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Living with Atrial Fibrillation: What are Your Experiences?

Posted by yeb @yeb, Sep 1, 2024

I’m 74 and have just been diagnosed with chronic atrial fibrillation. My pulse rate usually stays between 75-100 and I’m taking 5mg of Eliquis twice daily. My cardiologist says there are no good meds for this type of Afib. I’m wondering if I should consider cardioversion, ablation, or just live with it and stay on the blood thinner? Anyone have experience living with AFib long term?? Thanks!

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margaretfriel | @margaretfriel | Jun 11 6:57pm
In reply to @gloaming "Great advice by nksneuro! The single most effective remedy (not a cure!) for atrial fibrillation (AF..." + (show)
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Great advice by nksneuro! The single most effective remedy (not a cure!) for atrial fibrillation (AF is the abbreviation in the N. American medical community) has been catheter ablation, and this was determined scientifically just in the past few months. In fact, the new saying is that catheter ablation is now the 'gold standard' of care. The single most important act the patient, his or herself, can do is to take great care in choosing the best EP (electrophysiologist). The best EP will be among the busiest locally, if not THE busiest, and will be middle-aged or approaching middle age and be doing between 6-10 ablations every week. Also, he/she has been doing this for at least ten years, often longer. They will also be secure enough to admit to their rate of failure for index (first) ablations. In my EP's case, he admitted to a success rate of about 75%, which means he was admitting that he has a statistical failure rate of about 25% for index ablations. I appreciated his disclosure, and trusted him immediately. I was in the unlucky bunch, unfortunately, but I gave him a second chance (LOL!) and he managed to successfully close off the affected area with scar tissue. It was, as he suspected, a small gap he missed in the first set of lesions he had caused around my pulmonary veins.
Choose the best EP you can drive/fly/cycle/walk/boat to and can afford. Their experience and skill is your best bet of walking out of the hospital later that day feeling like you have your life back.

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Thank You for your suggestion.

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margaretfriel | @margaretfriel | Jun 11 7:42pm

Bless You. Hard decisions are simply re-arranging your Priorities. I Sincerely Hope you've found in the New Community more advantages & things of Interest than Good HealthCare.

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abob | @abob | Jun 11 9:51pm
In reply to @teacher2001 "This is for “yeb” I’ve had AFib since 2016 and am now 79 - female. I..." + (show)
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This is for “yeb”
I’ve had AFib since 2016 and am now 79 - female. I had ongoing visits with my cardiologist with heart tests and was on a beta blocker Sotolol and blood thinner Xarelto.
I had extreme palpitations twice a month mainly due to stress. At one point I asked to be put on Sertraline to control the stress and it worked but over time the side effects were awful so I went off it. Finally after waiting two years due to our healthcare system I was booked in for a RF ablation March 4th as an outpatient. The surgeon is American and quite talented. He said at my age I have an 85% success rate. There’s a three month “blanking period” after surgery when the heart is healing and I did get some palpitations but nothing debilitating. One month after surgery I’m off the beta blocker but still on the blood thinner seeing how it goes and will get tested with a holter in a couple months. My cardiologist says I no longer have AFib. Keeping my fingers crossed! So bottom line is if you can get an ablation I would recommend it. Take care. xo

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I am pleased for you that you are out of afib.

Husband had Ablations, Cardioversion, Amoiderone. Saw EP today, says husband still in Afib with flutters. Afibs cause Left Atrial Enlargement (LAE) and LAE causes Afib.

EP follow-up visit in 6 weeks and will re-evaluate.
Concerned/anxious that nothing can help my husband.

