The HHT and Afib Athlete

  2 nd September 2025. BEFORE I BEGIN, YOU CAN NOW SIGN UP AS A FOLLOWER OF THIS BLOG AND RECEIVE AN UPDATE WHEN A NEW POST IS MADE.   JUST CLICK ON THE FOLLOW BUTTON. WHY AM I SHOUTING? AND ON WITH MY TALE…   Yesterday I got a report of my phone call with Professor Adlam at Glenfield Hospital, the UK expert on SCADS. The first few lines described what had happened to me in ‘medic speak’. You know the sort of thing: “A ST-elevated T Myocardial Infarction secondary to a multivessel Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection in the Circumflex (type 2a) and LAD arteries (type 2b).   ARGH! So obviously I went and looked it up on Professor Google.   I know! I know! A recipe for trauma and worry, straight away! AI informed me that the first bit is usually abbreviated to a STEMI and “is a severe complete blockage which can cause death or extensive damage to the heart muscle”.   ARGH!!   This was caused by a pair of SCADs (or two possible SCAD are...

  The Holiday that wasn’t Spoiler Alert! Did a lovely walk on Saturday 3 rd August – bagged a trig point (this is Suffolk, so nothing too dramatic) and then bagged tea and cake so all-in-all a great day.   Probably got a bit dehydrated – who knows but drank a lot when I got in… Had a nice shower, blew my nose (HHT skin graft needs clearing from time to time) and then walked downstairs and noticed I was very breathless.   Checked my pulse and my heart was desperately trying to go, or not go, into some sort of arrhythmia.   Cried a lot but not for long.   Basically thinking “Now ****ing what!?”.   The heart lost the battle with the Afib and settled at about 100-110 beats per minute.   I was worried about the SCAD so drove to local hospital and was given Digoxin in A&E.   Seems they couldn’t give me IV amiodarone as I am already taking it orally.   Digoxin did zero and I was told I would be admitted and seen by a cardiologist Monday...