Does anyone with AFIB NOT take blood thinners?

sal70, thanks for the reply. So now that you have that monitor, you have been off blood thinners for a long time... So the plan would seem to be if the monitor alerts the Dr you begin AFIB, they will "do something."

My question is: what is their "do something" plan? have they shared that with you?

- If they see 2 minutes of AFIB, will they call you and say get to ER right away?
- Will they call you and say get to drug store and pick up Xarelto ASAP and begin taking it?
- will they call you next Thursday and say make an appointment with your cardiologist at your convenience?

I have asked "how long does it take for a dangerous blood clot to develop after AFIB begins?" I have heard no replies. Seems to me these monitors cannot get INSTANT blood thinners into our bodies when a bout of AFIB starts unexpectedly...

So if Dr.s are happy with MONITORS like this to tell them AFIB is happening and I ASSUME contact you and say make a Dr.s appointment next week, that those of us with OCCASIONAL AFIB should be able to stop taking this $ 500/mo blood thinner and resume only when the occasional AFIB kicks in!

Meanwhile my lifestyle is hampered with worry of cutting myself, knowing for the next 3 months I don't have an AFIB attack! BeRGRSD##@!!$%%#!!

What do ya'll think?

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I have paroxysmal afib with tachycardia, about once a year. One cardio doc continually pressed me to go on blood thinners and I declined. A few years later they removed the female factor from one of the CHADS scores and the doc was no longer obliged to pressure me. He later said that I had been right and that docs had been overmedicating.

The local hospital cardiologist one told me to "go home and forget this happened"!

I always land in ambulance and ER.

My latest episode was long at 7 hours. That hospital cardio did an echo to make sure I hadn't formed any clots. So far so good.

My mother has been on Warfarin for a long time and has bleeds. She also has vascular dementia and it makes sense that Warfarin would be contributing. That said, when she went off for a procedure, she had a stroke.

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That's terrible what both you and your mother are having to deal with. I'm relatively new having only 2 A-fib episodes. First one in Feb. and second one three weeks later, be pause of being prescribed albuterol. That medication set it off the second time. My cardiologist didn't pressure me into taking a blood thinner. I will be seeing him in a month. So far so good.

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I have paroxysmal afib with tachycardia, about once a year. One cardio doc continually pressed me to go on blood thinners and I declined. A few years later they removed the female factor from one of the CHADS scores and the doc was no longer obliged to pressure me. He later said that I had been right and that docs had been overmedicating.

The local hospital cardiologist one told me to "go home and forget this happened"!

I always land in ambulance and ER.

My latest episode was long at 7 hours. That hospital cardio did an echo to make sure I hadn't formed any clots. So far so good.

My mother has been on Warfarin for a long time and has bleeds. She also has vascular dementia and it makes sense that Warfarin would be contributing. That said, when she went off for a procedure, she had a stroke.

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I had an ablation procedure years ago for intermittent AFib. It worked but I notice that if I eat too much salt, I will have a short episode (2-3 hours). I do not take blood thinners. I take a low mg. aspirin once a day but if Afib hits me, I take a full dose of regular strength aspirin right away (2 tabs). My doctor has never recommended blood thinners but is insistent upon the one low mg. aspirin a day. I take it with the evening meal. I take no medicines at all for Afib.

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My docs tell me that aspirin is no longer recommended, for either the daily low dose or the larger dose for afib.

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And what is that really about? Aspirin was fine for years and now its not??? I went off Eliquis due to cost of it and I have felt better, no diarrhea or itching, and mostly...no afib at all. It has been over 4 months.

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The announcement of the new recommendation on daily low dose aspirin is very recent. The advice that I heard on not using aspirin to prevent clots with an afib episode is maybe 5 years old. I was told in 2015 to take full dose aspirin for a month after an episode. Noone says that now. Instead, they did an echo to check for clots after an episode. (I am not saying don't take it, and follow your own doc.)

From the web, explaining the different kinds of meds:
Anticoagulants such as heparin or warfarin (also called Coumadin) slow down your body's process of making clots. Antiplatelet drugs, such as aspirin, prevent blood cells called platelets from clumping together to form a clot.

More:
The similar bleeding risk combined with the questionable effectiveness for reducing stroke risk means aspirin is not a good option for most AFib patients. While aspirin may not be an effective approach to reducing stroke risk in AFib patients, it may still be prescribed as a treatment for other heart conditions.

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And what is that really about? Aspirin was fine for years and now its not??? I went off Eliquis due to cost of it and I have felt better, no diarrhea or itching, and mostly...no afib at all. It has been over 4 months.

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Hi @hmccarth5. Wondering whether you thought you were taking Eliquis to prevent A-fib. I'm taking Coumadin for a different purpose -- to reduce chances for a clot to develop when A-fib causes blood to remain in an atrium of the heart long enough to clot there. When my pharmacologist suggested that I consider switching from Coumadin to Eliquis, I asked whether that would prevent A-fib events, and I was told by the doctors on my medical team that Eliquis is not a cure for A-fib, but only a preventive for clotting. They outlined options for A-fib therapy, one of which is based on medication, but not an anticoagulant, which Eliquis and Coumadin are. Like you perhaps, I have A-fib that is asymptomatic, but it shows up every time I have an electrocardiogram (EKG) at my HMO. My daily Coumadin apparently does nothing to cure the disease, but it keeps me free of blood clots. Martin

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