Age: 72.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Anticoagulant therapy, Atrial fibrillation, Blood potassium decreased, Blood test abnormal, Chest X-ray normal
Clinical narrative: On the morning of April 21, 2022, around 9-10 AM, I felt very jittery like I had too much caffeine. At some point in the morning, I put on my pulse oximeter and checked my oxygen saturation and heart rate. My rate was between 113-140. Every time I checked it would be slightly different. My oxygen was in the normal range between 94-96. I thought that was very odd that my heart rate was that fast. I didn't have any other symptoms other than feeling jittery, feeling fatigued, and having a rapid heart rate. I called my doctor's office to see if I could be seen and they didn't have an appointment for that day. I told them I needed to be seen sooner and they said to go to the urgent care facility. It was around 3pm when I went over there and a nurse practitioner examined me and did an EKG. When he returned, he noted that I was in afib and he recommended to go to the ER at the near by hospital. It was a little alarming to me because he said I shouldn't go home and I needed someone to take me there. My husband came back and picked me up and drove me to the emergency room at Medicine Hospital. We walked in and I had a print out from the urgent care that had determined I was in afib. They told me it was going to be a long wait. I got into a room within 5 minutes, had an IV and another EKG, Chest x-ray, and COVID swab. I saw the emergency doctor and there was discussion about being in afib and they noted it would be better to be seen by a cardiologist. I was there for about 5 hours. 5pm-10pm. they determined that I was handling my heart rate well and started me on a blood thinner  Eliquis 5mg twice daily. They started me on a beta blocker Metoprolol 25mg twice daily. They also did give me some potassium as well because the potassium was low on my blood work. They administered those to me in the hospital and watched me. When they got my heart rate down to 100 and lower, and testing to see if I was actively having a heart attack. They determined I didn't have one and I wasn't having one. About 10pm, my husband came back and got me. They gave me a referral to see a cardiologist and told me to take the Eliquis and metoprolol at home. They told me to make an appointment with the cardiologist in their department. My heart rate managed to stay around 100 or lower. The next day I called their cardiology department and made the appointment for April 28. At that appointment, we did another EKG and I was still in afib and talked about my treatment. They recommended an echocardiogram which I did on May 13, 2022. I am scheduled to have a cardioversion on June 10, 2022. She talked about what the cardioversion would do and what other options there were if the cardioversion did not work. I do have an appointment for July 29 with another cardiologist for a procedure called an ablation if the cardioversion does not work. I've continued to take the blood thinner and beta blocker twice daily. My symptoms are that I get short of breath if I exert myself  exercise, climbing stairs, etc. I have to stop and I'm just tired all the time. My cardiologist said that the symptoms of the beta blocker is fatigue. So between the afib and the treatment, I can't tell which is making me tired. But I'm just tired. I'm active with walking 3 times a week, gardening ? all of that stuff has been left to the side for the mean time. On top of this, just recently caught a cold on May 21.The day I got the 4th vaccine, I didn't have any reaction that day. But the next day, I was in bed all day. Chills, fever aches. The 19th those effects were gone I was still fatigued. 20th I was fatigued. 21st I was still fatigued as well and that's when I decided to put on the pulse oximeter. I could have gone into afib earlier, but I wasn't sure. The doctor told me that the echocardiogram could tell if there was any heart damage, but luckily there has been no damage.