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Anyone with occasional Afib NOT on a blood thinner?
Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: Jul 22 7:50am | Replies (97)Comment receiving replies
@roba7 in what way is my situation uncommon? Frequency of afib or ability to know when it is happening? The original post asked about blood thinners for "occasional" (paroxysmal) afib, by someone who had gone a year without any afib.
A doctor using the CHADS score alone prescribed an anticoagulant for me 10 years ago and I declined. Another doctor told me to "just go home and forget it happened." I was happy to find an individualized approach and understand it does not apply to everyone.
Anticoagulants bring risks of bleeding. I believe my mother's vascular dementia was worsened by Coumadin. Afib brings risk of stroke. It is a matter of risk vs benefit and which brings the higher risk. The CHADS score simplifies what is actually a quite complicated decision.
Surely doctors face less liability when following the CHADS protocol than when they don't prescribe. For me, that is a problem. For many, it is not.
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What I meant was that most of us have episodes that are not symptomatic from time to time. The only way to rule this out would seem to be full time monitoring. I think the rationale for continuing anti coagulation even after successful ablation ( as is the case for me) is that it can come back and not be sensed by the patient. I think there is some discussion about stopping after a number of years of repeated monitoring but not sure where that is at the moment. I know there are risks to either approach. I do not think physician liability is an issue in Canada where I live but could be in the US.