A-fib and endocarditis

[mattwisconsin]

I am about 3 1/2 weeks into my 6 week ceftriaxone treatment for endocarditis. For the last week I have been having problems with A-fib intermittently. I did not have these issues before the infection and as far as I know were not there at the beginning of my treatment. My questions are for those out there who have had endocarditis. Do you know if there is a link between the antibiotic treatment and the A-fib. If so, does it go away at the end of treatment. My cardiologist at this point has put me on a Holter heart monitor and now I am on Metoprolol Tartate 50mg a day. She seems to think that it will be best to continue the treatment and see if it is still there at the end and if so then looking at what needs to be done with drugs and possibly surgery.

 

[sue943]

I didn't get A-fib until I had my OHS which was a few months after endocarditis was cleared. This lasted a few months, treated with amiodarone, no problems since.

 

[mattwisconsin]

Thanks for your response.

I have heard a lot of people with it post OHS. It seems to be linked with scarring or other things in there.

Not having it before I am a little scared with it now, especially because there was talk of possibly having to put in a pacemaker when they first found the endocarditis, but after an MRI, echo, and TEE, this was taken off the table and was hoping it was still off.

 

[Adrienne]

I had A-Fib a little over a year after I had endocarditis. I think I would have eventually gotten A-Fib since my left atrium was quite dilated, but I have a feeling the endocarditis precipitated things since it precipitated the degeneration of my valve.

Maybe your endocarditis started ruining the valve to such an extent that your left atrium went into "overdrive".

 

[zipper2]

I am about 3 1/2 weeks into my 6 week ceftriaxone treatment for endocarditis. For the last week I have been having problems with A-fib intermittently. I did not have these issues before the infection and as far as I know were not there at the beginning of my treatment. My questions are for those out there who have had endocarditis. Do you know if there is a link between the antibiotic treatment and the A-fib. If so, does it go away at the end of treatment. My cardiologist at this point has put me on a Holter heart monitor and now I am on Metoprolol Tartate 50mg a day. She seems to think that it will be best to continue the treatment and see if it is still there at the end and if so then looking at what needs to be done with drugs and possibly surgery.

Hello and welcome,
I had endocarditis in 2006 after treatment of vancomycin and gentimycin
antibiotic i.v. for month and i have been told then 2006 and recent mvr
jan 22 that due to endocarditis is how i developed my a-fib and my surgeon
confirmed this before and after my surgery ,it was due to endocarditis.
my surgeon did a maze proceedure and after surgery in icu they had to
shock my heart x 3 different occassions to see if it helped as maze didnot.
the third time something worked for abit but i too like Adriene ended up on
Amiodarone 200mg daily,today was put down to 100mg.
I will be seeing my surgeon in near future for follow up to see if i need to
maintain on this drug or not and get all the answers to the maze proceedure
and using (paddles) on my heart etc. to get full details.But i know the maze
etc didnot rid my a-fib,but with drug it is under control.
i didnot end up with a pacemaker.
For tw0 years prior i was put on metropolol 25mg twice daily since surgery
i am still on metropolol but lower dose now half of 25mg x2 daily since surgery
Hope this has helped you somewhat.

zipper2 (DEB)

 

[mattwisconsin]

Thanks again. I am interested to see how this all goes. With the Metoprolol the A-fib seems to have stopped almost immediately. Also I met with the infectious disease doctor today and he was very happy with the way my treatment was going. I have two more weeks with ceftriaxone and then should be done with at least the first part.

 

[Dina]

I have had endocarditis a few times and never had an arrhythmia as
a result of the antibiotics. Did you have the infection for awhile prior
to diagnosis? Sometimes the more vegetation, the more effects you
will have on the heart.
My Best-Dina

 

[mattwisconsin]

I think that I had it for about 2 months or a little more before it was diagnosed. So we will see what happens after the treatment is done.

 

[Adrienne]

I think that I had it for about 2 months or a little more before it was diagnosed. So we will see what happens after the treatment is done.

Two months!! I'm wondering what your symptoms were. I had a low-grade fever, horrible headache and no energy. I waited 13 days before going to the ER because I thought it was some sort of virus. I absolutely cannot imagine feeling that way for two months!!

 

[mattwisconsin]

I had the low fever (99.2), only known through night sweats, and was feeling tired when I walked up hill or lifting. I also almost fainted a couple times. I thought it was normal aortic stenosis, as normal as that is. I was living in Greece and decided to wait until going home at Christmas and then had to wait for a cardiologist appt. The first one thought that valve was breaking down from an echo. The second cardiologist, my normal one now, immediately did a blood culture. And this looked negative for 2 1/2 days. And then finally at the end of the third day it came back positive and I then went to the hospital.

I felt bad but thought it was normal Aortic Stenosis so didn't think it was super urgent. Looking back, I wish I would have worried more earlier, but being an idiot man, I thought it might pass. I almost waited until August to deal with it, because that was when I was planning on moving back to the US. I am really glad that I didn't now.