Heart trouble

On 2007-07-13 18:22:45 -0700, Dave S said:

Hilton wrote:
That's pretty funny. After reading your first line, my head went into
overdrive thinking how a-fib's side effects could cause earache.

Hope it all works out CJ.

Hilton


This.. is a good example of whats caused an "incidental finding"

Dave

Well, you know -- it was not just the earache. I had been having this
earache off and on for a few weeks. And I was dizzy, like with an ear
infection. But I was too busy to do much about it and figured it would
go away.

So, I suppose the earache was from the wax buildup. The dizziness might
have been caused by the a-fib.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

C J Campbell wrote:

So, I suppose the earache was from the wax buildup. The dizziness might
have been caused by the a-fib.

More than likely was - the dizziness, that is.

From a pumping standpoint, your ventricles do the majority of the
pumping work. After a heartbeat, they relax and passively refill while
waiting for the next beat.(remember this occurs 60-80 times a minute in
a healthy person at rest). In healthy people, this passive refilling
accounts for about 70% of the amount of blood that will be pumped on the
next beat/contraction.

The atria contribute an additional 30% or so by actively contracting,
and filling the ventricles fully just immediately before the ventricles
contract.

This atrial kick therefore accounts for about 30% of your cardiac
output. In individuals without a large "reserve" in cardiac ability,
this 30% can make the difference between something like a-fib being an
annoyance or a true problem. As a general rule, the unhealthier someone
is from a cardiovascular standpoint, the less able they are to tolerate
this problem.

Your dizziness does not mean you tolerated it poorly, per se, but it was
likely a symptom, and it could be fair to say you were "symptomatic"

Some examples of very poorly tolerating it would be passing out,
having chest pain, poor exercise tolerance to the point you cant even
walk from the bed to the bathroom without stopping to get your breath.