week with atrial
fibrillation.  I'd been on a beta-blocker but it was only helping
about six hours out of the day and sometimes not even that. So with
the new diagnosis the doc added a calcium channel blocker and that
seems to, for now, have done the trick.  I get some breakthrough
flutter a couple of times a day.

Originally (SVT dx) she wanted to do RFA and "cure it" immediately.
Well, for a-fib it's a more complex procedure she is looking at,
called PVI.  I've read enough to put that off as a last resort.

I have no underlying heart disease (valves are good, arteries are
good, etc.) so don't know why this happened. Never been on prednisone
so it's not that either.  I think it's about 10% of patients who are
"otherwise healthy" who get this.  It's a little scary so rather than
take two intense summer courses as I'd planned I'll only be taking one
intense summer course. :P  I would have had an 8-week course and an
overlapping 4-week class. Probably could have done it but stress
doesn't help this problem.  The month during which I had to go without
meds to get data to the doctor was pure hell.

On the home front, Big Dawg is doing well. Hubby is doing well. We
continue to work out and try to stay healthy in that regard. His work
is and always will be stressful and we are anxious to hear what
President Obama decides WRT the space program. As I said, I am
enjoying school and learning so much, not the least of which is that I
have some moments during which I am actually a pretty decent writer.
My writing has improved already after only two semesters.  And I've
met some other good writers in the process.

ummm...hrmmmm.  I have minimal autoimmune problems because I continue
to treat my body with care. I still get in trouble now and then when I
ignore my own lectures about sun exposure.   But overall, doing well.
Still on the plaquenil.  Eyes still healthy. (9 years now - does that
mean I can assume I won't have problems with that?)

I am curious if anyone here has a-fib or has had PVI or the other RFA
treatment (on the AV node vs. PVI).  Anyone here have a-fib without a
known cause?

much love to all!
KCat

p.s. Andy - Kemah Boardwalk is up and running again.  And it's
crawfish season. Yeehaw!