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Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group
Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: 2 hours ago | Replies (1231)Comment receiving replies
Hello. My name is Moncef and I live in Gaithersburg Maryland. I was diagnosed with Afib on December 31 at the Mayo Clinic during my annual checkup. I was put on Eliquis. Two questions. First is there a more permanent way of getting back to a regular heart function? And two should I eliminate alcohol completely ?
Replies to "Hello. My name is Moncef and I live in Gaithersburg Maryland. I was diagnosed with Afib..."
@mbouhafa Do you consume anyrghin g containing caffeine??
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@mbouhafa Alcohol research seems to be headed toward, 'No amount of alcohol is good for you, ' But, if you enjoy the odd beer, with emphasis on odd, it 'might not 'be deleterious for your heart. In my case, my heart raises its rate by about 10 BPM after ingesting a single beer, and it has been reliable reacting that way for two years now. This is post-ablation with my heart happily in NSR.
Currently the gold standard of care for AF is a catheter ablation. And no, most of them are not permanent. Most will eventually result in the heart finding a way to enter into AF again. It might be a year, while some lucky folks get ten years out of an ablation. To me, just coming up to three years free of AF, that is a huge win. I say this because I was one of the very unhappy symptomatic patients who both sensed when they were in AF and who were miserable with the sensations and with the anxiety. For me, a single year, 12 whole months, free of AF would make another ablation worth it for me.
Am ablation can offer the symptomatic patient very welcome relief, which adds to their quality of life. But it also forestalls the typical degradation in the heart's structure and function when AF goes on uncontrolled or unblocked for long periods. This process is called 'remodeling' and it means enlargement of the left atrium, sometimes also of the left ventricle, and it often means eventual mitral valve prolapse. It also means deposition of collagen and fibrosis in the substrate around the mitral valve and in the myocardium itself. This tends to stiffen those masses which makes the heart less efficient. In time, heart failure is the last outcome.
Please note that none of this is absolutely certain, just possible. And if you control the AF and prevent it, you also prevent those unwanted conditions.
One last caveat: AF is considered to be a progressive disorder. It should be as aggressively managed as the patient and physician can stand mutually. The more it is prevented from taking place, the longer the heart remains unaffected by the eventual changes that the literature says is possible, which I described earlier, above.