Welcome to the cllub of afibbers. We are all in the same boat here.
You need a cardio guy and an EP that will listen to you. Read what the rest of us have done and gone through and hopefully this will help you with your journay.
Best of luck, and afib is not a fatal disease, just a very very annoying and frustrating one.
Dee

Its funny - I first went to a top NYC EP, highly recommended and as he examined me, I had tons of questions. He actually told me to hold all my questions, then he more of less did his routine explanations after that, and then asked me for questions. WHile I knew he had much expereince, I guess he preferred to answer his own way. Anyhow, for this any other reasons, I got a second opinion and chose the second EP who did have more of a dialogue. However in a way I can sort of see the first MD's point, since I guess many people ask these FAQ's.

I would say, try to read in advance so that you understand afib. Probably more questions will be regarding the treatment that is recommended than afib itself. You might want to ask your CHADS score which rates how complex your case is. I would also ask if he will take emails; my second opinion EP did, and it was another reason I liked him better, because I had tons of Q's after the visit, and he answered them promptly and courteously by email.

Good luck!

If you just have Flutter, then you will be highly curable. I just had an ablation this week. The EP's Nurse Practitioner told me that flutter which originates in the Right Atrium is 98% curable by ablation and hardly ever comes back.

I just had my third ablaltion this week. Why are you opposed to it? It might cure you. I can tell you .... there was a point where mine was very innocuos and infrequent, so I was willing to live with it. But, it progressed to an intolerable frequency landing me in the ER for cardioversion every week!

I had to make a decision. Anti-Arrhythmic drugs are hard on the body .... and efficacy is a crapshoot. I was forced to make a decision. I went with Ablations. The doctor told my wife he thinks he may have cured it. Only time will tell.

Good Luck with whatever direction you take.

Nocard
I have been told by a nurse at the hospital where I am slated to have an ablation that it will not free me of afib, it will only stop the symptons for awhile? Now reading your comments I see that an ablation can in fact cure afib.
Moysra.

Ask what other health issues you have that might be causing the afib. It could be a wide range of things and you need to push that concept. Things like thyroid, leaky heart valves, high blood pressure, medications, sleep apnea, stimulants, etc.

They will want to know if you are symptomatic or asymptomatic. that will drive their treatment decisions. they can only try 3 things:

Control the arrythmia (afib or flutter) (drugs or procedure)
Control your heart rate (drugs)
Give you blood thinners (drugs)

Operations, cardioversions, and ablations have limited success (based on the length of time you have had afib and whether it is chronic or not), some risks, and the possibility of returning (particularly if you haven't addressed what is causing it).

It is easy for the doctor to say "we don't know" what is causing your afib. You should be getting blood tests and heart tests to determine the cause.

Once you have afib, unless it is from some short term identifiable cause like thyrouid problems or a heart operation, you are "tagged" with afib for life. It is like getting the joker in a card game. Even if you are "cured" it can come back. Afib was once considered only a nuisance and medicine is just putting alot of effort into cures.

Well said Petey,
I've heard of few sucessful ablations. Hopfully some day they will get better at killing the nerves that cause the afib. I have read that the cyro has an up to 95 % sucess rate. Don't know if I believe that. It would have to be proven to me.
Dee

Moysra .... yes it can, but you need the best EP you can get .... then, the statistcal odds of obtaining a cure go up.

I focused on the 'cure' aspect intently with my EP. He said, 'I have plenty of patients who are AFIB free for many years.'

Talk among medical personnel is that it often takes more than one ablation to be cured ..... My EP said his cure rate is 73% for one ablation.

If you are not outright cured ... an ablation often makes the condition more tolerable. Medicines work better .... AFIB episodes are fewer ..... when you do get them, they might resolve themselves (where they did not before) and the AFIB might not last as long.

Insurance companies are paying for the procedure. They don't pay for procedures that are ineffective. They're conservative .....

Good Luck to you!

Thanks to Pete and Nocard. I will take your advice. I should mention that I am in Canada and that the wait can, and often is, 6 - 10 months and during this time the symptoms can remain the same or get worse. The waiting list stinks on one hand, but on the other it can help if they are coming up with new techniques all the time. Regardless of the outcome I have to wait. So it is patience which I don't have a lot of.
Moysra.

Sometimes eliminating symptoms and lessening the amount and length of afib episodes is a success marker and something to strive for, even if you are not "cured". If you get 3-4 years out of an ablation, that sounds good too, even if it is not permanent. People report that after the ablation, even when the afib comes back, they feel better. If it is a real permanent cure and you die at 99 after getting hit by an 18 wheeler walking out of the health food store, that's an even better success.

I am in persistent asymptomatic afib, so my only success is real cure. I feel good and I have no other issues. To "cure" persistent afib, the only 2 methods are step procedures and something called 5 Box. If it works on persistent, it probably is a real cure for paroxsymal afib. But it is more invasive than ablation. The next consideration is risk. With proper "staging", risk is minimized. Staging is determining candidates that are healthy enough to have good success and little chance for adverse outcomes (don't make me explain that phrase :-) ). Finally, selection of the correct facility, doctor, and technique for your situation (there are like 20 separate factors that should be considered) is paramount. That's your job to figure out with our help.

I have paroxysmal afib and I believe it was due to high blood pressure, which is in our family. I have an attack of arrhythmia usually once a month when I almost pass out and it will last for about 4 hours. I am on Pradaxa to thin my blood and Norvasc to keep my blood pressure in line. They are both working really well and my readings each morning are around 118/60 with a pulse of 70. I do not have any other health issues. I guess I am very lucky when I hear about everything others are going through. If after I eventually have the ablation I get a few years arrhythmia free then I am looking forward to those years.
Moysra.