Welcome back, @grandmajan. Sorry to hear about the new issue with A-fib. My experience may clarify some of your concerns and help you chart a path. I'm almost 81, treated for hypertension for 25 years, survivor of epithelial bladder cancer, victim of benign prostate growth and surgery, and for the last two years, atrial fibrillation. Everything is under control! It helped to have an 83-year-old friend who has been on Coumadin blood thinner since he was 70 and has encouraged me regularly since my a-fib diagnosis. Another friend has had cardioversion, and while he doesn't wish for others to have it, he says it's been good for him so far and wasn't an intolerable surgical intrusion.

My friends and my cardiologist agree that I probably will be taking Coumadin the rest of my life. Switching to Xeralto or Pradaxa won't change that prospect, I am told. With Coumadin, I have regular laboratory tests of my blood's clottiness, with minimal inconvenience and lots of good new friends who are phlebotomists at the lab. As to blood pressure medication, I'll always have that also after 25 years of it, but there is nothing I can tell you about your BP situation without all of the information that your doctors have developed about you. The same is applicable on cardioversion, I think; trust your best doctors on whether that is necessary and when!

In my HMO agreement, there are specific provisions for changing doctors and/or getting second opinions. In my case, I changed both my nephrologist and my cardiologist in search of doctors who were devoted to exploring basic causes as much as treating symptoms. To do that, in both cases I asked my then-current specialist to help arrange a second opinion with another specialist. They did so as a matter of HMO policy. In both specialties, I have received second opinions twice and am now well satisfied with the third nephrologist and third cardiologist. Check the fine print of your HMO agreement and assert your rights under it. Let us know if you find any impediments that we can help remove.

Martin

Hello grandmajan, <br>I had paroxysmal atrial fibrillation which means intermittent. My heart would convert into sinus rhythm after 2-4 hours with additional meds sometimes in the hospital, sometimes on my own. I couldn't tolerate afib because it was accompanied by SVT which is a very rapid heart rate. The importance of taking care of afib and getting your heart into a normal sinus rhythm is that over time it can migrate to persistent afib and then continue on into permanent afib. Persistent afib doesn't convert without medication and sometimes electric conversion is necessary (paddles to the chest). Chronic or permanent aFib cannot be converted back into a normal rhythm. It sounds like you are in persistent aFib and if it were me I would rush to get cardio converted. You are in a better situation if you can take care of the problem before it becomes permanent. Once you are in sinus rhythm sometimes the fib can be controlled by meds and sometimes an ablation is the answer. Regarding your question about HMO's- I can't help. I live in Canada and I see whatever specialist I want to. I also asked for a second opinion and my cardiologist recommended some doctors to me. Once you are referred to a specialist here you are under their care and need no more referrals. I do wish you the best of luck, it would make sense that you get a second opinion- but I would move on it, The less time your heart is in afib, the better. <br>martishka

Hello predictable, <br>I just wanted to comment on the BP question. My sister lives in NY, is 73 and a few months ago she had an ablation for aFib and at the same time she had an ablation for uncontrollable high BP. This procedure is in the "testing" stage. Since then her BP has been 120/70 on an average. At the time of the ablation they inserted some little mechanism into her heart that records all "rogue" signals from the heart. Its all very high tech (I don't understand most of it!) She has another device that she holds to her chest and it records the information which is then transferred to NYU Langone Centre. Some of the people discussing this issue along with aFib might be interested in this. <br>All the best, <br>martishka

I agree with you. The conversion was done and I am on Warfarin. I have regular check-ups and am taking Solitol. My cardiologist is vey good (I switched from another who was pretty uncommunicative.

Happy to hear that!

Excellent points, @martishka. Medical advances are outpacing our ability to keep track of them and benefit from them. Both of your contributions here before lunch are very helpful and encouraging.

Thank you, @martishka! I'm among "some of the people" interested in this technological therapy and will track down more information -- for myself and for others. I doubt I'll employ the therapy, because my hypertension is not so bad with my current meds, but that's been somewhat unreliable, so I'll welcome a solid fallback if needed.

Is part of the Afib what feels like what I think is Angina.  Happens rarely and was always short lived pain. Last time on Mon, it lasted 1/2hr. usually in one side and or arm. This time it was center chest. I didn't think to tell the cardio Dr about it when I saw him last week. It has been such a rare occurrence, and I felt overwhelmed with all of the new info.  So Is this going to make a difference in the outcome, plus someone said I also have a leaky valve. <br>Thank you so much for answering my questions as much as you can. I'm getting nowhere trying to get info from the Dr.  <br>Jan<br> <br><br>

@grandmajan, however rare is the pain in your chest, it is a serious symptom that the doctor should know about at the time. I'd call the doctor to talk about it now. If he/she can't be reached when the pain occurs again, you should consider going to an emergency room. I'm neither informed enough or qualified to distinguish a transitional angina from a more serious heart problem. Only a doctor can do that. Can you make that call and, if necessary, get to the hospital?

Hi @grandmajan, It can be overwhelming at a doctor's appointment to remember your concerns when you're also getting so much new information. Are you feeling this angina-like pain right now?

Like @predictable, I strongly urge you to call your doctor. Call him today. Is that possible?