Re: atrial fibrillation

[Guest guest]

Leah,

Im sorry to hear about your husbands AF problems. He's lucky to have you

there to help him. Not to mention the loving support!

You've come to the right place to ask your questions. Remember, we are not a

medical board. We are a bunch of people from around the world, who have Atrial

Fibrillation. To varying degree's. We share our experiences. Our success, or

failures. But in all, we are here to support each other. Welcome!

We all have had and or are still under a drug therapy. Many of us have had

cardioconversions and still many have had ablations. In all, many of these

treatments work for some and not for others. For some it didn't eliminate A Fib,

but made it less of a problem.

A few questions.

1. How old is your husband?

2. What drugs is he currently on?

3. What has he used in the past?

Where did he have his cardiconversions and ablations done?

Thanks

Rich O

[Guest guest]

> Hello my name is leah my husband has atril fib we have had multiple

> cardioversions done and 2 ablasions, with still no results. Has

> anyone else ever been though this. He is in contant artial fib he

> does not come and go like in most situations.

Hi, Leah,

Cardioversions usually don't last. I am surprised your hubby has not

had good results from two ablations, however. The questions that

come to mind are, did he have a good doctor for those, did the doctor

discuss the type of ablation which is sometimes called the ablation

maze, what medications have been tried?

Can you tell us a bit more about your hubby - age, age when afib

started, when the ablations were done, etc.?

If you post your city, someone may be able to recommend a good doc

for a second opinion. What does his current doc say about his

sitation?

Do you know that some things trigger afib or make it worse? This

varies from person to person, but often are caffiene, chocolate,

alcohol, smoking, indigestion/acid reflux, some foods such as dairy

or sour foods, strenuous exercise.

There is a lot of general information on the afib foundation web site

at www.affacts.org

[Guest guest]

> Hello my name is leah my husband has atril fib we have had multiple

> cardioversions done and 2 ablasions, with still no results. Has

> anyone else ever been though this. He is in contant artial fib he

> does not come and go like in most situations.

Also, does your hubby have any contributing factors, like heart

disease or thyroid problems?

[Guest guest]

> --->

> I am shocked that such a young person as your husband was put on

> amiodarone. My cardiologist said only for people over 65 (I guess

> they figure the chances are that the older people will die from

> something else before the amiodarone side effects get them, a

theory

>

Trudy, absolutely agree with you. In fact, I am 65 and my cardio,

nor my EP would use Amiodarone on me. I am on Tikosyn--and while

that can be worrisome too, it does have a better drug profile than

Amiodarone.

Lee

[Guest guest]

> > > Hello my name is leah my husband has atril fib we have had

> multiple

> > > cardioversions done and 2 ablasions, with still no results. Has

> > > anyone else ever been though this. He is in contant artial fib

> he......is only 38yr old and healthy other wise. He only found out

> about the atrial fib 2 years ago. He is on coumadin and pacerone.

> His pulse is constantly irregular but he dose not experience the

> heart pounding like most others. Leah

Leah, I agree completely with Trudy and others. Amiodarone has a bad rep for

terrible side effects over time, sometimes quickly, and I can't imagine it for

a 38

year old. I refused it at 63 after reading about it when i was first diagnosed.

Get yourself a different cardiologist/electrophysiologist!

With respect to the heart pounding, etc., I also am chronically 24/7 in AF, and

have no heart pounding. When I go up steps too rapidly I sometimes feel some

palpitations, but they go away in half a minute or so. My heartbeat is ALWAYS

irregular, that's what AF is all about, but I don't feel the irregularity, and

your

husband, like me, is ALWAYS in AF. The older among us are generally

comfortable in chronic AF, because we don't have the uncertainty of the in-and-

out that the paroxysmal people suffer, and generally we go about life with some

energy loss but otherwise unimpaired (also we take coumadin, of course). At

38, though, wow, and two failed ablations. Something's fishy. I strongly

second Trudy, if there's any way you can get to the Cleveland Clinic, do so.

There are other good centers and people on this forum can identify them for

you, but Cleveland is clearly, right now, the best. Take care, we're with you.

Kathleen

[Guest guest]

> Leah, I agree completely with Trudy and others. Amiodarone has a bad rep for

> terrible side effects over time, sometimes quickly, and I can't imagine it

for a 38

> year old. I refused it at 63 after reading about it when i was first

diagnosed.

> Get yourself a different cardiologist/electrophysiologist!

Folks, please bear in mind that if the decision is made to go on

amiodarone it isn't necessarily a decision to stick with for the rest of

your life. It only took a few weeks for amiodarone to get me out of a

big hole (I should have stopped it sooner than I did). I came off of it

after 8 months when it gave me thyrotoxicosis. I'd go as far as saying

if I ever got that bad again I'd consider going back on it at least

short term (even if it did mean I may lose my thyroid). Whatever age we

are, continuous review of what and why we are taking the meds we are

taking is the order of the day

--

D (now 35, was 29 when I went on amiodarone)