No, you don't need to schedule anything with him at this point. You can do that after the procedure if you feel it's necessary. Natale's staff will take care of you in the following months. They're very experienced at dealing with remote patients. If you run into problems, they will probably tell you when it's time to visit your local EP. That would probably be because yby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
No, that's not true at all. Not sure where you got that idea. In fact, there are only a few EPs in the country capable of isolating the LAA so most ablations never touch it even when they should. The most likely candidate for LAA isolation is someone with longstanding persistent afib who would either be rejected by most EPs for an ablation at all, or would face extremely low odds of succeby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Not a fan of nuclear stress tests. Not so much because of the thallium but because of way too many false positives. So that changes my opinion on this. Unless your cardiologist can give you a very compelling reason for doing a nuclear stress test, I would decline. Specifically, what is it they're looking for that a standard stress test wouldn't find?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
For the vast majority of people here, just taking the next dose at the scheduled time is the thing to do, as others have pointed out. But for the few of you who have an isolated LAA from an ablation and didn't meet the minimum requirements of LAA pumping activity in your 6-month TEE (you know who you are), you should take the missed dose immediately unless it's really close to the tiby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yes, there are procedures available to seal the leak if they think it's necessary. But at this point the standard of care is that leaks smaller than 5 mm don't need to be sealed. They're considered harmless. But if they believe it does need to be sealed, they can do that with another procedure using catheters (not surgery). There are small screw-like devices specifically designed tby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
As scary as you might find it, I recommend you go ahead with the stress test. You're quite young for afib, so now is the time to make sure there aren't reasons for it you don't know about. If the test does happen to trip you into afib, that's the perfect time for it to happen. You'll be hooked up to an ECG and you'll have a cardiologist or their NP right there to obsby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteMac Is that concerning? I haven’t heard from Natale yet. But they did schedule me for an echocardiogram next week, which seems unusual. It's under 5 mm so I don't think it's concerning, but it's something they'll want to watch, which is probably why they're doing another echo. They probably want to verify the previous echo. What they'll hope for is thatby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteShannon Children of 7 and a bit less have been known to have AFIB Shannon, did you misread the post? She's 23, so I don't think a pediatric EP is going to take her as a patient. ;-)by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
The interactions checker at drugs.com says there are no interactions between Prilosec and Tikosyn, Multaq or flecainide. And what's the point of spacing by 2-3 hours? Did this person offer any reasoning or evidence?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuotePavanPharter 7 ablations. If there a Guiness record for this? Probably but I bet it's higher than seven. I've had six, and I think there's someone here who's had seven, so you can bet there's someone out there who's beat us both. BTW, people who've had that many ablations usually all made the same mistake. They kept trusting the same EP (or similarlyby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteKen The issue now is what is the cause of her high heart rate and arrythmia? I talked to her yesterday, and she said that she gets out of breath and lightheaded when it happens (a few times a month) and feels tired a lot. Her Cardiologist is going to do more tests, but I don't know what he will do. Sounds to me more like afib, but does that happen to such young girls? Could it be fluby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I don't know where you read about a 30% decrease in cardiac output from afib but that's wrong in an otherwise healthy person. Perhaps it was something discussing patients with other serious cardiac issues? Because 30% would make afib a debilitating, life-threatening disease, which it isn't. Heck, 30% would put many of us immediately into heart failure, and that just doesn't haby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteSearching9 If I understand you correctly, you are saying no, that Afib does not impact cardiac output (volume of blood per second). Or am I misunderstanding you? Yes, afib can reduce cardiac output, but not by much. The key point here is that reducing cardiac output doesn't reduce O2 sats unless the reduction is quite severe (severe as in life threatening). You might be pumping a litby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I can see why you think the afib is responsible from that chart, but notice that she had no dips below 90% for over an hour between about 2:15 and 3:30 despite still being in afib, and also notice that she had three dips below 90% later when she was in NSR. How do you explain those last three dips? Incidentally, posting an image here won't work because we don't allocate disk space foby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Flecainide is pretty good at preventing flutter but won't usually stop it, as you said. If I were you I would start taking the flecainide daily as prescribed along with either the metoprolol or diltiazem, whichever was most recently prescribed. That way when you do come out of it you'll already have flecainide on-board to prevent a relapse. I spent several years dealing with flutter andby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I think you're engaging in wishful thinking. Afib might cause a slight drop in O2 sats but nothing like under 90%. Two or three percentage points I could believe, but not all the way down to <90%. I've been in afib hundreds of times with rates ranging from 180 to 250, and my O2 sats always remained perfectly normal. As an EMT I've seen dozens of others in afib and I've neveby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteJayBros By top flight I assume too you're talking about someone who has done thousands of ablations. Look at my post again. See the link? I don't know how many ablations he's done but I believe it's in the thousands. He trained with Natale and he's affiliated with TCAI. He practices in Dallas with TCAI and in NC with Duke and UNC. I would consider him top flight.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Serial killers don't hack pacemakers. There is no credible threat to anyone here. Can we make that much clear?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
That could be flutter but I'm puzzled about the drugs you have but aren't taking. Which ones are currently prescribed for you and why aren't you taking them?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
The whole thing about the hacking is interesting and something to be aware of in the future, but can we make it clear that there is no actual threat here? Nobody's going to try to hack your pacemaker without a major profit motive, so unless you happen to be Elon Musk or Vladimir Putin, I think you can sleep soundly.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I could make a recommendation for a good EP in the Raleigh/Durham area but I think the Novant restriction rules him out.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Permanent lung damage is obviously the worst outcome possible vs. almost anything else, but I don't understand why you're asking this question.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Not likely, but in what way did it fail? Did it simply quit working or did it cause intolerable side effects or become pro-arrhythmic?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
The first question that has to be asked is what drugs is he taking?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I would probably trust this list the most. See table 2.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuotePixie Sorry, this is a duplicate. I was just trying to figure out how to use the quote feature. No problem. Looks like you succeeded. :-)by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteChuck Connors Is there a standard protocol followed by most EPs in terms of follow-on appointments and procedures post-Watchman procedure? Does the Watchman cause irritation? Other side effects? Here is the protocol used in the 2017 Watchman FLX clinical trial I was in. Since this was a clinical trial, they followed us for a full 2 years, but there wouldn't be a follow-up for youby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
The catheter used to insert a Watchman is much larger than the catheters used in ablations. That's true even if you get the smallest size.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuotePixie How long is the support from Dr. Natale and team there for us?? In general, as long as it's needed. They're not going to manage other issues unrelated to your ablation, but anything directly related they should be perfectly happy to help you with a year from now. They still automatically renew the Eliquis prescription they wrote for me in 2017.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
You don't need to inform them of anything. If they call again you can tell them... or not. Your choice. They don't have a need to know.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM