Replies

First of all, this is not a death sentence or I would have been dead 21 years ago. Over the years I have been in the hospital 6 or 7 times. It is scary but not fatal. I’ve had a change of meds and now am not currently in afib. However, I did have a cardioversion about three months ago and there has been no recurrence. That procedure is totally painless.

The thing to do is to get a med that works. You may have to adjust the dosage or change to a different med. I had to change after about 12 years on one to a different one. That is not uncommon.

What I know in my situation is that the cause is known and I learned that not too long back with an echo that showed my left atrium was enlarged beyond the allowable limits.

Can it be cured? Possibly, through an ablation or the maze or mini-maze procedure. The erratic nerve centers have to be cut to allow the normal sinus rhythm to resume. But that’s a surgical procedure and may not be necessary. What you want is a “ker-plunk” beat which is when the atrium beats a split second before the left ventricle. That is readily identifiable on the ECG, as is afib.

There are some things you can also do. Obviously do not smoke. Lose weight. Stop worrying and keep living. I know that is hard to do because it is like having a sack full of squirrels running around in your chest when in afib.

Now you don’t want that to continue as it can lead to a stroke. So you can take one of the new fangled meds to prevent that (very expensive) or you can use the old fashioned “rat poison” med, warfarin, and it is dirt cheap. That’s what I am currently on although I had taken the new fangled med for a couple of years. But since I was bumping up against the allowable limits for Medicare, I decided to forego that and just move to the warfarin. It is necessary to have regular pro-tim checks to see if it will be within limits but that is no big deal.

Bottom line: Unless you have coronary disease you are not going to die. You can make this tolerable and have a completely normal life. Just get the right combination and you won’t even think about it.

One final thought. A lot of people don’t even know it until it is diagnosed at the doctor’s office with an ECG. But many do, as I did, and it is intolerable left untreated. About 10% of the population over 60 have it. A lot of company out there. Surprisingly it is also seen in endurance athletes and some prominent sports figures have had it like Bill Bradley and Larry Bird.

Good luck, get a competent cardiologist, and go on living.