@deevon I understand. Reading posts by many members of different fora, it is odd.....but....some of us really have no idea anything is amiss or going on. We have no symptoms, and don't learn we have a problem until an annual physical and our PCP raises and eyebrow and says, 'You're fibrillating....or whatever.' You and I, though, we are exactly horribly symptomatic and we KNOW something is amiss. It's an awful place to be, especially if there's no letup, no formal diagnosis because nothing shows up, and there's little or no room for optimism.

I'm pretty sure those thumps are PACs. They are a missed beat followed by a powerful make-up beat, usually two or three of them. AF just feels like a swelling, a rapid vibration in the left chest wall, and feeling generally blaaah. PACs let their hosts know it's going on in the heavy majority of cases because of those powerful thumps.

PACs are mostly benign. I know....I know...it's not what you want to hear, but it's true. If they happen five-ten times each hour, that's not normal, but it's also not dangerous, and most cardiologists will point you to the door. Instead, (and remember that I am only assuming it IS PACs...I could be wrong...) it when you are so highly symptomatic and truly miserable, or when what is called the 'burden' becomes so large, that you would be placed on medication, or watched more closely, or referred to an electrophysiologist, a cardiac electrician, for relief. The procedure is called an 'ablation', and it works well for most patients. But you may have to walk on a few hot coals to get to the point where someone says, 'Okay, you've suffered enough and here is what we are gonna do for ya.'

Don't be afraid to seek the services of yet another cardiologist, or find an EP and ask for a consultation. Between you, and your cardiologist and EP, you may find enough common understanding and appreciation that you will know where to go and what to do when you get there.