Shows ya how little I know...I thought abilation meant the shock thing. Just looked it up, learned differently.

If the AFIB was my only medical problem, I might be more open to that visit...but I figure it's most likely not what's gonna get me. Hey, at 81, I figure I've already beaten the tables...had a pretty good run, the best years behind me.

As someone who works in the heart cath lab and sees A-fib daily you have a variety of options for treatment. Ablation procedures have greatly improved in the recent past with new technology if medication isn't working. My brother had his zapped on the first try and my mother took 3 separate attempts to get all of hers. She had a lot more scar tissue in the heart from years of chronic heart issues. She recently got off Eliquis as she had been a-fib free for 2 years (her pacemaker records any irregular events). I will agree all electrophysiologist are not created equal and for stubborn a-fib you need the right guy or gal.

^ This. I’m about to turn 66 next month and I’ve had problems with panic attack starting at age 18. It wasn’t until I was about 28, that I start getting the right medicine, to control them. That was 10 lost years. If you’ve ever had a real one, you will do anything to avoid another one. They can be absolutely terrifying and life altering in a bad way.

On another note, I have mitral valve prolapse. Every once in a while, I can feel my heart flutter. It’s a funny feeling. The docs can see it on my EKG and listening to my heart.

Well, I have it, and like a few others here, I deal with it. One of the reasons why I went to a iPhone and Apple Watch was because of what one of our brothers here went through. After getting one for my mother, a direct result of a brother here, whose life was most likely saved because the watch/phone informed him, is the reason why I switched.
Funny, one of my Pelican brothers, and I compare our weekly aphid results

One of the concerns about a-fib (and why it should be taken seriously) is that it can lead to strokes. Blood likes to flow in a laminar fashion. When it doesn't--whether through a leaky mitral valve, a hole in between chambers of the heart, vegetations/growths hanging off the walls/valves of the heart, or the irregular beating of a heart such as in a-fib--then the blood tumbles. It loses that laminar flow. Then blood may form clots. Those clots may then flow "downstream" and lodge in smaller blood vessels such as in the brain, leading to a stroke.

Best of luck, Guy (and the rest of you with it).

Thanks Daniel & Noah. Good info. For what it is worth, I'm on Eliquis...so it must be doing some good.

Myself as well. Much more fun vs Warfarin/Coumadin as I don't have to go in for checks monthly to the blood checking place. I have no problem taking it until I drop.

I was saying it was a pain driving through the Akron I77-I76 interchange decade long reconstruction. One of the nurses mentioned "Oh, you can get Eliquis for free if you pass the income test" (under $68k).

I love the stuff and if I bleed it is not horried (but the stuff works) and fingers are cold in the winter if exposed but I can deal with it.

My understanding is the heart muscle primarily creates it's own electric impulse.
Not the brain.
When that pulse originates from several areas...out of synch...the vandals have taken the handle and the pump don't work.
The lower big Ventricles/muscles pull blood returning from the extremities and organs and then the top Atrium sends it out.
Atrial fib problems are not as concerning as ventricle fib.

But the longer in a-fib, the more difficult it is to reset:
-One person had 18 cardioversions. Yes 18. Doc was stuck on stupid. A shame and pox upon them. Patient is finally improved now after changing facilities.
-One person had 3-4 cardioversions, followed by ablation which lasted half a year, followed by another combined with Warfarin/Coumadin. That did the trick. Like magic. YMMV.

I bought several generic cuff machines but the results were inconsistent.
This brand does HR/BP/plus fibrillation warnings: https://omronhealthcare.com/blood-pressure-monitors

I think the heart rhythm is controlled by the Sino-atrial node.

You have the operation backwards, I believe. The atria fill the ventricles and the ventricles pump the blood out. And afib is annoying (and can lead to strokes), but v-fib kills you (so, yes, v-fib is concerning as you die from it).

Also, afib manifests itself in many different ways. I had probably 1500-2000 afib episodes and never had (or needed) a cardioversion. No ablations, no medications.

Yes I did. Bass akward wrong information. Please ignore previous.

Big lower muscle pumps it out. One side for lungs. There are four chambers.

Body exercise, and pulsing constriction of arm/leg muscles with venous check-valves, push it all back in under pressure. To refill the top portion.
Thus the limited need for the smaller Atria.

Movement keeps the bloodstream moving. Like sharks. Filtered through kidneys and liver. Kept clean.
(Never massage limbs away from the heart. Always towards. Because of the venous check valves.)


Thank you for the correction. A dyslexic moment there.

Part of the question is, do the muscles that control the valve actuation strings have a blood flow constriction, which in turn causes the A-FIB in some cases?

What is the medical name for all those valve strings anyway.

Never realized the complexity of the heart chamber interiors.