Quotesusan.d GP offers rx for ivermectin. I heard somewhere it’s arrhythmic. Also ineffective and ridiculously ill advised for someone like you. (Where do you find these doctors?) Was it a nasal swab or blood test? If it was a blood test, ignore it. All it means is you have been vaccinated or had a prior infection.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sure, the sore throat is common after any procedure where you're intubated. It will pass. Not sure why the fatigue two days out, but everyone's different, and it too will pass. I'm just glad to hear you went through with it and came out with flying colors! That TEE in between is important. Its purpose is to make sure the device is correctly positioned, there are no leaks, aby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteJakeL What is the LAA cutoff flow number from the TEE used to make this decision? . It used to be 40 cm/s but Natale raised the bar to 45 cm/s. There are also other criteria. See Shannon's post that George linked to.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I think you're worrying more about these blips than is warranted. They're not going to do you any harm and asking what they mean isn't a very meaningful question. Focusing on them just amps up your anxiety level. You're taking a beta blocker that lowers your heart rate, so it's no surprise that every now and then your heart tries to speed up but runs into the beta blockerby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
As George pointed out, the cardioversion will probably succeed, but it does nothing to treat your afib. It just interrupts it and hopefully returns you to normal rhythm. The real question is how long you'll stay in normal rhythm. Have you been prescribed anything other than Xarelto?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotesusan.d Isn’t the “pulse/hr” reading of the ventricles and not atrium? Yes. Atrial rate is very difficult to measure with consumer devices unless it comes with leads that attach to the chest and has more than a single lead.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteJakeL A couple of questions about LAA isolation and Watchman: 1. Is a LAA isolation the same as a LAA ablation? 2. Do you need to, or should you, have a Watchman implanted if your LAA has been isolated? 3. I read that you need a successful TEE before a Watchman is implanted. Is this correct? 4. So if you fail the TEE after the LAA is isolated, you cannot have a Watchman implanteby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Actually, most medical people use the terms interchangeably. If there's a significant difference between heart rate and pulse rate then there's something wrong with you. As for your machines showing 50 and 72 at the same time, one of them is broken. Take your pulse manually and use that as a gold standard to figure out which one is faulty.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quoterocketritch When I say eligible I meant that when Dr Natale and I last spoke that my insurance would not cover, I understood that. What often happens when an insurance company declines to cover a procedure is the doctor arranges a conference with a doctor at the insurance company. They discuss the procedure and its pros and cons and arrive at a decision. It sounds like that's what hapby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteMarkL I email my ECG to myself from within the app. I than open the PDF on my wide monitor PC and manually count the blocks in the QT interval width on Lead II. I do this for 3 randon readable intervals and take the avg. Multply that by 40 for the QT interval total. I then use the Bazett formula for QT corrected: QTc = QT/√RR where RR = HR/60 this formula is valid when HR is betwby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotesusan.d Enlarged left atrium? Rate control limits that (and BP control also). Also, it's clinically insignificant if you're already in afib and intend to stay that way. Rate control and anticoagulation are the only two things a permanent afibber needs to concern themself with.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
What do you mean what can happen? As long as you keep the rate controlled and continuous anticoagulation, nothing happens. Permanent afib does not decrease lifespan or quality of life. Millions of people live decades with it.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
You're both good. They wouldn't schedule a Watchman if they didn't already have insurance approval.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Measuring QT can be done on the original Kardia, Apple Watch, or any device that shows an ECG waveform. All you need is a printed copy of the recording and a ruler. I would pick a sample of QRS complexes that aren't in the first few seconds of the recording, measure them, and then average them out.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
