Diltiazem Case Studies

Ben is a very active guy with a strong career and many life goals. He is currently working full time and attending classes to receive his MBA. Ben has always been involved in sports and fitness his entire life. He grew up playing basketball, baseball and lifting weights. He has backpacked in different countries and enjoys the outdoors. After high school, Ben enjoyed playing league softball and the challenge of bodybuilding. However, he had to stop playing softball because he was starting to feel some weird symptoms.
In his early twenties, Ben was having some scary episodes. He later found out these episodes were the heart arrhythmia atrial fibrillation (AF). Ben explained his episodes could be brought on as easily as his very first rep in the gym. “Any form of stress had a high probability of inducing an episode.” His episodes could be anywhere from once a week to several times per day. He …show more content…
The EP decided to implant a Reveal LINQ to monitor Ben’s heart rhythm. Soon after the LINQ was implanted, Ben was diagnosed with Atrial fibrillation. The EP tried many different medicines including Flecanide, Tikosyn, and Diltiazem. These medicines only numbed the symptoms according to Ben. It was this time in his AF story that was especially emotional for Ben. He was a physically fit guy in his twenties about to backpack across Asia and Europe for three months. Not only did he have to bring three months worth of heart pills with him, he worried they would be stolen or confiscated when crossing borders. A little more than one year after his LINQ was implanted, the EP brought Ben to the hospital for a radio frequency (RF) pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) procedure. Ben ended up spending two nights in the hospital after the procedure due to complications with his lungs; he was only able to take about thirty percent of a normal breath. Ben was then sent home, symptom free…… until week