Diabetes: Irregular heartbeat with the various electrical paths of a WPW

>If you were offered ablation you may have WPW unless they are now using it for other problems of which I am unaware.<

Last year I wound up in the ER with a very rapid heart rate and an arrhythmia they couldn't stop with meds. They did a cardioversion, stopping my heart and restarting it, which put me back into a normal rhythm. In March of this year, it started up again, but went back to normal by itself. Now I keep an eye on my pulse with a BP monitor because I know if it starts to race, it may be the return of "atrial flutter."

>tracking all the various electrical paths of a WPW heart seems to be a blend of medicine, voodoo, faith healing and crystal ball reading with some tarot and high tech thrown in for good measure.<

Oh, you mean like regular medicine? I never had any heart trouble until last year, when I got a virus which attacked my heart. The doctors took one look at me, a long-time diabetic in my sixties and were certain that I had a diseased heart. Mine was damaged by the virus, but not diseased. At that time, my heart's efficiency was about a quarter that of a healthy heart. Now it's half as efficient, which I see as progress.

>My daughter is much improved, but still has problems if she gets stressed, dehydrated<

That must be very hard for you to deal with. My own daughter was recently dx'ed with COPD, after smoking for most of her life. I'm finding it hard.

>From my experience with her, hydration is critical at all times. Also, sometimes she is low on potassium and needs supplementation which they usually find out when she is sick with something else and ends up in the hospital ER.<

I drink about a liter and a half of water a day, and steer clear of things like coffee which can dehydrate. I imagine that I do need to take in more potassium. I feel better when I do.

>I have a friend with WPW; her ablation was done years ago and was so extensive she now has congestive heart failure and needs a transplant.<

This is the sort of thing that makes me unwilling to have ablation.

>In her case, the obesity is probably caused by the drugs to control her heart problems.<

That sounds sadly ironic. I am not taking any meds for my heart, only supplements which I have researched thoroughly.

>If you are overweight then getting weight off<

I am 100 lbs thinner than I was, but I could still lose some more weight. At the moment I'm limited in my ability to exercise due to fibromyalgia. Not much chance of anyone stepping in with a defibrillator for me. I live alone and my cat isn't mechanical.

>Hope what little information I have is helpful in some small way.<

I don't think that's what I've got, because I drove the cardio docs half crazy with my questioning and no one mentioned WPW. I'm sure they would have, if they believed it would persuade me to have the procedures they wanted me to have.