Well - Winter 2014 - (Page 10)

Simple Diagnosis- CompliCateD Solution The UNC Center for Heart and Vascular Care collaborates with specialists in the Raleigh area to provide care for the most complex heart cases. By STepHaNie SoUCHeRay-GRell C raig Wilkins was feeling tired, breathless and in need of a vacation. Although he attributed his tiredness to too many long and hectic hours at the office, the 56year old decided to see his family doctor in Cary, N.C., before leaving for a family trip. Craig was otherwise healthy and had no history of heart disease, but his doctor discovered he had atrial fibrillation, a condition that can cause the heart to race, sometimes beating hundreds of times in one minute. These episodes, called tachycardias, were making Craig feel fatigued. "He said my heart was beating a mile a minute," says Craig. "That's why I was so tired. My heart was wearing me out." An estimated 12 million people will have atrial fibril lation by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atrial fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia that causes the heart to beat irregularly. It can be genetic or caused by scar tissue on the heart, diabe tes, high blood pressure or stress. An aging population, an increased survival rate following heart attacks and ris ing rates of heart disease mean more Americans will be entering their 60s and 70s with arrhythmias, which are a leading cause of stroke and cardiac events, and can dra matically alter a person's quality of life. For some, atrial fibrillation is annoying but not life threatening. For Craig, the condition had gone undetected for so long that he had developed congestive heart failure. "I was shocked when the doctor told me how serious it was," says Craig. 10 Winter 2014 Well Initially, Craig was given a course of blood thinners to prevent clots that could be lethal, followed by a cardio version, an electrical shock to the heart, to reset the heart beat back to normal. Though this worked initially, his heart eventually returned to the abnormal heartbeat. After several attempts at cardioversion, Craig's doctor tried anti arrhythmia medication. "They put me in the hospital and used a powerful anti arrhythmia drug," says Craig, who stayed in the hospital for three days as doctors watched his heart. Two days after he was released, he returned to work and passed out at his desk. "Two days out of the hospital and my heart not only went out of rhythm but went into a lifethreatening rhythm, and I passed out cold at my desk. I came around as my coworkers were reading the instructions on the defibrillator paddles." Because his heart kept falling out of rhythm despite several attempts to regulate it with electric shock and

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Well - Winter 2014

Well - Winter 2014
Contents
UNC Health Care News
Community
Maryam’s Journey
Simple Diagnosis— Complicated Solution
Teamwork Guides UNC’s Cardiovascular
When Wounds Won’t Heal
Nutrition
Resources

Well - Winter 2014