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Diagnosed with AFIB w/ RVR and no Treatment after Hospital - Normal?

Posted , 7 users are following.

pat77564
pat77564

I was in the hospital for a couple of days and was diagnosed with AFIB with RVR.  I was released and was not given any prescriptions or meds.  The Cardiologist told me that we would "see how it goes" and to make an appointment with him in the next few weeks.  Is this standard practice?  I'm a little worried about what to do if it happens again.  I suppose I would need to go back to the hospital for blood thinners and meds to get my heart rate down.  Thanks for any info!  

Btw, I'm 42 years old and it seemed to me that because of that fact the cardiologist wasn't overly concerned because I was young and not overweight.

0 likes, 14 replies

14 Replies

  • Guest
    Guest pat77564

    Posted

    Pat —if you don’t get much of a response on here -go to healthunlocked and register for their AFib site. It’s very very active. 
  • GotAbitBetter
    GotAbitBetter pat77564

    Posted

    Are you in the UK? 
    • pat77564
      pat77564 GotAbitBetter

      Posted

      Hi. No, I'm actually in the U.S. I'm sure the process might vary a bit due to location, but I'm just wondering about the situation in terms of what the best thing to do medically is and if what they have me doing (nothing right now) is the best thing to do. Thanks.

  • derek76
    derek76 pat77564

    Posted

    Was that your first time with AF and how fast was your heart rate? You probably don't have any of the other risks to put you on anti coagulants. Mostly your heart rate will revert back to normal if you sit it out. As they say AF does not kill you. Don't wish for medications as most will give you side effects,

    • pat77564
      pat77564 derek76

      Posted

      Not the first time, but the first time I had symptoms enough to seek medical attention.  My heart rate got to about 180 and I was short of breath. They gave me blood thinners and a med to reduce my heart rate at the hospital.  After about 6 or 7 hours, they said my heart rate was getting back to normal.
    • derek76
      derek76 pat77564

      Posted

      Do you feel that your heart rate has bow stabilised?

      I'm now in permanent AF but my heart rate while erratic is mostly in the 70's. I went into AF in 2012 after having my aortic valve replaced. Prior to then I had ectopic beats, I went back into NSR after a cardioversion but a later colonoscopy stimulated my vagus nerve and put me back into AF. Then another successful cardioversion until my vagus nerve was again stimulated by a urologist doing a DRE.

    • pat77564
      pat77564 derek76

      Posted

      I believe my heart rate has stabilized, although I have noticed it seems to shoot up high sometimes when I stand up.  But, the rhythm seems to be stable for the most part.  I definitely have a lot to learn about what can cause AF. 
    • derek76
      derek76 pat77564

      Posted

      Go to the search box at the top right of the page and put in any word or comition you want information on and several option will come up.
  • jx41870
    jx41870 pat77564

    Posted

    As they say, if you can walk into the cardiologist's office, they are not going to take your seriously. 

    I'm curious how you got admitted, what were your symptoms there, severe AFIB?

    It's not much, but as you can see the doctors are very slow to take arrhythmias seriously, so have you tried magnesium and taurine?

     

    • pat77564
      pat77564 jx41870

      Posted

      My symptoms were high heart rate, erratic heart rhythm, shortness of breath and weakness.  They did an EKG on me and diagnosed me with Afib with RVR.

      I was reading about magnesium, but hadn't heard anything about taurine.  Thanks for that, I will look further into those.

  • sherpa_al
    sherpa_al pat77564

    Posted

    Hi Pat, I think Derek is right, at 42 and not overweight you may not have the classic risks regarding the need for blood thinners in order to avoid a stroke. There is a recognised risk assessment for people exhibiting atrial fibrillation or flutter, the CHADsVASc assessment. You should find out more, but in essence it endeavours to assess your risk of a stroke.

    The factors it considers are age (over 65 scores 1), family history of heart disease, smoking, alcohol intake, weight and gender (female scores 1, male 0). A score of 0 means a very low risk, a score of 1 suggests blood thinners may be considered, a score of greater than 1 suggests blood thinners would be appropriate.

    I am in the UK, over 65, and a fit, correct weight, non-smoking, moderate drinking male, with no family history of heart disease and was diagnosed with atrial flutter late 2016; I did not have blood thinners prescribed either. I was completely unaware of the risk, or the risk assessment that may, or may not have been made by my GP. Age was my only score, so a score of 1 I found out at a later date. That didn't stop me having a stroke, perhaps I should start doing the lottery if I can beat those sort of odds.

    However it would be great to know from your cardiologist if his view is based on this clinically recognised risk assessment, it may well be, but it would put your mind at rest if he could confirm that.

    Best Wishes

    Sherpa Al

    • pat77564
      pat77564 sherpa_al

      Posted

      Thank you for that information.  I looked up the CHADsVASc assessment and will certainly bring it up with my cardiologist.  Very sorry to hear about the stroke, I hope you are doing better now.
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