I was diagnosed with AFIB about 4 years ago. I then tried a couple of anti-arrhythmic medications which I could not tolerate, so my cardio sent me for an eval to an EP. The three of us decided an ablation was a viable alternative and 2 years ago this month, I had the ablation. I was put on Xarelto. About a year later, I began having an increase in PVC's and was put on a ZIO patch which caught a fairly long episode of AFIB.....which I did NOT feel. (This scared me as before the ablation, my AFIB was always noticeable) The fact that I did NOT feel the AFIB totally convinced me that I was going to stay on Xarelto for the rest of my life if that's what it took to protect me from having a stroke!
AFIB is NOT curable and for those of us who have undergone ablation understand that we may need more than ONE ablation to control the AFIB. Going off the blood thinner is a risk I am not willing to take. As "spudmato" VERY wisely said "THERE IS NO LOOKING BACK AFTER A STROKE FOR A SECOND CHANCE."