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mellanie

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mellanie last won the day on March 19

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About mellanie

  • Birthday November 15

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    http://www.stopafib.org

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Dallas-Ft. Worth

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  1. Political comments or posts, no matter how small, are not allowed by this forum and WILL be removed by the moderators. Political remarks are anything that supports or denigrates a political candidate of any kind (including incumbents), no matter how subtle.
  2. Mellanie- thank you for your swift, timely advice and guidance.  So accurate- and so supportive, very kind of to bring recent research to me to be much better informed.

  3. I tried to reply to you about the Watchman post but your inbox is full and can't receive messages.

    1. mellanie

      mellanie

      Carey, That is bizarre and it is not indicating it is full. We'll check on it when we get our heads above water. In the meantime, please email me at mhills@stopafib.org Thanks.

  4. What I loved about Marchlinski was even though he ids so skilled and BRILLIANT he does not talk down to you and ( im a music teacher  to k-5 kids so this REALLY impressed me)he explains it so you can understand what will and can and cannot happen. Santangeli did my ablation though

    1. mellanie

      mellanie

      Dr. Marchlinski is one of the nicest people. His family is incredible, too. He brings his wife and son to many of the medical meetings, and I have watched his son grow up. His son has even become my "buddy". When we were all in Melbourne, Australia to speak at Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, they took us down the river on the boat and then we walked several blocks to the National Museum for the faculty dinner. Dr. Marchlinski's son and I were first off the boat, and we walked together to the museum, leaving the "adults" behind. Now, every time he sees me, his son gives me a big huge, which is very unexpected for a young teen boy. But, he is a sweetheart! 

      Mellanie

  5. Hi Mellanie.  I just spent 3 hours on a new topic and i cant find he damn thing.  it needs some further editing.  Ideas plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    Rob

  6. David,

    I am removing your post about the book on Trump because politics is out of scope of this forum. 

    Our forum rules (at the top of the forum) explicitly state:

    " This forum is for supporting each other. To protect the harmony of this forum, the moderators reserve the right to remove members who are disrespectful to each other or to third parties, and to close threads when necessary (especially when they stray off into politics). Your use of this forum constitutes agreement with this policy. "

    Mellanie

    1. David H

      David H

      I understand..............I also understand what the consequences of the membership being kept "in the dark" regarding a politicos' motives and movements.  I offered no evaluation -- just an insight (written by others) as to how government policies can affect one's healthcare.

      --Dave--

       

    2. mellanie

      mellanie

      David, 

      There are plenty of OTHER places that we each go to get a heads up on what is going on in politics. This will not be one of those places.

      It's not the posting of the book that is the problem so much as it is an open invitation for others to post their thoughts, which inevitably ends up in a flame war. The stress is not good for anyone with afib, so we try to keep this a stress-free zone.

      Mellanie

       

    3. David H

      David H

      I capisce.

      --Dave--

  7. Mellanie - I know how busy you are!  Thank you.  I wonder if you had a chance to read my message to you a few weeks ago on cortisone and such, and its possibly being a hidden epidemic for new on-set aifb that no one is really talking about, I'm hoping your medical contacts might review?  It is in context with the study mentioned a possible trigger for myself and another on this forum and why I  bring it up.

    1. mellanie

      mellanie

      I have not been on the forum for several weeks as I have been gone to medical conferences. I have not seen your message, and don't know anything about cortisone having any relationship to afib. What caused you to ask about that?

      Mellanie

    2. mellanie

      mellanie

      I'm doing a quick search since I've not run across it in working on the guidelines and don't hear about it at afib medical conferences.

      I see some research that is old (2006) and that was called into question. For example, this quote from Dr. Ellenbogen (a close friend of ours) as a spokesperson for American Heart Association: "The AHA's Ellenbogen was also cautious about the findings. "The present study is a retrospective analysis of a large population study, and these findings will need further confirmation before definite recommendations about steroid use can be made," he said." And another researcher quoted in the same article indicated that most people who take cortisone already have an underlying condition that predisposes them to afib. [https://consumer.healthday.com/senior-citizen-information-31/misc-arthritis-news-41/corticosteroid-drugs-may-boost-cardiac-arrhythmia-risk-532577.html]

      My sense is that cortisone is given for inflammation, and inflammation is an underlying cause of afib, so perhaps it's not the cortisone but instead the underlying condition/inflammation.

