Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group
Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.
Oh goodie.. more to worry about...
Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is associated with brain lesions indicating silent cerebral ischemia, similar to its link with symptomatic stroke, a study showed.
The arrhythmia correlated with 7.2-fold higher risk of having at least one silent stroke apparent on MRI after controlling for age, stroke risk score, and anticoagulant treatment (P=0.001), Fiorenzo Gaita, MD, of the University of Turin, Italy, and colleagues found.
But the lesions didn't appear entirely benign for these patients with no prior clinically-apparent stroke, the group reported online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Cognitive performance was significantly worse with persistent or paroxysmal Afib than with sinus rhythm. Scores averaged 83, 86, and 92 points, respectively, on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (P
Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is associated with brain lesions indicating silent cerebral ischemia, similar to its link with symptomatic stroke, a study showed.
The arrhythmia correlated with 7.2-fold higher risk of having at least one silent stroke apparent on MRI after controlling for age, stroke risk score, and anticoagulant treatment (P=0.001), Fiorenzo Gaita, MD, of the University of Turin, Italy, and colleagues found.
But the lesions didn't appear entirely benign for these patients with no prior clinically-apparent stroke, the group reported online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Cognitive performance was significantly worse with persistent or paroxysmal Afib than with sinus rhythm. Scores averaged 83, 86, and 92 points, respectively, on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (P
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Arrhythmias/40367
petey
If this were true, virtually every afibber should be on anticoagulants.
petey
Leanne
least I am always pretected with the anticloag..
I refused to take warfarin and after a year I developed 3 clots.
My bad. my Doc kept telling me to take the warfarin just to be on the
safe side. I didn't want to be on rat poisoin.
http://www.everydayhealth.com/heart-health/afib-linked-to-silent-stroke-5937.aspx
Your Dr must feel that your stroke risk is low. Taking an anticoagulant is also risky. You can have a stroke caused by a clot, but an anticoagulant also can increase your chances of having
A hemorragic stroke. A massive bleed into the brain can be more devastating. It comes down to risk vs benefit. Your Dr must feel that your chance of stroke is so low that the anticoagulant carries more risk. I woulld trust his advice.
We can't sit around worrying about these risk numbers. Every day we get older, our risk of disease and death go up. We can worry about that too.
petey
petey
Marikay is right on. My doctor has me on aspirin because I am a 0 on chads2vasc. His plan is have me on anticoagulants in a couple of years. One benefit of waiting is that hopefully there is a reversal agent for some of the new anticoagulants.
However, this study suggest to me that it might be appropriate for all afibbers to be on anticoagulants. The next time I meet with my dr I plan on bringing this study and getting his input.
One thing that I do to ease my anxiety is to eat healthy foods that also have blood thinning properties. Some of these have been previously discussed and include natto, turmeric, garlic, wild salmon, green tea.
About 5 months after being diagnosed with afib I experienced some tingling and numbing sensations in my hands, feet and head. I had a battery of tests including a 3T MRI brain scan which revealed no lesions so I may be in that 10% of afibbers that don't have these lesions. .
opsyn