Afib question

[blazinspirit]

If doctors can't get a good control on afib with a high ventricular responce rate, what is the long term effect on the heart? Does it get further damaged?
I feel my heart pumps very forcively, just pounds hard with the afib too. I can tell where sometimes my heart really works against the meds. I am starting to get concerned about the afib, I have already had 3 PVI ablations, waiting on a forth.. all done at the Cleveland Clinic and we've tried every combo of med's we can think of nothing controls the problem with me very well. I have had 22 cardioversions already too.
I also wanted to know if any of you have low bp or headaches, before, during or after afib.
Also, what about high bp on the lower number? Thats happened once to me too, with the afib.

[Leah131]

Hello:
What about getting a pacemaker/defibrillator? I have one of those for my heart problem. I have cardiomyathpy. What is ur age? Hope all is well
Leah

[blazinspirit]

I have a icd already, It does nothing to help my arrythmias. I am gonna be 33 soon.

[Sarah]

hi. they can ablate your AV node and install a pacemaker that will control your heart rate. have you talked about that option? it doesn't stop the afib but you will feel better with rate control.

my bp is really low b/c i take a ton of betablocker (100mg of toprol xl 2x a day). i get tension headaches, never related them to afib.

the problem with afib is that it increases, as you know, your chance of stroke and heart attack. warfarin and betablockers and reduce those risks.

however, the long-term effect of afib is that the atria get bigger and floppier. the atria are not designed to work as hard as they do in afib and this continually damages them. this happens pretty slowly, but relentlessly. eventually, the atria get so large that they can't sustain normal rhythm anymore.

i've been in afib for five years. i haven't bothered to get an ablation cause i also have flutter, so the odds of it working are slim to none.

[blazinspirit]

Yes, we have talked about av node ablation. Both the ccf and my local doctors agree that it wouldn't help me much, as I am so symptomatic. I also have A flutter too.

[progers]

Hi,

There are quite a few people around here who will identify with what you are going through. I know all too well how this nasty thing can make you feel. Anyway, if PVI doesn't work, there is always AV node ablation, but this is NOT something most people with HCM want to do unless it is absolutely unavoidable. This is because once your AV node is ablated, you will permanently lose the contribution of your atria to filling your ventricles with blood. This is not a good thing because many people with HCM are particularly reliant on the atria to fill their stiff ventricles. In short, the atria compensate for diastolic dysfunction, and if you lose the atrial contribution, your cardiac output can be dramatically decreased.

So, what to do? Amiodarone is a drug which is very effective, but not sustainble for younger people because it will likely cause organ damage if used for many years. Another option is a "mini-maze" procedure to prevent the a-fib short-circuits from happening. A last resort is a full-on Maze procedure, which I understand is very effective, but is open-heart (but I have been through one open heart at 35 so it doesn't scare me too much).

I hope this helps.

Paul

[progers]

I almost forgot the obvious, which is that once your AV node is 'ablated', you become pacemaker dependent for the rest of your life.

Cheers,

Paul