After Covid booster

This was actually quite painful, my arm bruised noticeably, but I had no swelling or flu symptoms.  Lots of colleagues were experiencing much worse symptoms after the Pfizer booster and the AF forum was very concerned about the booster causing AF.

I have not had a reading of AF from the Kardia for years and have a very low ectopic burden.  I test myself regularly and record ectopics I experience over the total monthly tests of 30 seconds per day; in October I had three, in November I had two.

My Heartbeat stayed normal on the day of jab and for a couple of days afterwards, with no ectopics

Three days afterwards, I had two dodgy readings.  One said, “Sinus rhythm with Supraventricular Ectopy” which showed three three PACs and one “Normal” with one PAC and 3 missed beats.  This is four ectopics averaged over 30 seconds, which is unusual.

I had no more ectopics for the next couple of days.

Six days after the jab, my heart went haywire.  The first reading was classified as “Atrial Fibrillation” with three PACs and four missed beats.  The second reading was also classified as AF, with six PACs and one missed beat).  This gives eight ectopics per 30 seconds, but I was not convinced they were AF as there was some regularity between the PACs.  Looking at the traces, there is a regularity to the irregular heartbeat.  I think this is Trigeminy, not AF.

The seventh day was similar.  I took three readings.  The first was AF with three PACs and four missed beats.  The second was also AF with two PVCs and seven PACs.  The final one was “Sinus rhythm with PVCs” there were five PACs and one  PVC.  Seven ectopics per 30 second test.

The next day was back to reading “Normal” and with just one PVC detected.  Although this is not entirely normal as I rarely have PVCs, the vast majority of ectopics I have are PACs.

I must admit that I was a little worried on the sixth day.  I don’t normally feel ectopics and didn’t even on this day, until I saw he AF classification.  When I went to bed, I could feel every missed beat.  Looking back over last week, the symptoms seemed much worse then than they look on paper.  I am glad I continue to monitor, in case I do regress back into AF, I will have some data for the cardiologist, but also I can look back and realise how minor this episode actually was.

Flurry of medical visits

After my visit to the practice nurse on 6^th October, I have had a flurry of further appointments.

03/11  Asthma follow up

I was using the salbutamol at its maximum; two puffs 4x per day.  This was completely removing any symptoms from the morning and exercise, but I was still coughing after the evening meal. I wasn’t turning into Chris Froome, if anything I was slower, but I was feeling a lot better and not coughing at all during the rides, even one I did at 2°C.  I was told that this was too much usage and I should instead try a Clenil preventer inhaler at two puffs twice a day. 

22/11  Flu Jab

I could feel this going in.  I thought this may cause a problem, but actually no side effects whatsoever

24/11  Blood tests

This turned out to be a whole raft of tests: liver function, cholesterol, diabetes and general blood markers.  Overall, I was quite pleased; no diabetes, all haemoglobin results at the middle to the top of the normal range and the GGT was only just above maximum.  In fact, this was the lowest test result ever, in spite of the fact that I have failed to keep within my twenty units limits over the last couple of months.  This is mainly due to Covid restriction relaxations and a backlog of rescheduled gigs.  My cholesterol was slightly elevated, but the good/bad ratio was spot on.   

01/12  Asthma follow up

I reported that everything was much better, still no coughing in the morning and during exercise, but still a little cough after the evening meal, but even this was better than it was.  The Nurse Practitioner seemed well pleased and advised me to try fewer puffs on the Clenil and try the occasional Ventolin after food. 

03/12  Covid booster

I was given the Pfizer after the original AstraZenica. The experience of my colleagues suggests that this was the worst combination for side effects.  I had no real problems afterwards, although my routine Friday afternoon blood pressure test was high at 140/81.