I've been taking at least one drug or another twice a day for the last 10 years so it's no big deal for me. I like Eliquis because it's the safest and most effective of all the anticoagulants. If the twice daily thing is a deal breaker for you, you can always take Xarelto instead, but it comes with its own hassles. It must be taken with a meal and that would be a much bigger drawbaby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotebettylou4488 I am just curious on this b/c I have an adult congenital cardiologist.. and an EP cardiologist. and my adult congenital's nurse said that he would not prescribe it and there is extra training involved to be able to prescribe it. I am just curious. I have been on it a year trying to still sort it out a bit (QT interval stuff.). just curious. thanks Amy Yes, it does reby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteJoe Wasn't the case with me last year. The GP looked at the peaks' spacing between the Rs and told me that i was in afib. I saw a good P wave and thought that i was not in afib - just irregular. Anyhow, she prescribed Eliqus straight away. Later that day she called back and told me that i was not in afib (pathologist or someone else who interprets ECGs agreed with me). I had a cby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteGeorgeN If Steve's ECG was that simple, it certainly should not have fooled an experienced EP or have Natale suggest that anybody looking at the ECG be very experienced. I very much doubt he was fooled into thinking NSR was afib or vice versa. He may have seen diminished P waves or what appears to be an elevated ST segment like Shannon mentioned. Those are both common following ablatiby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteJAYHAWK In an effort to be proactive in monitoring any potential arrhythmia recurrence have considered a KardiaMobile Monitor. But based on my EKG situation would I get false positive readings from the monitor. I don't know what's unusual about your ECG, but afib is an unmistakable arrhythmia. You can spot it at a glance and minor details don't really matter. Will your ECGby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I'm not going to second guess a bunch of doctors way smarter and educated than me who actually have all your medical details, but they were definitely pushing the accepted guidelines. Guidelines say you should have been on the minimum dose or none at all when you left the hospital. But maybe they had sound reasons for doing that. After all, you're not exactly a simple case and you'by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Are you sure your QT interval has always been over 500 or has it widened recently? It seems very unlikely that they would have given you a 500 mcg prescription with a QT that wide.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
My understanding is FDA approval is expected in 2020. Since it's in the hands of the FDA I don't think there's a more precise estimate than that. I'm also not sure about the exact E:A ratio criteria other than "robust" but I'll see if I can find out.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteKen Just wondering - When I was scheduled for my cardioversion a week ago (converted before it happened), a TEE was scheduled immediately before. Is that normal? It is if you haven't been on anticoagulants for at least 3 weeks prior to the cardioversion, or if the doctor doing the cardioversion is simply very conservative. The purpose is to make sure there are no clots lurking in youby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Cile, welcome to the forum. Yes, I can offer some advice. Don't let that EP do a third ablation. Don't even think about it. Or anything else, really. Check your private messages.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Any cardiologist can get you started on Tikosyn. There's no reason to wait six months until you're back in Cleveland, especially since the afib appears to be contributing to your heart failure. You can't ignore that. So I would just go to Mayo then have your CC doc talk to the Mayo doc and get you started. Your CC doc can forward records to Mayo so they don't have to repeat evby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotemerri I was told to take 1/2 a tablet of Metoprolol in addition to the 50mg I take daily, if I have an episode of breakthru fib with a bp of systolic higher than 100 with heart rate greater than 110. My problem is what to do if I have a reading of f90/77 and heart rate of 140? Follow their instructions and don't take additional metoprolol if your systolic BP is under 100. Doing thatby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi merri, welcome to the forum. No, I don't think you're being asked to pick your poison. I think your doctors are trying to save your life. You're in afib a huge amount of time, so clearly you need to be on an anticoagulant. That's why they put you on Xarelto. For the same reason you also need a rate control drug, so they put you on metoprolol, which is pretty standardby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotekatesshadow I asked because so many of us have been told our hearts are in great shape. i understood that to mean they could not see anything that caused the Afib. If you can't see anything, what is progressing? (sorry to sound clueless ) You don't sound clueless at all. This isn't simple stuff. It's hard to explain any better than I did last time because it'by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteGeorgeN My doc, Steve Gundry, is in your camp on the PPI's causing all sorts of havoc. Is there an informed doctor anywhere who isn't? PPIs have their use, but short-term is almost always a part of that.