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I have most likely had afib for four years. I am now 68. I had every heart test possible and both treadmills. I tried to tell them pulse was crazy fast --nearly 300 and insanely irregular. But since I did not go to er and get tests done all they could say was probably harmless supraventricular thing. I went to er on last episode and was diagnosed then with afib. I rarely have bad episodes. Maybe once a year nearly always brought on by mental stress. I have no other risk factors other than I am female and over 65. Substitute doctor immediately says scale indicates I'm a 2 and need to go on blood thinner--starts with Eliquis. Im still waiting to see regular cardiologist, but so far have not started on blood thinner. I am terrified of starting it because as a child I had blood clotting issues. I know that was a long time ago but still they never really found out what caused the issues. Has anyone on here chosen to not take the thinners? I have read the one thread on here which is very similar to mine. I just can't see a 2 being that much worse than a 1 where they would not prescribe the thinners. Thanks ahead for any input.

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Erin
I am terrified of starting it because as a child I had blood clotting issues.

Do you mean you took a very long time to stop bleeding?

Another important variable is, how long do your episodes last? My guess is that anything over a few hours becomes very risky for clot formation?

Unfortunately, the episodes last several hours. I have had some that are here and gone that quick, but the big ones are pretty long.

I was scheduled for tonsils out and they wouldn't do it because blood wouldn't clot. Thats not bleeding, I know, but they were afraid of surgery.

I have a feeling my main doctor is going to agree with the sub doctor and tell me to go on thinners.

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Erin
I was scheduled for tonsils out and they wouldn't do it because blood wouldn't clot. Thats not bleeding, I know, but they were afraid of surgery.

as in hemophilia ?

I don't think they ever diagnosed it. Since then I have had cancer surgery (endometrial) and there was no problem. So it may have been due to some medicine I was given.

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Erin
I don't think they ever diagnosed it. Since then I have had cancer surgery (endometrial) and there was no problem. So it may have been due to some medicine I was given.

I would certainly ask the docs to sort this out, whether you have a bleeding disorder, before going on anticoagulation. I'm not sure what testing can be done.

I'd say it's safe to say that if you underwent endometrial cancer surgery without special precautions that you don't have a bleeding disorder. Whatever happened as a kid must have been a short-term thing, perhaps induced by meds you were taking at the time, as you suggested.