diamorrow, so sorry to say "Hi" this way. I feel for you as I am new at this my self just five months into it. My EP never even suggested ablation. ER started me on Metroprolol and Eliquis. My EP left the Eliquis and said it was necessary then we changed to verapamil.

I already ate good so I just tweaked it some more and found out sodium was a trigger which I really do not understand as I eat little to no salt and cook everything from scratch. I still get a mild afib about once every other week, but it returns to NSR on its own. I do feel better each day and realized it has been a little over three weeks with no extra thumps.

I am very slow to accept meds or any surgery unless I know it is the only option. I am still researching ablation and meds as I do not want either, so yes it is a decision to not make lightly and one you are comfortable with.

I make sure I drink my calm magnesium and some electrolytes every night so that could be the reason why I seem to be doing better.

laurab

I was pretty stoked when the alivecor monitor first came out. I asked my cardiologist about it, and he just sort of rolled his eyes. After grilling him about it, he said the readings from that device would be no use to him, they also would not tell you whether you were in afib or not, and even the pulse reading could be off if you were in afib when the reading was taken. I find that electronic devices have a hard time accurately measuring heart rate when the heart is not keeping a regular tempo.

My EP also suggested drugs as a first-line treatment, but I'm young (38), and drugs can lose their efficacy over time, so assuming that I have a long time left to live, I opted for the ablation.

duder: Your doctor is way off. The AliveCor shows your ECG tracings and also tells you if you were in afib as well as how many times. You can count your heart beats on the graph so it can't be wrong as far as heart rate is concerned. It is also simple for anyone to tell if you are in afib with any of the portable ECGs (no P wave, irregular rhythm, P wave replaced with a wavy line). They work the same way as the ones at the doctors office, they just have fewer leads (you don't need them to detect afib and heart rate. Here Is the website:

http://www.alivecor.com/why-use-it

It is FDA approved for afib detection. I have an OMRON that does the same thing. Typically they are set for 30 seconds and you can multiply by 2 to get your heart rate. Your doctor probably didn't want to be bothered or he isn't well informed.

It is true that heart rate monitors like the ones on treadmills can be inaccurate while in afib as well as some of the watches, but the portable ECGs are as accurate as the ones in the doctors office.

So I'm not sure where your doctor is coming from by rolling his eyes.

petey

A few years back after a cardioversion, I had a strong, pounding, in NSR, HR for close to a year. Tho I did not have AF, it never felt quite right. Next AF and cardioversion, back to NSR and strong HR was gone, and hasnt returned for 3 years. Of course I have absolutely no clue as to why and of course doctors shrugged and had no answers either. I would guess however that things arent quite right if that is going on and needs to be addressed. Let us know what they say on that issue, still curious.

petey, I guess it just goes to show that doctors aren't gods, and it's possible for them to be quite wrong. That was my cardiologist, not my EP, so I likely won't be going back to see him, for that and a few other reasons.

duder... when you get the feeling that the doc doesn't feel right for you, you move on. You sound very perceptive. petey

When I was still actively seeing the cardiologist, he was still pushing drugs as a remedy (which is really all he can do, being a cardiologist). Still didn't take me very seriously because of my age. No cardiologist has, for whatever reason. I tried gradually-increasing doses of cardizem over a period of three weeks and that made me as sick as I'd ever been. From my research I knew that cardizem was one of the first-line treatments that most cardio's give, and is generally well tolerated. If my body was reacting like this with something that was well-tolerated, I wasn't holding out much hope for other meds working better with less side effects.

Now that I've had the ablation, hopefully I won't need cardiologists anymore. If and when I have problems again, I'm going to skip the cardiologist and go straight for my EP.

But back to the OP, I would say find a good EP, and learn everything you can about afib. Get an echocardiogram, and cardiac stress test, at the very least. This just rules out structural heart issues early on. If your heart is structurally normal, it means that antiarrhythmic medicine will be much safer for you to take, if you decide to go that route.

Right now I'm a huge proponent of ablations, as mine appears to have been wildly successful - but my surgery was only two weeks ago. Things can change at any time. The best thing you can do is to learn as much as you can - boards like this are great, stopafib.org is another great site. By learning about your condition you'll feel more confident making a decision about how you want to be treated.

Hi diamorrow - welcome to the club. I had my first one Dec 2013, hospital stay, cardioversion... Had 2 more episodes May 2014 and July 2014....

Right now I'm on Flecainide, 50mg twice a day and a 81mg aspirin (anti platelet as Petey pointed out) every other day. So far so good for over 7 months now. I've always been careful with my diet, eat healthy stuff, exercise often...

I'm surprised your doctor is already talking about ablation right off the bat. The more conventional and conservative approaches are to try the drug approach first. If one drug doesn't work, they usually try another. If this runs into a dead end, then they will look at ablation. Ablation isn't a small deal - it entails risks and it is not sure-fire - it has a 75% success rate which means 25% fail, and 25% usually require a second ablation, so most doctors don't usually recommend it as a first-line treatment.

As if the afib wasn't bad enough my husband went in for routine surgery and had a massive heart attack and died...I am just in total shock and disbelief.....no afib from the stress but I am not sure what I will do without him to lean on if I have another one.....I am a mess.

so so sorry .. my condolences .. please stay in touch with us here .. I will keep you in my prayers...

Charlene

I am so sorry for your loss, such a shock for you do deal with. I hope you have a good support system as you need it atbthis time.

laurab

OMG! I am so sorry to hear this! We are here for you if you need us! Try and stay strong!

Im so sorry, my sincere condolences to you. I wish you strength, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

I'm so sorry diamorrow. Maybe one of the ladies on this site can communicate with you through email. We have some very helpful people on this website and talking to someone who also has afib is best as we tend to react to such shock in similar ways... also find someone you can talk to locally. I personally would talk to a counselor. Again I'm so sorry. petey

How very sorry I am for your loss. The Bible reminds us that "Blessed are those that mourn for they shall be comforted." I pray that this will be especially true for you as you mourn your loss. I pray that God will give you the strength to see you through this sad and difficult time. My thoughts and prayers will be with you
With Sympathy and Faith, Carollee