Is the blanking period really 3 months? Read on:

[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

According to this article it’s closer to 4 weeks and success is based on whether and when you had the breakthrough afib during the blanking.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2021 10:27AM by susan.d.

There are few "hard and fast rules" with afib. After my first ablation, there was no blanking period. Zero breakthroughs and smooth sailing for 13 years. I was on coumadin and nothing else for on month post ablation. I had over 200 episodes of afib in the prior 6 years.

Afib back in the fall of 2019. Then the second ablation on January 6, 2020. I was on Flecainide and Eliquis for one month. No breakthroughs, but starting in April, I had 4 episodes, plus two in May and one in August (7 total). All stopped with Flecainide (pill in the pocket). Since August 4, 2020, no afib 11 straight months.

Basically two extremes when it comes to the "blanking period". Go figure?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2021 03:09PM by Ken.

Susan - My personal experience indicates the blanking period duration is most likely quite individualized.
I’ve had 3 ablations…one for Afib, one for A-flutter that isolated the LAA followed by a touchup procedure.

I had an experience with clot formation shortly after the blanking period (my first ablation - 2003) which could have been a disaster had I not resumed using the fibrinolytic enzyme, Nattokinase, once I stopped the warfarin. .

Here’s the intro and link to a post I offered that detailed my past ‘clot’ experience offered as a caveat
Jackie



Clot risk
April 15, 2017

Welcome to new readers!

My focus on the Afibbers Forum is to create awareness over important issues related to Afib and overall health to promote longevity. Since we have many new readers joining us daily, this is an important reminder to be aware of the potential for risk of stroke or heart attack from blood clots that can form in the heart during prolonged bouts of atrial fibrillation. While it’s not that common, the risk is real has been an important forum topic so there are many archived posts on natural, preventive measures, if you have not been prescribed an anticoagulant.

Clot risk involves both the time factor and the status of one’s blood viscosity. Thick, sticky blood is known to clot faster than thin and slippery. In addition to the important heart support nutrients such as electrolytes/minerals such as magnesium and potassium, etc., Afibbers who are not on anticoagulants, also need to be aware of potential causes of blood hyperviscosity and incorporate a daily prophylactic regimen for that as well. Whether or not you have atrial fibrillation, this is of critical importance throughout one’s life as many influences cause hyperviscosity. This can become an issue when Afib events last longer than a few hours and harkens back to the old warning, “Churn cream and you get butter; churn blood and you get a clot” which still holds true today.

Inflammation is a primary element in promoting hyperviscosity or thick, sticky blood, so knowing your inflammatory markers as well as taking steps to keep inflammation low is very important…again, whether or not you have atrial fibrillation.

Here’s a bit of background and then links to some of the past reports and posts on this very important topic. As you read through these reports, you’ll note references to systemic enzymes that function well to lower fibrinogen and help thin the blood by natural means. Magnesium bisglycinate is also known for its anti-platelet aggregation properties. Low dose aspirin is also has anti-clotting properties but when used long-term is known to cause undesirable side effects. That said, if you are surprised by a long-lasting afib event and are not on an Rx anticoag or using systemic enzymes, then taking an 81 mg tablet of aspirin certainly makes sense.

Magnesium Bisglycinate has a greater blood antiplatelet effect than fish oil (p < 0.02) A cross over study compared blood platelet adhesiveness in volunteers after 7 days supplementing with fish oil (3g/day) followed by a 7 day washout period and finally 7 days supplementation with (160/mg/day). Magnesium Bisglycinate significantly reduced platelet adhesiveness (p <0.05). It was concluded that Mg bisglycinate had great potential for reducing risk in people with a propensity for stroke. ~ Weaver K & Speigel , J Am CollNutr 7:5, 1988

My history is that I have a slightly low platelet count which made using Coumadin/warfarin difficult back when I began my afib saga (1995) which was the only anticoagulant available at the time. In desperation and after much research, I decided not to use warfarin and told my cardiologist that I would sign a waiver if needed but I was going to switch to the fibrinolytic enzymes (Nattokinase) and I hoped he wouldn’t ‘fire’ me. I didn’t have to sign a waiver and I did very well with many prolonged events during the 8 years prior to my first (Natale) ablation in 2003. For that, I did go back on warfarin and as soon as I was cleared to stop (3 months), I immediately went back to using nattokinase (NK).

Good thing, because at 103 days post-ablation, I went into Afib and was cardioverted about 30 hours later. The following week, I had the requisite spiral CT scan of the heart in preparation for the 3 month review with Dr. Natale. All was fine and I was enjoying my bliss in NSR. I had asked for and received about 6 weeks later, a copy of the CT scan report. I was shocked to see the notation that there was a clot in my heart. I called Dr. Natale’s nurse and I half-joked about the situation, saying “it’s a good thing I went back on my Nattokinase or I’d probably be dead.”

Continue: [www.afibbers.org]

I personally don’t care about the technical blanking period length but I worry about creating new pathways after an ablation when I’m back in afib. The first afib after each ablation I get a sinking feeling of oh darn I just created a pathway that in the future will just repeat my afib cycle over and over again and again.

i had perioxysmal AF for almost 20 years, during that time i never took an anti-coagulant, sometimes baby aspirin. I have low platelets as well, I am wondering if the low platelets are more responsible for not getting clots and not the Natto that Jackie thinks was instrumental in overcoming her clot. Just wondering as jackie and i both have low platelets.