Ablation For Atrial Fibrillation

Ablation For Atrial Fibrillation

A bit of background here. Both of my parents died from coronary related problems. I am a lifelong smoker, and morbidly obese. Yes, I have quit smoking, many times. Yes, I have lost weight, many times. Obviously though, I’m too darn dumb to maintain a healthy lifestyle. My own fault and nobody else’s. . .

I’ve had a problem with AFIB since 210. Since March 0f 2011 I have undergone cardioversion five times. Actually, more than five times, just five separate incidents at the ER or cardiologist’s office. Of course prior to the electric shock, they tried stopping the heart with drugs, and then restarting it, in unsuccessful attempts to convert the heart back to a normal rhythm. There were two separate occasions where they had to shock me twice to get the rhythm back to normal.
I’ve been on a couple of very expensive drugs to try to keep the rhythm normal, for over a year now, and without spectacular success.

The cardio docs tell me that a lot of people go through their lives with AFIB, and as long as they are able to tolerate it, and they keep on top of their blood thinner meds, they do just fine. The biggest problem here, is the possibility of a stroke caused by blood clotting in the heart and being pumped to the brain, which is the reason for blood thinners.
However, I am not able to tolerate the AFIB. It just totally kicks my butt. Causes extreme discomfort, (I can’t really call it pain, most of the time,) in the chest, along with some light headedness.

So the cardio docs recommended a procedure that has been around for quite some time. I held off on it, because it would have meant traveling to either Vegas or SLC to get it done. However, my cardio practice hired a surgeon who has been doing this procedure for about 10 years. So I agreed to have it done.

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/...ncy-catheter-ablation-for-atrial-fibrillation

So anyway, I had the procedure done last Thursday, was held overnight and released on Friday. I think I’m pretty much past the discomfort, which was a bit more than expected. Still not doing a whole lot, just pretty much taking it easy and walking, and I guess we will see where it goes from here!

 

Yeah Bumpy. It's called getting old. . .

 

Actually, Bry, there are a lot of different causes of AFIB. But thanks.