Does anyone with AFIB NOT take blood thinners?

John- - My young adult son had the Watchman procedure yesterday. Just curious- if you don't mind- what was the protocol for you to get off the blood thinners after the procedure? I'm just trying to learn as much as I can about it in general. We have the protocol - but just wondered different Drs. and protocols?

My sister has A-Fib since 54 years old now she’s 64 . She was started on Coumiden for a few years then was put on Eloquis like 5 years ago ( plus High BP meds and quite a few other RX’s . She recently had to get a heart ablation to control the A- Fib . It was successful ( they also put a loop recorder in during ablation) for a year just to make sure heart ♥️ was staying out of A- fib . Still on meds too .
I think 💭 if you google it , they say you are at higher risk for stroke or cardiac arrest w/o taking the Eloquis or whatever blood thinner they give you ??
I have PVCs , PAC’s , on and off .
I’ve been tested and worn Halter monitors. I just use Heart Calm ( you can google it ). It’s a triple magnesium w/ Q-10 and potassium by Vital Biologics .
Lately it feels like my heart stops for a few seconds then jolts me when falling asleep. It’s scary .

I hope you get the answers you need .

With the coumadin-caused stroke, I was told I couldn't ever take thinners again, fearing it would more easily invoke another stroke. That was the most important thing my Cardiologists were concerned about. And not taking a thinner could lead to another stroke, of course. There were no other options for me, regarding a repeat stroke. That was the second condition, are there other non-invasive alternatives? I know my case was reviewed by the hospital executive staff, who authorized the procedure. Seems the preference for the medical people is still for thinners.
The Watchman isn't affecting Afib; I still have episodes almost daily. I suppress those as much as I can with 100mg of Metoprolol daily. It tunes the intensity of an Afib attack down. As far as side effects, there are none as I can tell.

Hi Ruby, I wasn't on thinners at all with Watchman procedure. 2 years earlier, I had a stroke caused by a thinner, and was banned from taking them. That was the whole reason for the Watchman.

Thank you. Hope you are doing well.

I do not take them have a link installed under the skin in my chest. It monitors me for afib recurrence. Blood thinners made me ache terribly all over.

I always know when I am out of rhythm. I can feel it when it kicks in and then when I self-convert. I have had a couple of cardioversions. The deal I had with my EP was if I was in A-fib for less than 12 house I took eliquis for 24 hours. If I was in A-fib longer than 12 hours then I took it for 30 days. Finally I was having too many events so I had an ablation in April 2019. Until this past May 2023 I had a couple of brief events. Since May I have had 4 A-fib events all of which I self-converted. Then I recently I started having PVCs and PACs and tachy events. I had been using Ubquinol for PVCs and it worked wonders for years. Now I need to get a holter and see what is going on. I am ready for another ablation cause living with A-fib makes me weak and saps the energy of out of me. So I put myself on eliquis permanently until I can find out what is going on. I am not happy to have to wait until March 12th to be seen for a monitor. They never have waited so long to work me in. The PVCs etc. are happening so often that my BP cuff often sends me an error code as it cannot keep up the all the different rhythm changes. I am not in A-fib right now but it keeps bouncing around. My normal resting HR has been in the 40s my whole life.

Oh ya I forgot, I have 'Factor V Leiden.

"The deal I had with my EP was if I was in A-fib for less than 12 house I took eliquis for 24 hours. If I was in A-fib longer than 12 hours then I took it for 30 days."

@harveywj this is exactly what I want to do. I read about short term anticoagulation for afib longer than 5 hours, actually. Not a single doc has discuss this with me. I have a major episode once a year and resisted pressure to go on full-time anticoagulation in 2015.

I only went on it full time 2 or 3 months ago. I did it after an episode in May and then Oct. and then again in Nov and then again Dec. I decided that if I went into A-fib when asleep I could be taking a chance on clotting before I awoke. I always was awake when I went into A-fib. But when they started to recur so often I didn't want to take the chance. If they do a successful 2nd ablation on me I'll come off the eliquis. It took awhile to get them to believe me that I know when I am out of rhythm. Most people do not know if and when they are having A-fib. Many of them are in A-fib full time. Do you know when you are out of rhythm? Do you when you go back in? The docs treat everybody with the same odds. Never mind those of us who know what we are dealing with.