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotekatesshadow What exactly does "afib is progressive" mean? It means that as you get older the underlying disease can slowly get worse. For example, maybe when you had an ablation at 60 there were ectopic signals coming only from the area directly around your pulmonary veins, but now that you're 75 there are ectopic signals coming from other areas of your heart that are outsidby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Totally normal and harmless. It's a small hematoma your body will eventually absorb. Could take weeks, though.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yes, it's totally realistic. What's also realistic is the possibility you'll never need another ablation. An ablation that's still fully effective a year later is generally considered permanent for life and doesn't ever "wear out." However, afib is a progressive disease so it's possible that you could develop new sources of afib later in life that are outsiby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yep, gotta agree with George. It's not that your ablation failed. It's that your afib progressed, which is what afib does. The good news is that a second touch up should be much easier. Stick with Natale. If you need to be free of afib, as you said, then your choices are ablation or antiarrhythmic drugs. A mild antiarrhythmic like Multaq that's usually pretty free of side effecby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteElizabeth Why would you want to take Eliquis over aspirin? I don't think most people would. Because it's safer and more effective than aspirin. People like to think aspirin is safer than anticoagulants, but they're wrong. Aspirin has a higher bleed risk, and it's significantly less effective at preventing atrial clots.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteElizabeth Why are some people required to take 5.0 Eliquis and others only 2.5? The normal dose is 5 mg. People take 2.5 mg for several reasons. For example: Very petite/low body weight Impaired kidney function High stroke risk but also high bleed risk As a choice over aspirin following LAA occlusion device (that's my reason) As a choice over nothing following successful ablatiby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Natale's not going to accidentally ablate an AV node. That's not a mistake a competent EP makes, and he's far beyond merely competent. Besides, it's unlikely you'll need a touch up. The ectopy you're experiencing is almost entirely PACs, not PVCs, and that's perfectly normal at this stage following an ablation. It should calm down in the coming weeks.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteElizabeth I don't have Medicare part D, I have Medicare A and B, I also have Silver Script (for prescriptions), Blue cross (for the 20%). Silverscript is part D. It's one of several part D plans you can choose from.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Oh geez. Yeah, chronic use of PPIs is a fast track to an effed up GI tract, B12 deficiency, calcium deficiency, osteoporosis, and a few other things I can't recall offhand. Hell, it can even cause or increase GERD. Could it cause afib? Sure, since it screws with electrolyte levels. PPIs aren't meant for long-term use and do more harm than good when used long-term. If you could getby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteLorraine Carey, is this what a pause looks like on a Kardia? Well, sort of, but those are only 1.5 seconds long so they generally wouldn't be of concern. Three seconds is where cardiologists get concerned. They're really more just part of the irregularity of afib than what a cardiologist would label a pause. You can calculate how longs things are by counting big and little boby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteLorraine What does a pause look like on the recording? It's just a gap between beats that's distinctly longer than the others. A HR of 60 bpm is one beat per second, so if you see beats periodically that have more than a 3-second gap, those are probably pauses.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Susan, as George said, what you posted shows a slow heart rate between two beats. With only two beats to look at, there's no way for us to know if it's a pause or just a slow heart rate. I'm not trying to sell Kardias. I'm trying to get you to use an accurate device. Never mind the 6-lead Kardia and what features it has, blah blah. Just use the plain old original Kardia orby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
You might want to try Silverscript's pricing tool to get an idea what it's going to cost.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Cardiology advice from a chiropractor that requires buying expensive supplements and leasing software. No thanks. Do you see the big, bright, flashing SCAM lit up all over this?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
If your HR went to zero, you would be face down on the floor unconscious within seconds. People can experience pauses, but pauses are generally only 2-3 seconds long and they immediately get the attention of a cardiologist and buy you a pacemaker. I guarantee you that if Natale saw pauses at any time you'd have been having a different conversation and a different procedure. I don't kby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM