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Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: 2 hours ago | Replies (31)
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@gloaming I have probably seen 4 cardiologists and one well-known EP for my once a year episodes (and my CHADS2DS2-VASc score is 2) and except for the first one (after ONE episode) not a single one has put me on an anti-coagulant. Ditto the ER MD's and hospitalists I have seen. I think this is very individual.
My mother was on Coumadin and a GI doctor took her off for an endoscopy without a bridging med. She had a stroke 5 days later. So it's not like I am cavalier. But I am also not cavalier about the side effects of Coumadin for her, including dementia from micro bleeds in her brain.
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Yes, it's very much an individual thing, Windy, including the cardiologist/EP and what they find works for them. The CHA2DS2-VASc calculator and sites I have visited all say that a person at or above 1.5 should be advised to go on a DOAC, and that at 2 and up, the patient will be very strongly advised. A Watchman, as I said earlier, changes things and brings the risk to 0, or would except where other factors, say high blood pressure, might keep the score in the 'danger' zone.
The physician in this video is an EP, and he mentions CHA2DS2-VASc score assignment and what it means somewhat later in the video: