I asked the same question that newly diagnosed afibbers ask, which is... "will this shorten my life?" My EP said that , "no, but afib can make you feel rotten."

I wasn't buying that, because.. how can your heart shoot up to 200 bpm and stay there for 20 minutes or more without doing damage?

Well, as I suspected... there is new info out that confirms what I believed... I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer.. I just want the truth.

Here is a snippet from one of many articles out today on the subject.

Oh, and btw... I found it interesting too, that they found a direct correlation between palpitations/high blood pressure and afib. I have both! For years, they told me not to worry about my palpitations!

"Atrial fibrillation is currently the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is a major risk factor for heart failure (risk tripled), stroke (risk increased up to five times) and overall mortality (risk doubled). A recent consensus statement described AF as "one of the major common and chronic disorders in modern cardiology", adding that mortality and morbidity associated with AF "remain unacceptably high".

http://www.rxpgnews.com/cardiology/Palpitations_predictive_of_future_atrial_fibrillation_554194.shtml

That doesn't sound very benign to me... And then there's this from US News and World Report. PLEASE tell me "heart attack" is a mis-print...

"Atrial fibrillation increases a person's risk of heart attack, stroke and death. "

http://us.mg1.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=494jik9din8v1