Do you work with irregular beats?

[DeltaDawn23]

I went back to work yesterday, (1st day back after my electro-cardioversion) was feeling great, worked all day.  Ate late last night before bedtme, and ended up with some gastric distress this a.m. and irregular beats all morning.  I came home after 2-1/2 hours -- can't keep doing that -- and napped and had the irregular beats all afternoon.  It wasn't Afib, at least not sustained, but very distracting and I was starting to get panicky.  Do any of you work through these episodes?  

I have a workshop day tomorrow, so I could slip out of the room if need be, but I'm burning up my sick/vacation time.  The nurse practitioner insisted I was ready to go back to work. Actually they told me I could keep working when my heart was at 145 bpm -- but I didn't think that would help me try to slow it down.   I am seeing the cardiologist tomorrow and a new one on Thursday for a 2nd opinion.  I am very close to retirement, but I wanted to work a couple more months.  Wish I could just get thru the day without all the hassle.

Any thoughts?

[ireneo]

It's a very rewarding job and you have a good heart (pun intended) to care so much for the wild ones among us. I have a duck in my bedroom right now. LOL She came in with injuries from drakes attacking her. We got her healed up, I released her yesterday and 7 drakes came in from bushes along side the lake and attacked her again. Had to run around the lake to where the males drove her to the side and rescue her again. Part of this comes from feeding the ducks at small ponds. There's overcrowding and too much competition for mates and habitat. Back she goes to the center today to go back on medications and heal up. I'll have to find a better, more natural place to release her again, not the place where she was found.

[Ihatepalps2]

this isnt heart related ( amazing its not!) but I just wanted to say, I went and looked at your photos...I am the person that does the rescueing of those creatures, and takes them to people like you! I am an animal fanatic, and cannot stand to see any creature suffer! I have rescued many many small animals & birds over the years, and you are one of the ANGELS that are out there, dedicating your time to saving them! We have wildlife rehab people in my town, and I thank god for them all the time!! What a great job that would be!

[ireneo]

Sorry, I forgot: I do not take my Diltiazem any more. I have it on hand in case I have a bad day of tachy and chest pain but I don't feel my arrhythmias are that much trouble that I require meds every day.

And I reposted my photo of carrying a beaver to the swim tank. I think this beaver was from 2 years ago. If you click on my name to go to my profile and then check my photos, you'll see a few of my "patients."  

[ireneo]

I've been doing wildlife rehab for a little over 20 years. I work in a wildlife care center but am also licensed to do home care for the small/infant animals that need extra care. Generally I do small mammals (various squirrels, skunks) and tiny birds at home. At the center is where I manage the larger animals like raptors, coyotes, porcupines, etc.

I've had 3 ablations and my heart is greatly improved. Yes, I do have all my ectopics throughout the day and several brief tachy times throughout the week. Generally the tachy times last less than a minute and only rarely up to 15 minutes. So this is as good as it's going to get and it's easy enough for me to work around it. I still can't run (never have been able to do that), climb steep hills or drink (oh well) but there are so many other things I do and enjoy.

[DeltaDawn23]

I work in an office, and at the moment it's not very physical, altho I have to lift boxes, etc. at times.  I'm impressed that you are able to continue your work when carrying heavy loads around.   Sounds like your ablation didn't completely make your symptoms go away, but lessened them?  Are you still on meds?

[CFS56]

Ireno, what do you do?  Your job sounds great, I would love working with animals.

[ireneo]

I don't know what your job involves. With me, I work just fine doing regular light duty: climbing step ladders, hauling things back and forth, doing meds and diets, dealing with most of the wildlife. And I can easily deal with a fractious raccoon, carry a 45 lb beaver to the swim tank or catch up an eagle if my heart is being fairly normal. If it's in tachy mode (constant), then I need to wait till it kicks back to normal. I feel too out of breath and a bit light headed if I'm tachy (over 150 bpm). Thankfully, since my ablations,  when my heart does go tachy, it only lasts a short time. If I'm lugging a beaver around right when it hits, I stop moving, stand still till it goes back to NSR. Unfortunately, carrying heavy objects around like that tends to trigger a tachy time so I'm prepared when it happens. I manage to work around it all.