Q) I’M a 63-year-old man and was recently diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat.
Before taking the medication, I was waking up with my heart pounding in my chest.
two
Sometimes it was so slow I thought it would stop.
This affected my sleep.
I also feel sharp pains and a feeling of shortness of breath.
I recently started taking Bisoprolol and am also taking Apixaban.
I’ve had two heart attacks since 2006.
Is there anything to worry about?
A) The most common cause of an irregular heartbeat is atrial fibrillation (AF).
It is a heart disease in which the heart beats irregularly and faster than normal.
It is very relevant if you have had heart attacks, as this increases your risk of developing AF.
Bisoprolol is a beta blocker – a medicine that slows your heart rate, and you are also taking Apixaban, which thins the blood and prevents blood clots, which are a big risk of having untreated AF.
The condition affects more than 1.6 million people in the UK and what’s especially worrying is that around 300,000 people don’t know they have it.
AF increases the risk of stroke by five times that of the general population.
But proper treatment, like the one you’re taking, reduces this risk significantly.
For all readers, it is important to attend NHS Health Check appointments when invited between the ages of 40 and 74, as one of the tests is for AF.
Tip of the week
A study this week found that untreated vision loss is a risk factor for dementia.
Many people can have an NHS-funded eye test, including people over 60 or who have diabetes.
Don’t delay!
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
