I watched this program in its entirety again since there were varied opinions
about it. This is my second take on the program:

It is intended to be an awareness video on afib, focusing on the #1 concern:
stroke. It is intended for the general public and family members who need to
know the risks and the part they can play to support their family member with
afib. It is not intended to provide new detailed information on all the
treatment strategies (rate and rhythm control/medicines and procedures) for
those who have educated themselves on afib.

While the music and narrative is unnerving in the beginning (and I'm not crazy
about watching animations of "stuff" going through veins and arteries because it
reminds me of my mortality), the video ends on a very important upbeat note:
Afib sufferers who educate themselves and family and who are treated, do
"incredibly well" even though they have afib.

Important takeaways for the general public and family members: Stroke is the
number 1 concern with afib, whether you are paroxysmal, persistent or chronic.
If you have afib, ischemic stroke is a bigger risk than hemorrhagic stroke
(bleeds), unless you are one those that has low risk for stroke. The CHADS
scoring system determines risk. Benefit versus risk must be assessed. All
anticoagulants have a bleed risk. Brain bleeds are the worst. Anticoagulants
significantly reduce risk of ischemic stroke, but don't eliminate it. Afib
stroke can be effectively managed. That's the message.

Some comments: I think they did a great job in alerting the public and those
that have afib, that don't realize the seriousness of the stroke risk. It is
hard to believe there are afib sufferers that don't know that, but something
like 35% are not properly anticoagulated. I had my antennae up to see if they
made a plug for Pradaxa, but it didn't happen. I looked closely at the drug Rudy
was taking and it wasn't Pradaxa. Two in the video were putting medicines in
those plastic weekly pill dose boxes... you can't do that with Pradaxa as it has
to be kept dry... and there were none of those "top heavy" Pradaxa bottles in
the video. It was interesting that on the stop-afib.org website, they had a list
of patients and all the ladies gave their age... but Rudy, a guy, didn't. I had
to laugh at that.

petey

I watched the documentary and even though I have researched afib it confirmed what my cardiologist told me at my appointment last week. Due to some vision problems she felt it was time to be on an anticoagulant and I am now on Pradax and Flecanaide as well as remaining on the aspirin and Metoprolol. I was jealous of Bruce (??) in the documentary having the ability to still bike in endurance races! It was informative and yes scary, but at the same time it showed that Afib is a disease that can hopefully be controlled with medication, nutrition, and exercise/stress relief. For me, my PAF episodes are increasing in number and duration and are really impacting my QOL so I put my name down for another ablation. I live in Canada so who knows how long I will be on the wait list, but if they phoned me up tomorrow I would be ready to go through it all again for the chance to live a more normal life.