      Mellanie

  8. Hi, Mellanie,  I wonder if your medical contacts and governing board members have an opinion on this.  This incredibly common drug is a trigger for afib, and is probably given to a large part of the millions of afibbers.  There seems a real silence on this, yet it may be a major common denominator.

    Corticosteriods are tied to new onset afib by a study detailed in the below forum topic.  I started this topic when another poster here also had cortisone treatment, as myself, then began new onset afib.  I see billions of medical reasons patients are given this drug.  One common use is large doses for athletes - and it may be that the drug is triggering afib, and not the "extreme sports" mentioned as a trigger. 

    The study cites a dose 7.5 mg or more of prednisone that triggered new onset afig.  Sports injuries like what I had are very large amounts of 40 or 80 mg (me) of the related methylprednisone.

    I find few references on the drug and its relationship to low potassium - which seems the cause of the afib and one that Carey finally got doctors to agree on in his case.  There are deaf ears out there on this.  The only website that puts this study clearly showing an afib risk from this is the Arthritis Foundation (also as a JAMA report).  I do not see the risk of cardio problems or potassium lowering caused by the drug on the ortho sports websites.  I see some about low potassium on a drug website here or there. 

    Do we have a hidden epidemic?  That no one is talking about?

    Corticosteroids trigger afib? Tie to potassium and heart

  9. Linda,

    Please stop "engaging" with Fred B (I am asking the same of him) and leave his comments alone until things cool down. Thanks.

    Mellanie 

    1. netmouse

      netmouse

      A cool off period makes great sense.  For me, it began with my Zia Patch post.  Fred and Otto immediately took it off on a tangent and were quite rude and wrong.  The intent of my post was lost.  Pete and Corey tried to help me out by pushing back on those two.  It may be a bit of sexism by the old boys or their quirky manner.  Otto has been fine after.

      I know Pete has had a rough time with NJgolfer in quite a few threads, he pushes back on her even saying he wouldn't take orders from a bully.  And it seems in the past there have been some "personalities". 

      If there is a really rough post, and I have received some whoppers from Fred, even telling me to eat a warfarin cookie, can I "report" a post as inappropriate and it will be removed? 

  10. I tried tolook at the study results for LAAand the page would not come up.likewise for the next Afib study on the list. the message said page not available?reason?

    1. mellanie

      mellanie

      Can you point me to what you are asking about as I cannot tell what you are referencing here?

  11. Good day!  I was diagnosed with persistent Afib after an episode on May 23.  Previously in 2004 I had a bout with persistent as well and successfully cardioverted to normal sinus rhythm and stayed on Coumadin for a year. In 2012 I had another bout and wound up in the ER but went back into NSR after taking potassium supplements. I take 3000mg per day due to low potassium. This latest bout on May 23, my cardiologist did Echo and Stress said everything was fine and referred me to an EP, who recommended another cardiovert in two weeks BUT he wants me to go on Amiodarone for 3 months along with the Xarelto I am on.  I am not too keen on the idea of Amiodarone due to the severe side effects that I read about. I can tie all three of my episodes to heavy caffeine use and low potassium levels as found in he ER.  My question is; is it normal practice three days to electro-cardiovert AND prescribe Amiodarone.  My EP said we could try cardiovert without it (it's up to me) but he could almost guarantee I would be back in Afib. I want to try just a Cardioversion without the Amiodarone since I have quit all caffeine use and then try to maintain my electrolytes better.  Does this seem like a plan that makes sense. Curious to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks so much for your comments.

  12. Please note that the moderators reserve the right to remove copyrighted material. Also, you may quote materials for which you own the copyright. Mellanie
  13. Hi Mellanie,

    1. DEEUU

      DEEUU

      I'm not certain if this is the correct way to contact you directly. I'm following up on an old post that you made in reference to pulmonary vein stenosis being discovered much later after ablation. You referenced Dr. Packer at the Mayo Clinic and that he had presented some findings at a recent conference? Do you have further details to share or an abstract from the conference presentation? Thanks!! I'm also very interested in understanding which facilities automatical...

  14. Looking for afib patients for media opportunity.

  15. Welcome to the forum. My mini maze was done at Scott & White in Temple, TX, by the team of Charles Reiter and Erik Beyer. Dr. Reiter is still there, but Dr. Beyer has moved to another institution. There are other highly skilled surgeons around the country that also do mini maze, so I'll be glad to help you locate someone in your area if you'd like to share where you're located.

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