A-Fib Patient Story #37
Awake during an Electrical Cardioversion Shock
by Kris, 2010
Though he was supposed to be completely unconscious from general anesthesia, Kris was somehow awake when he was shocked during an Electrical Cardioversion to restore his heart from A-Fib to normal sinus rhythm. He describes how it felt:
“The only bad thing was the ‘sharp knife pain’ that hit my heart which didn’t last very long. The humor can be found in me hearing someone say ‘ouch’ and wanting to know why I hit the bed. The electrical voltage does cause you to jump. But it isn’t any worse than having sucked your thumb as a little kid, using the same wet thumb to plug a lamp into an outlet, and getting shocked.”
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