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Re: 2 yrs post ablation and now PVCs and thumps - 2 days ago

Yes, many have gone on to expire from something other than the AF for which they were ablated years earlier....even ten years. But, because it is a progressive disorder, it tends to reappear inside of 3 years for the heavy majority of sufferers, and maybe the 'average' runs out to about 5 years if you take the standard deviation on either side of the curve. This is NOT empirical...I&#

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: AFib/HF/Apnea - 5 days ago

Simple PAP is my tern for, as an example, the RESMED AS11 'Elite' model that will afford the wearer some pressure relief in its settings, but it doesn't have the variable pressures that a Bi-PAP machine or an ASV has. Or the AS10 'Curve' models with the more fancy algorithm software loaded. Mine is just straight full-time pressure because my OSA responds best to that &#

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Av-node ablation - 5 days ago

Have not had one, but I have read many posts by those who had little other recourse over seemingly intractable rhythm problems of one kind or another. They invariably come back and report that they have their lives back and are grateful. One buzzing fly in the ointment, though: an AV node nuke and ICD/pacemaker installation doesn't guarantee a correction to all AF cases. Sometimes it wo

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Heading for my 3rd ablation with Dr. Natale - 6 days ago

I have read numerous personal accounts of people taking months and months to get to the point where their HR returns to a normal range, or to NSR itself after an ablation. But the point is, many who do have questionable blanking periods do eventually have this result...it just seems to take forever. And, it's very worrisome until it settles. On both my ablations, I had AF or AFL within a

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: confirmation on the need for water - 6 days ago

Thanks for posting. My well-ripened dad passed away on his own terms in late January. He had MAID. His QOL was pretty crappy the last two years of his life, so he convinced the Powers That Be that he would eventually qualify for MAID, and it was granted to him. He toughed out his 3/10 existence until late December when he couldn't pee...which he does at least three times each night. Or

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: AFib/HF/Apnea - 6 days ago

My heart would 100% reliably, and I do mean those figures, revert to NSR when I had my first 'jerk' before turning on my side and falling asleep very shortly afterwards, often immediately. But, that first jerk was important for two reasons: it signalled that I was ready to slip away for the night, no more ruminating, and it also was a milestone, if you will, to sense my heart's rh

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: EP visit at Dartmouth Hitchcock. - 17 days ago

Yes, you are a good candidate for PVI only and by whatever method is most appropriate or likely to do the least tissue damage or offer the least risk of perforation and/or collateral damage. The current research shows PFA improving all the time in efficacy, but that it still doesn't enjoy a statistically significant success rate over RF ablation. Further, it requires more fluoroscopy expos

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: New SVT - 18 days ago

It is beginning to look like there is a gas exchange problem, and it might be resident in the lungs themselves. Have you had a lung scan to see if you have fibrosis or emphysema of some kind/related/analog? No night sweats?

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Multaq and low dose amitriptyline - 22 days ago

QuotePamelaJean Not so far, but the loop should be closed IMO. If it's the same issuing pharmacy, the team should pick that up, probably on software they rely on to advise of potential conflicts. Since you don't know, yeah, I would at least say something. “Not so far” So I shouldn’t be concerned? Say something to the pharmacy? The doctor? I was perhaps too cryptic...sorry. So f

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Heading for my 3rd ablation with Dr. Natale - 23 days ago

I would hope, for your sake, that you ARE in some difficulty with an arrhythmia so that, when it comes time to perform the ablation, your team will have much less trouble finding the focus/re-entrant....whatever it turns out to be. I don't wish the anxiety, worry, and distress your arrhythmia would mean while going to the hospital that morning, but I would think Natale will heave a sigh of r

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Multaq and low dose amitriptyline - 25 days ago

Not so far, but the loop should be closed IMO. If it's the same issuing pharmacy, the team should pick that up, probably on software they rely on to advise of potential conflicts. Since you don't know, yeah, I would at least say something.

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Low tech pulse monitoring - 25 days ago

It's good to hear stories like yours. I'm happy that you have that to share. May it end as well as we all hope.

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Post ablation questions - 29 days ago

Yes, there is always the post hoc fallacy rearing its head. This is why I feel medications ought to be discontinued as early in the blanking period as possible, especially amiodarone, so that when the proofing Holter is administered it won't be confounded by the drugs. Otherwise, how would anyone know if the ablation had succeeded?

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Newly diagnosed with Afib - 29 days ago

I have been using Eliquis since the afternoon of the morning I met my cardiologist. That was about the middle of September, 2017. I can't tell you how many times I have been bruised, picked a scab absent-mindedly that I ought not to have, cut myself, scraped myself, gouged myself...and I'm still here typing away madly on health fora. Had an angiogram where they also loaded me with hep

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Post ablation questions - 30 days ago

The duration and how your heart responded are all that matter. The literature, I seem to recall from a reading nearly eight years ago, is that metoprolol is not to be stopped suddenly. In my case, it was, but amiodarone was immediately substituted, but with that whopping 'loading' dose of 400 mg BID.

