Asymptomatic (silent) AFib

Good info ! I’m actually scheduled for a Holter Monitor next April. There seems to be no urgency for those of us on asymptomatic AFib. Afib was the only thing that showed up on my cardio and other stress testing. But, my Apple Watch, even this week, reports that I’m in AFib 82% of the time.

Hi Glad to see Cardioversion worked for your Dad !How long did he take medications before he did cardioversion!Thanks And God Bless You all !

This is not accurate medical advice. Afib kills and it can kill a number of different methods.
Without Afib you do not have a clot. A clot can begin to form in the first hour of Afib. So when clotting is a direct result of Afib and the clot(s) kill a person then Afib kills. Besides clotting Afib negatively affects perfusion and that causes problems with organ function and brain function. Inadequate perfusion results in unhealthy bodily functions. Overtime this degradation results in earlier death including dementia: so not only does Afib affect daily quality of life but it als Afib kills.
"Mortality and causes of death in patients with atrial fibrillation: A nationwide population-based" studyhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306259/

"Patients with atrial fibrillation had a 4 times increased risk of mortality compared with the general population."

You make my argument for me: '...Without Afib you do not have a clot...' This is obviously untrue since clots can form for all sorts of reasons. With four times the risk, you go from a weak to a severe risk of stroke due to clotting. However, the anti-coagulant is not given for the AF. It's given to mitigate the four-times risk of CLOTTING. Clotting can indeed kill, AF does not. It might degrade living, it can lead to heart failure, but little else is attributable to AF in the literature. Other factors come into play, or what are called comorbidities. They include diabetes, COPD, atherosclerosis, hypertension....and none of these is AF.

80M people across the globe live with AF, some without treatment. Many, most, go years before they die of other causes, whether from heart failure or the piling-on effect of renal failure, respiratory failure, peripheral artery disease, etc.

I’m trying to remember, but I think about 6 weeks.

My 32 year old (at the time) son was asymptomatic- until he wasn't. Absolutely no co-morbidities. What took us to the ER was extreme weakness and shortness of breath. Very quickly determined that he was in A Fib. Finally stabilized enough. Transferred to big hospital. ECHO revealed his Ejection Fraction was 11. We were presented with the possibility of being put on the transplant list.
In ICU- on day 5- He had 2 strokes.
17 days in ICU and a total of 63 days in the hospital and inpatient rehab for the strokes.
His Cardiac care was transferred to the Mid American Heart Institute in KC. His new Cardiologist was even more gung ho about prevention of complications and death. He was immediately put on an External Defibrillator and he wore it for several weeks.
Looking back- I wish we had went directly to the Mid America Heart Institute. He had great care in his first hospital and rehab stay. But my take away message to all who will listen- The heart failure and arrhythmias - even though a very long road with soooo many procedures and appointments. Has been a piece of cake to manage compared to the stoke effects.
This far down the road- He's had multiple upon multiple heart procedures and appointments - 2 Ablations, implanted Loop Recorder, implanted a Watchman. Thankfully, by the Grace of God, the great care at Mid America Heart Institute and Entresto- His heart function is back to normal. He is off Eliquis and Plavix and will take a baby aspirin the rest of his life.
However, the life long effects of the 2 Strokes that resulted from the A fib is something that he will never fully recover from. Even at this point- he has done so much rehab, and made miraculous strides to recovery - I wouldn't know how to even put a number on how many hours in different settings he has done. It took him from teaching 5th grade math- to now not even sure he can ever teach or work at anything again.
A. Fib is nothing to ignore. 🙁

One more consideration- If you haven't had a Sleep Study- please ask your dr. about one. My son also had 2 (at home) Sleep Studies while in the hospital. Also, needed an In Lab Sleep Study with a follow up Titration Study. Diagnosed with Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea- and his number of apnea episodes was not nearly as many as a lot of people with Sleep Apnea. Even mild Sleep Apnea can contribute greatly to A. Fib.

@gloaming ,
Agree and very good information given. My EP is Dr. Kusumoto the Pace Clinic Director at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. He has written books, gives seminars, and trains others. He is worl reknown.

He advised same as you. AFIB biggest risk is blood clots not motality. So controlling it based on preventing strokes. I agree that AFIB is a real mental stress that patients have to deal with. Research shows stress will trigger AFIB and or make it worse so when you feel them, stress comes, and thus more AFIB.
I have it on an off but never sustained. I worry more about VFIB and is where my EP and Pace Clinic are focussed on. But like most patients the feeling of AFIB does not help either mentally or physically and I think more attention needs to be given helping reduce it even if just for the mental health of patients.

Thanks for sharing your circumstances. I hope you find a way to get on top of it. I simply was very unhappy when fibrillating. I couldn't shake the anxiety, the thumping in my chest, the belching...it was awful. While medication worked wonderfully for three full years, I suddenly found myself losing ground to the disorder, and the symptoms came more frequently until I had to go to the ER for a cardioversion. While I was sedated, they zapped me three times with increasing joules, but none of them converted my heart rhythm. Eventually, I was offered an ablation. Fortunately, the second ablation worked, and I have lived normally, albeit with more weight than I'd like, ever since. The time to deal mechanically, i.e., via an ablation, is sooner rather than when it truly becomes awful, and more persistent. Get an ablation while you're still in the paroxysmal phase, which your case seems to be...thankfully.

And those blood thinners can age you, too, especially if you are allergic to them. I had The Amulet implanted and do not have to take those poisons anymore. They cause more problems than they resolve.