PERSISTENT FAIB

Risk factors? Did you have symptoms/. i had none until a couple of episodes that I call light headedness.. did not faint but felt like it..some vertigo on arising. implanted monitor showed nothing but afib..progressed to persistent afib afbeing being in paradoxomal for years..told afib weakens heart..could have heart attack and ablation could help you live longer. on blood thinner and metropolol..stay on it ..go for ablation? 

With the benefit of hindsight I think I probably had symptoms for years, but ingnored/dismissed them as they always passed. I suspect that I had paroxysmal AF for years as I'd have episodes of fast, pounding heart rates, often triggered by alchahol, smoking etc. that subsided after a while. Then after a big night on the booze AF came to stay and I just thought I had a virus (or similar ). I'm a school teacher, and was nearthe end of the school year, so I just concluded that I was 'run-down' and was dragging myself to the finish line! The 'run-down' feeling was my left ventricle slowly enlarging due to AF and tachycardia. It took a couple of feeling like this before I ended up getting an ambulance the the emergency dept.

I now have an AF function on my blood pressure machine, it twice told I was in AF when I jumped out of rhythm last year....worth its weight in gold I reckon as I am asymptomatic.

As far as risk factors go, there's a video clip on Medscape that explains it all very clearly. This forum doesn't let me post links, but if you google search "Legacy PI throws down the gauntlet to US physicians" there's a very informative interview about risk factors, ablations, and how we as patients, can play a major role in influencing our state of health. 

Betty, if you are at point of wondering whether or not to have an ablation, I strongly recommend you watch this clip. If you decide to go ahead with it, just make sure you do you homework and find out who is the best/most skilled Electrophysiologist in your part of the world, this is also crucial to the longer term success of an ablation. 

I especially love this Medscape interview as it is with my Electrophysiologist (Prash Sanders) he is incredibly good at ablating, I feel very lucky that this guys lives in sleepy old Adelaide, South Australia.

good luck with your 'decision'👍😀🤔

Apologies for my typos, I need to proofread before I post, but I tend to not proof read as my iPad doesn't seem to like this forum and often 'reloads' when I'm typing, causing me to lose my responses! .....very frustrating.

That why I respond multiple times.....so I don't lose what I've already written!😜

 

I never heard of that af on a blood pressure machine. What is the name of it? Did not know of such a thing. So how is it handled/ Are you on meds/ if so what ? I understand how you could think that when a teacher.

LEGACY PL ON MEDSCAPE/? what does pl satnd for ? cannot find it.

Blood pressure machine is a 'Microlife BP A200 AFIB'

Meds; 2mg of perindopril and 25mg of metoprolol/day, so very low dose meds.

Google search is 'Legacy pi' not PL (although I completely understand how you could have mistaken the capital 'i ' for an 'L' 😀

If you still can't find it try google search " Legacy pi and Medscape and Prash sanders" That should also work

I am not sure I found it. something about legacy..I am so upset and afraid of the ablation. I don't know how you know how skilled a doctor is..I am being affected psyschologically ..not good. 

Have you already met this doctor? What type of ablation have you been offered? Write to him and explain your fears. You are quite entitled to ask him what his success rate is for the procedure.

Remember also that it is not an instant recovery. It takes the heart some time to get over such a procedure.

I THINK IT IS A CATHETER ABALATION. HE KNOWS MY ANXIETY..GENERALLY FEARFUL RISKS FOR SOME REASON..I HAVE SURGERIES BEFORE IN OTHER AREAS. THINK IT HAS TO DO WITH IT IS MY HEART. ONLY ONE. HE 

says he has done many. i did not ask him his success rate. I have difficulty knowing what to ask and just relating..anxiety takes over. 

My Electrophysiologist claimed that an 80% success rate at the five year mark, provided (and he repeated this word) PROVIDED I addressed all my risk factors.

Im my case, that meant losing 15kg, addressing my severe sleep apnoea, giving up smoking and not exceeding 3 standard drinks per week. He then went on to say that if failed to address my risk factors, my chances of still being in rhythm at the five year mark were less than 20%.

I have done all this (although I must admit to 'cribbing' a bit on the 3 drinks per week from time to time!) and it's only been 13 months since my ablation, but so far so good.

I suspect that in many cases those suffering from AF can have a significant influence on their future health status by addressing their addressable risk factors.

Ablations are a significant procedure, but the risks are low and potential benefits can be big. I think having an 80% chance of being in rhythm for the 5or more years with minimal or no meds is well worth the relatively low risk of the procedure.

As I said, just make sure you have highly skilled Electrophysiologist doing the procedure. Just because someone has does lots of of them doesn't necessarily make them good. Success rates are important. With a good Electrophysiologist you may only need one ablation. A less capable one might need further attempts to fix the problem.

As I said before, at this point in time I am very 'pro ablation'.

good luck whatever you decide.

 

my only risk factor would be weight..How much is a kg? been told to lose weight but never how much..see that it is a risk factor. probably five to 7 pounds overweight...even if I hardly eat weight does not seem to drop much..fat cells hard to shrink...used to be skinny...age...etc..

Just looks to me from what I read that having af increases your risk of stroke five times although unlike many others so far not suffering symptomatically but am psychologically. Can an bad ablation make ones condition worse? 

One kg is roughly 2.25lbs

not sure if a bad ablation can make things worse, although I vaguely recall some posts on this forum over the last couple of years to that effect i think?