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Subclinical AF Burden Not Enough for Anticoagulation Decision-Making, Trial Analysis Shows - 30 days ago

This article seems to confirm my contention, all along, that even a few minutes in AF is enough to present a serious risk of stroke. For several years now, the literature has claimed that one doesn't need to take a DOAC until about 4-12 hours in AF have passed (yes, that's the range I have seen in various articles). I call BS....as soon as one is in AF after months of not having it, a

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Newly diagnosed with Afib - 30 days ago

I'm afraid you have just learned of the nature of heart arrhythmias. They come on in a big way, and right out of the blue. Sometimes there are tell-tales, such as in my case: severe sleep apnea that went undetected until they began doing workups to find out the cause of my AF. I have every conceivable test until the last one, an overnight polysomnography in a sleep lab. BINGO! I'

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: deteremining afib status - 4 weeks ago

Frequent self-monitoring, or insisting that you be informed via the monitoring system that comes with your pacemaker, are about all that you have left to ensure you know your overall burden. From there, with proof of the arrhythmia in graphic form and your medical records, a competent electrophysiologist would form an opinion and tell you whether-or-not you are a good candidate for an attempt to

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: 6 Months after Pulsed Field Ablation how common is a short run tachycardia(7-8 beats) - 4 weeks ago

FWMOIW, I agree with mjamesone. The stories shared widely about AF ablation recovery are astoundingly varied. People report resting HR in the 90's for up to a year, and next they realize it's reliably near 70 BPM or less. Or, they'll get several runs of an undefined tachyarrhythmia, but next they look they've had no arrhythmia for 6 months or more. Some ablations are obvious

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: shingles vax - 5 weeks ago

I had active AF when I received my two different versions of shingles vaccine (British Columbia, and this was about seven years ago, would supply one version, and you could pay for the most recent product....but if they were given in that order, you had to wait six months between doses. Dunno the ins and outs of it, but my pharmacist told us about that restriction). I don't recall it trigge

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Potassium intake - 5 weeks ago

I can't recall the details, but I read several years ago that some kidneys should not be 'irritated' or 'tested' by inordinate or unnecessary quantities of potassium because it's hard on them....some of them. My own creatinine level was deemed high, just out of range, about 12 years ago, but nobody told me about it. When I challenged my GP, he shrugged and said the

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: PFA vs. RF - 6 weeks ago

Pulsed the same way a LASER is pulsed during eye surgery or cosmetic surgery so as not to damage collaterally. Not a steady application, but micro-bursts of electric energy. The field is pulsed, electrical, and causes permanent pores in cells under the applicator, permanently disrupting them.

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: PFA vs. RF - 6 weeks ago

Last I saw, PFA does not offer a significantly improved probability of success (one full year free of the treated arrhythmia) overe RF. It's a bit surprising and defeating, but it's still early days, and we all understand that both applications and techniques, not to mention skills and learning, may improve the performance markedly in the years ahead. So far, though.....nope. An

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Tikosyn question - 6 weeks ago

It's a strong AAD that requires a hospital initialization as far as I know, often over a three day stay. I don't know about its toxicity compared to amiodarone, but if I were given the choice between the two, I would go with dofetilide every time...at least to rule it out. This person is now a 'complex' case with AFL, and not all EPs can deal with it effectively. It shoul

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Fluoroscopy - 6 weeks ago

The paperwork I received to educate me about two (2) MIBI treadmill stress tests with contrast said that each such encounter was equivalent two 500 chest x-rays. Then, I had other scans, an angiogram, and two ablations, each with fluoroscopy. Plus two chest x-rays as part of the pre-ablation workups. I may eventually die from a tumor caused by all that radiation, if not from the countless hour

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: How can 4 TEES show my watchman is perfectly sealed and today a new TEE shows it leaking? - 6 weeks ago

'...That’s why many eps don’t want to electricly isolate the laa, since then you’re on anticoagulants for life.' I don't follow. Isolating the LAA is to prevent the emanation of voltage from it which would cause the atrium to contract, but in this case to fibrillate. I would expect an EP to tell me they would first isolate the LAA and then do whatever else they need to do to se

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Nasal Spray for SVT - 7 weeks ago

Thanks, George!

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: Incidence and risk factors of acute blood pressure drops during circular-array pulsed-field ablation for pulmonary vein isolation - 7 weeks ago

That was an interesting read. Limited in generalizability, yes, but it's a great start, and suggests that this might need further investigation if subsequent problems point to either application or protocols across EPs.

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: 7 Day Heart Monitor—Dr. Natale - 8 weeks ago

Fantastic! Good for you, Susan. I hope it continues to improve, and that your monitor results show a marked and durable improvement.

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM

Re: When the Time Comes to Stop Oral Anticoagulation: Options and Obstacles - 2 months ago

That's a very good and useful point, Windy. Hospice isn't necessarily 'Stick a fork in me, I'm done.' The concept means a serious attempt to discourage further deterioration and suffering to the extent possible in that facility, so whatever that entails is what is offered to most patients. Harvard Health says six months or less, but you dear mum is surely representat

by gloaming - AFIBBERS FORUM