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noga58 | @noga58 | Jun 13 4:47am

Hi I take Eliquis 5mg twice and Rytmonorm for irregular heart beat and nebivelolfor fast heart beat check with ur doctor

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jefaho | @jefaho | Jun 19 4:20pm
In reply to @teacher2001 "This is for “yeb” I’ve had AFib since 2016 and am now 79 - female. I..." + (show)
Profile picture for teacher2001 @teacher2001

This is for “yeb”
I’ve had AFib since 2016 and am now 79 - female. I had ongoing visits with my cardiologist with heart tests and was on a beta blocker Sotolol and blood thinner Xarelto.
I had extreme palpitations twice a month mainly due to stress. At one point I asked to be put on Sertraline to control the stress and it worked but over time the side effects were awful so I went off it. Finally after waiting two years due to our healthcare system I was booked in for a RF ablation March 4th as an outpatient. The surgeon is American and quite talented. He said at my age I have an 85% success rate. There’s a three month “blanking period” after surgery when the heart is healing and I did get some palpitations but nothing debilitating. One month after surgery I’m off the beta blocker but still on the blood thinner seeing how it goes and will get tested with a holter in a couple months. My cardiologist says I no longer have AFib. Keeping my fingers crossed! So bottom line is if you can get an ablation I would recommend it. Take care. xo

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"My cardiologist says I no longer have AFIB". I didn't think it was a curable disease, so that's news to me?

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2 replies
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sharona09 | @sharona09 | Jun 19 7:26pm

I have had afib once, and cardio doc will NOT let me off blood thinners. I do have palpitations. I never heard of getting a clean slate.. good for you!

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teacher2001 | @teacher2001 | Jun 20 8:41am
In reply to @jefaho ""My cardiologist says I no longer have AFIB". I didn't think it was a curable disease,..." + (show)
Profile picture for jefaho @jefaho

"My cardiologist says I no longer have AFIB". I didn't think it was a curable disease, so that's news to me?

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I think what it all means is that right now you don’t have AFib even though it can return. Getting an ablation/medication keeps AFib away for whatever amount of time your body reacts to it. I’m praying my ablation works for the rest of my life because I don’t want to get another one - too hard on my body and mind at age 79. Stay well.

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gloaming | @gloaming | Jun 20 11:01am
In reply to @jefaho ""My cardiologist says I no longer have AFIB". I didn't think it was a curable disease,..." + (show)
Profile picture for jefaho @jefaho

"My cardiologist says I no longer have AFIB". I didn't think it was a curable disease, so that's news to me?

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It isn't curable. It is blocked or managed. If your heart stops AF suddenly, it somehow blocked its own disordered path that caused the AF in the first place, but the point is that the heart did build that wrong pathway to begin with, meaning it's electrically disordered. There is a good chance you'll be in AF again in the future. No, not a certainty, but a non-negligible chance.

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abob | @abob | Jun 20 9:05pm

Does anyone drink electrolytes, like Smart Water, to lessen Afibs?
If so, how much do you drink per day? Does it help?

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gloaming | @gloaming | Jun 21 5:38pm
In reply to @abob "Does anyone drink electrolytes, like Smart Water, to lessen Afibs? If so, how much do you..." + (show)
Profile picture for abob @abob

Does anyone drink electrolytes, like Smart Water, to lessen Afibs?
If so, how much do you drink per day? Does it help?

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I don't because they can sometimes contain other substances that I either don't need or don't want, especially sweeteners of any kind. However, they may contain other electrolytes in quantities that might put my system in the hyper range which can bring problems of their own. I haven't investigated the comparative cost, but my guess is that a pill with 200 mg of whichever electrolyte you're short of every two/three days will be cheaper than a commercially prepared solution with its plastic/glass container, also a cost.
If you really do need to drink the solution, I would think about 100-200 mg per day, or every other day, so you have to read the labels and find out what the volume of each container is promising to give you.
Last point: ones kidneys are what are supposed to release overages of electrolytes, whether sodium, potassium, magnesium, or calcium. Kidneys that are in moderate or poor condition may struggle to regulate the concentrations of these in the blood and in the urine, so you should probably run your intentions past your physician to ensure you can be monitored for at least a few weeks to see how your system handles the additional consumption. Just a suggestion.

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