Cardioverson

There are lots of tools we can use to control AF

by Gemita - 2022-12-05 07:30:26

Oh Joe, how to avoid going out of rhythm again if only I had the answer to this question, I could make a lot of money, particularly with AF.  Looking at your post, what I would say is that I too had a worsening of my AF and indeed all my arrhythmias during an episode of Covid and when I asked my EP about this, he said “of course with any infection, viral or bacterial in nature and indeed any illness, I would expect a worsening of your arrhythmias”.

So perhaps part of the answer is to try to stay healthy for as long as you can and we all know about good lifestyle measures and avoiding any triggers that we may have.

But a cardioversion that lasted 25 months was excellent, three of mine only lasted for a few beats without intravenous Flecainide.

Ultimately though, whatever we throw at AF it may progress even with medication and cardioversions and you may decide that an ablation would be helpful and give you some lasting respite from your symptoms?  An ablation, I was told is usually 75%+ successful first time and this increases to around 85% if a second procedure is required. Medication is far less effective.  I was quoted around 40%.  What meds are you on?  

I wish we could find a cure for AF, but in the meantime we can certainly find better ways of controlling it.  I am having some success with pacing since I was found on Reveal Linq implant monitoring to have had predominantly bradycardia induced arrhythmias.  The pacemaker is not of course a cure (if only) but a steady, higher heart rate (70 bpm) has really helped to reduce my slower, pausing ectopic atrial beats which always seemed to develop into long runs of AF prior to my pacemaker.  There are a few setting adjustments that may help and I am currently looking into this further with my doctor/pacemaker clinic.

Never give up hope.  AF is a pest, but it can be controlled.  Keep well hydrated, treat any illness quickly, get good quality sleep, exercise daily, eat nutritiously, control stress

Staying in rhythm

by AgentX86 - 2022-12-05 09:19:09

Good luck with that. I was in NSR for seven years after my first cardiovesion. After that, a couple of months, then a couple of minutes.

I'm really surprised that it's taken this long to try another cardiovesion. The longer you're in Afib, the lower the chances of anything working. The heart "learns" arrhythmias.

How symptomatic are you? As long as you're anticoagulated (if your CHADS score recommends) and can keep your heart rate under 100bpm, the dangers on Afib are minimal. Symptoms are the real problem, as far as to what extreme measures to go to. IOW, it's mostly about quality of life. I know people who are completely asymptomatic, so after taking care of the essentials, just live with it.