If you decided to go ahead with the procedure today, good luck! Let us know how it went.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotetobherd So is my Cardiologist comment, "if you have to stay on blood thinners, there's no point in getting a Watchman" right then? No. Your cardiologist is ignoring the risks and cost of anticoagulants, and in particular the risks of having to stop your anticoagulant for medical/dental procedures or unexpected problems like losing it in a foreign country, forgetting to bringby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotetobherd Carey - if I'm a woman over 65, and had high blood pressure (well controlled now on a low dose of Atenolol), that would give me a Chad score of 3. That sounds like they would make me stay on a blood thinner.....is that right?? They probably won't count the point for being female. Beginning in 2019 the ACC modified their guidelines and that point is no longer considered iby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotewalt Not quite sure how to ask this but…..Is the stroke prevention benefits of being prescribed Eliquis etc designed to protect during AFib or also during periods when you are not in AFib? If I am not in AFib and off Eliquis am I still at a greater risk than average for a stroke? The answer in general is it's designed to protect you whether you're in afib or not. Studies have shby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotetobherd I'm surprised I haven't heard back from the hospital telling me to either stay on, or get off of Eliquis before I come in this Tuesday to get a Watchman. Does anyone have experience with this? Yes, I have. Do not stop it. Have they not sent you pre-op instructions yet? If not, contact Natale's office and ask for them.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotetobherd Just to clarify, she is supportive of the Watchman, but seems to be saying it's only worth getting it if i can get off of Eliquis. I would think once you get a Watchman (because you had a LAA isolation), you have just as much risk of a stroke as any other person in your age group who has no Afib history. Maybe that's what she meant...? Your thinking is correct: once youby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Kardia is the only consumer-grade EKG device with full FDA approval for detecting afib, so that would be the only "gold standard" device available. Apple Watch has limited FDA approval. It won't detect above 120 bpm and Apple won't support its use if you have already been diagnosed with afib. Everything else is hit or miss. There are fairly reliable devices, there'by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Absolutely okay. If you can tolerate exercise then by all means go for it. I took long hikes in steep terrain and bike rides of 20-75 mile rides almost daily for several years while experiencing afib and flutter. I even did a 50-mile bike ride three days after an ablation with the EP's blessing. As for what George mentioned, I went through a two-year period of experiencing multiple epby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I agree with George that if you're asymptomatic it's nothing to worry about. That's why asked about feeling dizzy or lightheaded. If you don't then you're good to go.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
I agree with Ken that that data probably doesn't exist. That's something that would have been a big red flag in the early Watchman clinical trials, so the fact that it isn't mentioned says it probably just doesn't happen. After regulatory approval, patients and EPs would quickly notice such a coincidence and they haven't, so it's not a question that's likely toby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Quotetobherd Wasn't that incorrect advice to tell me that anticoagulation is safer than the Watchman, and that it doesn't keep me safer from having a stroke, Carey? Well, yes it is. Anticoagulation and the Watchman are roughly comparable in stroke protection, and the Watchman doesn't carry a bleed risk like anticoagulants do, so it is in fact safer. But she's right that it wby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Systolic in the 90s is quite low and runs the risk of syncope (fainting). Do you feel any dizziness or lightheadedness at all when you're that low? How about when you rise from a sitting or lying position?by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Do not stop the Eliquis unless they tell you to, and I'm not surprised they haven't. It's standard procedure to continue Eliquis through the procedure. I think you're overanalyzing your cardiologist's answers. She's simply trying to give you accurate answers and you're interpreting it as negative advice when that's not what it is. Sounds like Shannonby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteElizabeth Flutter does happen quite often after an ablation for AF. I don't dispute that, but it doesn't occur in most ablations. I was responding to your post that seemed to imply that you don't have flutter because you've never had an ablation. No, you're just lucky. Most people who've had ablations also don't have flutter. We can only wish afib andby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Flutter after an ablation is by no means to be expected. It doesn't happen in the vast majority of ablations. Naturally occurring flutter can happen to anyone, ablation or not. Some people start with flutter and eventually develop afib, and some people start with afib and eventually develop flutter (without an ablation). And some people develop one of the two but never develop the other.by Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM
Afib and flutter often appear together. Sometimes flutter will appear first, and when it does it's a pretty good bet that afib is in your future. They're both caused by caused by the same underlying process, which goes by the not-well-defined name atrial myopathy. Basically, fibrosis forms in the atria, which creates barriers the same way an ablation does. It's likely related to atby Carey - AFIBBERS FORUM