Hi Que, Welcome to the forum, there is a tremendous wealth of information here to help you discover a real light of understanding that will help you through the forest of this daunting and lousy condition to greener pastures once more. As Anti-AFIB said above please adopt dedicated repletion of key cardiac electrolytes such as magnesium and potassium and other supporting nutrients and dietaby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Erich the vast majority (around roughly 80%) of Afibbers over time with increasing episodes will increase their burden of 'Silent Cerebral Ischemia' (SCI) or Silent Cerebral Events (SCE) basically two acronyms for the same basic process. Still, active AFIB is the number one source of these SCI, we have published quiet a few study summaries on these SCI Impact including in the Dec/Janby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi researcher, The initial study was done in combined warfarin- Clopidegrel or aspirin anti-platelet combined 'dual therapy' but the message learned also applied to out of range warfarin use as well over an excessive time in higher and/or lower Than therapeutic INR ranges. Basically their findings suggest that it's very important to make every effort to confirm as much time sby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Good points TomC, It's a balance as in most things in life, an expert ablation process is very often the key cornerstone to longer term success, but a person can really help smooth out the bumps in the road that can occur, even post ablation, by making a commitment to taking better care of themselves, before, during and life long after a successful ablation process. Especially paying aby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Barb, we covered SCI (silent cerebral ischemia) and both AFIB itself as a prime source of these SCIs in a special report in the April/May issue of The AFIB Report. Please go back and read that and related ussue of SCI and AFIB ablation.. By far the biggest source is unaddressed AFIB itself. Another reason why tolerating still a modest amount of AFIB breakthroughs may wind up being a Fausby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Liz, That serious adverse event rate of 9% was derived from a quite small group of patients at obviously a not very experienced center and marginal EPs as well on average to get that bad of results... In the much larger study of 80,000 ablation patients across the US over ten years they noted a major difference between complication rates with more experienced EPs and centers compared to the 8by Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
HI George and Randy, Yes its a combination of co-morbities no doubt that help add to the increased rate of dementia which doesn't necessarily have to equate to having had a burden of mini or silent stroke or TIA like brain infarcts however small and transitory. It could be that those events contribute and makes sense that they might in some cases, but the overall burden of other CVD reby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yep dnvrfox, that's a real issue and another good motivation for doing everything in one's power to maximize time spent in NSR and reduce overall AFIB burden. Trying to just limp along for years with an average rate of breakthroughs from not very effective drug treatment alone can have more consequence than a stroke. Shannonby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Louise, If the estrogen you are taking says 'Estradiol' then it is bio-identical Estradiol. However, it is not at all a good idea to take ANY estrogens by mouth. Also so many regular pharmaceutical preparations .. ie not compounded just for you ... are oral forms. Careful meta analysis of the large Women's Health Initiative and many years of experience by skilled BHRT MDsby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Jackie, Iodine supplementation is a big key for not only thyroid health but in helping balance the metabolic pathway of many essential hormones. Take Estradiol, Estrone and Estriol for example. Estradiol is the main anabolic hormone for women resposibile for most everything feminine in the female body as well as supporting bone and muscle tissue health, collagen formation, skin health as weby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
MAJOR added risk factors involved! Just from going on heart lung bypass has real downsides for greater dementia risk, depression and other significant complications. Not to mention the greatly significant body stress, pain and recovery time from cracking it open. Cox was an old school cardiac surgeon so of course he will prefer that more aggressive approach. Mini-maze has its value, no doubt,by Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi McHale, Silent TIA like events are a lot more common than most people think and most resolve without incident or lasting damage (or so the story goes). When they get to a certain size and or number there is some indication of possible increase in dementia which would make since once there is a fair number of these that don't resolve. Getting older is a real crap shoot, no?! Regaby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Deal with the inflammation stock up on transresveratrol, turmeric and some theother goodies Jackie mentioned and by all means do what you can to elemiate or control this beast ... Another good reason for ablation when the conservative means fail. Not sure if AFIB begets Alzheimer's or perhaps more likely the same underlying metabolic disorder or deficit leads to both ...and probably a nby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM