Hi Libby, 'Please send me your cell number and time zone and I will try to ring you this week during normal daytime hours, My eye is gradually healing from my surgery a week ago last Monday and tomorrow (Monday Oct 9) I have my one week post surgery follow up meeting with my Eye surgeon so will see where it all stands then, but so far so good I feel sure. I am not typing a lot yet thby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Good to hear from you Jim! And I, too, wish your friend 'Gooood Luck' is right!! Especially with being referred to ... and apparently accepting ... an ablationist who has only 400 ablations under his or her belt! Such 'seat of the pants' risky decisions made like that every day all over the world is why we never have to worry about how all the young EPs everywhere willby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Im not a big fan of taking Tikosyn out side of persistent or long standing persistent AFIB after a cardioversion as an attempt to recover NSR, if possible, for some period of time ... which is what Tikosyn is generally meant to do. Taking Tikosyn post ablation, especially if the AFIB is still paroxysmal, makes even less sense to me. And an EP prescribing Digoxin in this day and age for AFIB, eby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Many thanks Carey for sharing your cogent and insightful AFIB journey summary! It’s certainly been quite a ride and it’s great to see you already now at the end of the line ... or at the very least just one short hop away from this challenging experience of life sliding fully into your rear view mirror! As you sense already, you could very well be done with this mess once and for all as we spby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Check your private message box at top right of this forum window I sent you a note requesting your cell number. Thanks Shannonby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi LindaE, And welcome to the forum. As I noted in another recent thread, I just had eye surgery in Phoenix this morning so I am not up to doing much writing or talking for the next few days but can discuss with you some options via phone which is easier for me in the coming week than a lot of writing at the moment. Again if you wish to discuss these options, please send me a PM in the linkby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Welcome Sandy, A CRYO ablation can work okay for some straight forward basic Paroxysmal AFIB (PAF) cases who do not yet have Non-Pulmonary Vein (Non-PV) triggers, well beyond the PV-Antrum area around the four pulmonary veins that is the only area CRYO Balloon ablation catheters are designed to address. The problem is that many paroxysmal AFIB cases, especially those PAF fibbers who haveby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Good point Carey, These silent brain lesions from catheter ablations can be dramatically reduced through state of the art ablation procedural steps such as using uninterrupted anticoagulation protocol religiously where the activated clotting time of ones blood is raised by a large IV Heparin bolus injection BEFORE transeptal puncture access of the lasso mapping catheter and ablation catheter intoby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks Peggy for the nice links! Shannonby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Jennifer, Yes sometimes blanking period activity can be persistent and not infrequently requires a cardioversion (and sometimes two) to quiet blanking period activity down again. Because the right and left atrial tissue walls of the atria are variable in thickness along the trajectory of a given lesion created by the ablation to form a durable scar, there is also a variable healing rate forby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yes George is right Chuck, A ZIO-Patch report does not measure or detect in any way one's LAA emptying velocity ... nor any other echocardiographic parameter. LAA emptying velocity is accurately measured via a TEE (trans-esophageal-echocardiogram) done at least 6 months after an LAA Isolation ablation. If your cardio is suggesting he measured an LAA emptying velocity of 28cm/sec you muby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks George! We are on the same wavelength as usual ... I was looking up that same editorial by Drs. DiBiase and Natale on LAA Closure after LAA Isolation when I noticed you had beat me to the punch! 👍 Shannonby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks for the great update Jason! And smart guy to continue on with and the improved dietary, life style improvements and supplements you have found useful! Completing an 'expert ablation process' is most often the key element in successful durable recovery of NSR in our long collective experience, but staying dedicated to cleaning up one's diet and doing your best to establisby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Libby NOAC is an acronym for 'Novel Oral Anti-Coagulant' and includes all the newer OAC drugs like Eliquis, Xeralto, Savaysa (Edoxaban), and Pradaxa (Dabigatran) ... in short, all the non-Vitamin-K antagonist with warfarin being the main Vitamin K Antagonist OAC drug. LAA velocity typically is only decreased at the 6 month TEE scan that is required for those whose ablation included aby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Chuck, Well that's a head scratcher as the two devices aren't addressing the same issue really at all. Unless there is more to the story that might somehow explain why your Cardio or Doc of another specialty is even discussing the two devices in the same breath, especially for a patient who has been AFIB free for 2+ years now after what sounds like was a successful ablation procesby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
You are more than welcome too George and you have been such a big help to so many here as well as a key pillar of our forum for going on a decade and a half now, and an especially big help to me as well, not to mention our close friendship over the years! You and Theresa have a good weekend George! And Best wishes to all our Florida and south Texas Afibbers as well!! Shannonby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Always go for the brass ring Don ... that is my motto! While no support staff is always perfect, of course, in following so many hear so closely as well as my own considerable personal experiences there, it really is hard to beat partnering with the maestro at St Davids for their consistently outstanding level care all around! There are good EPs around the country, but finding one who has sucby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Gee, what a nice surprise! Thank you Mike F for the kind thoughts and as well to each of my other dear friends above. It has been my pleasure to share with you the kind of experiences life has brought to my door related to AFIB... and to all of yours as well ... for more than a quarter century now since my first 30 sec run of AFIB in early 1992 at age 39, going on 40 years old at the time. Anby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
As we have noted in past explorations of fibrosis and its undeniably close relationship/association with many forms or stages of AFIB, most respected AFIB researchers are careful not to list Fibrosis as a 'primal 'cause' of AFIB. Nevertheless, in the same breath they will underscore the observation that fibrotic changes to the atrial substrate is often a very strong contributor toby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
When you read these kind of observational studies, especially in which the target element, nutrient or disease process etc. etc. is not the focal point of the study design (i.e. 'Omega 3' as an incidental finding when the study design was looking for 'selenium/Vitamin E levels'. And using the term Omega 3, if indeed the authors did use that term, is a broad non-specific catchby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Will try to connect with you today (Labor Day) Tsco and check in, Have a relaxing holiday! Shannonby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
HI Liz, I never was a big fan of that brand of pacer. I like the generally longer battery life of Boston Scientific or Medtronics. Shannonby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Well tsco, as we discussed last year after your round one with Dr Natale for an AFIB/Flutter ablation, while I had hoped you might be one and done my sense was you could well be a two bagger, especially with the very tough atrial musculature you have that Dr Natale noted as a big reason for the prior reconnections.. And I mentioned too that in a case like yours the 2nd time with Dr N. would alby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteCarey Sorry for late reply...no sedatives for cardioversion. My choice, my bad I guess. I thought I understood from the nurse I would get some light pacing or shocks or such. So I begged off the sedation. Oops, 100J. Felt like a pro football player hit me from behind with a 20 yard start. LOL... Oops! I once asked my EP to skip the sedation. He just shook his head and said, &quoby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Welcome Natalie, I am very sorry to hear of the difficulty and rude behavior you report encountering by, apparently, one of the staff schedulers at Dr. Natale''s secondary center at CPMC in San Francisco where Dr Natale does ablations 5 days out of every month. While it is not always possible for any scheduler to always be able to confirm a fixed consult and ablation date right awby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Anneh, I want to underscore what Carey just said for added emphasis! Do NOT use Eliquis as a once a day dosing protocol, regardless of dose! That is not a safe way to 'cut down' your overall dosage. Plus, that should not be done, in any event, without the express agreement with your EP/Cardio. Going from a normal 5mg BID (twice a day) to 2.5mg BID is the only option for reducing thby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Welcome Libby, I'm glad your doc did not do an AFIB ablation right away so early in the process of your discovery you had an atrial arrhythmia. At least this way, giving you the chance then to learn more about the whole process and perhaps make a better choice for who to handle this very highly skilled-dependent procedure in which one's total future history experience with AFIB is soby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sound good Don, your local EP may be well-meaning, no doubt, but he is woefully misinformed on this particular issue post LAA isolation with a significantly reduced LAA mechanical function. Go see Dr Natale who did your LAA isolation and I bet you before long things will sort themselves out in your favor, And now that the Pradaxa is working, you have more time and options too but I would keepby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Should be no problem for your flights DavrosT, especially for such short duration use. Some alternatives you might find helpful too are L-Theanine at 200mg 3 to 4 times a day. Adding 100mg to 200 mg of chewable water Pharmacy-GABA from Natural Factors can really help with more significant anxiety. You might find if you still needed some extra calming action on top of this Theanine dose, befoby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM
Go to Austin Don, And give it a little time, the tide is turning quickly toward more insurance coverage for Watchman soon, especially with the very good news from the large 1,065 patient EWOLUTION trial results put out last month from Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia. In this trial that including ONLY very sick patients with very high CHADsVASc and high HAS-BLED scores meaning they weby Shannon - AFIBBERS FORUM