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New to Afib, blood thinners and beta blocker
Hello - I'm an otherwise healthy 55 year old female, diagnosed with afib 1.5 years ago. The dr. that diagnosed it immediately prescribed warfarin and metoprolol. My regular dr. was away at the time, and when she returned 3 months later, she said "I probably would have only put you on aspirin" - because I am otherwise healthy. No other risk of stroke, my bp is fine, blood sugar is fine, no history of heart attack, etc. But she decided to run the tests and try to determine my afib trigger, so I have since had an echo to check my heart's mechanical health (its good), sleep apnea test (I have mild, and am now on a device that treats it), and I've quite drinking alcohol. I saw an internist that decided I had alcohol induced afib. However, I suspect that my afib may also be triggered by hormone fluctuations caused by the peri-menopause I'm going through, but every dr. I've suggested it to says probably not, hard to prove. Ever since I was put on the 2 meds, I have been asking to get off them. "My" dr. wanted me to go through all the tests, and then decide. I live in a small remote town, and "my" dr. only works half time, so I am constantly seeing a new dr. The last new dr. I had basically said I have no choice but to stay on the drugs. She actually said the words "why do you want to get off the meds". I'm still flabbergasted. I've refused to go back and see that one. I have an appt. this week with yet another dr. to review my sleep apnea results, and maybe since it's under control, I will be able to get off the warfarin. But what about the beta blocker? Has anyone every been on warfarin and a beta blocker, and then been able to get off both of them?
I HATE being on these meds. But obviously I don't want a stroke either.
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Didn't know about aspirin--although I have taken it for 81 low dose for many years. Ironically, the only time I seem to get it is when I am in a doctor's office or when I am faced with something suddenly unexpected. I have been a dancer all my life and have gotten serious about meditation and qi gong.
I just did it. If you are 75 and a woman, it is automatic and prescribed for every woman, with or without AFib. The whole setup is based on age. And it lumps the healthy with the unhealthy. According to this, a fit person who can run a marathon and has been on an anti-inflammatory diet for 30 years must take blood thinners with or without AFib just because she is a woman who is 75. How is that even rational?
My cousin does the same thing. If you have it all the time, that is another story.
You looked at the CHADS VASC. Look at the CHADS2. Gender is not included but yes, age over 75 is +1. Not 3. And neither CHADS applies to people without afib.
If afib is infrequent, the hospital can do an echo to check for clots. I had that done when one episode lasted 7 hours.
Chads 2 gives the same score with 2 for age and I for women, I asked a doctor at a medical school whether this applied to all women, he said yes. If you can supply the link, I will appreciate it. I do not think people just disintegrate at a certain age, especially if they have no serious disease. Thanks.
Here is the link to the CHADS2 calculation. https://www.mdcalc.com/cha2ds2-vasc-score-atrial-fibrillation-stroke-risk#next-steps
I will be asking my cardiologist in December how it is interpreted for a person with zero or only one incident of Afib.
Sue
That is the old one and the other is a refinement, I don’t know about incidents.
I don’t have any clots and have a clotting time on the high end of the range. I have had an echo and other tests that were normal. If you have a 5% risk of a stroke, then you have @ 95% chance of not having one. If you go through a risk calculator, you will see that it jumps up with age, regardless. My risk without AFib is 4.4%. That is a small difference. Again,this is all predicated on age with the assumption that at a certain age you just disintegrate.
The CHADS is only for stroke risk with afib. When I had the echo it was immediately after converting after 7 hours in afib. Otherwise I don't have a clotting issue. I was making the point that for those who know when they have afib, and it is infrequent, an echo to make sure no clot formed during the episode is a reasonable substitute for blood thinners.
I don't know of anyone on a blood thinner just because of age.