Welcome to the Atrial Fibrillation Blog!

Hello I was diagnosed in 2004 with afib.My first episode scared the hell out of me, which as you know only made it worse. In the hospital 4 days. They shocked me back into normal sinus rhythum. Again i 06 ,several times in 07 , and about two or three times a year since then. My reason for writing is to see if people with the same problems have different weys to restore normal rhythum. I think if we share our own ways it might be worth the effort. I was amazed to read one of the posts on this sight ,that said it came on him by drinking cold milk. That's exactly how my first episode occured. It's almost like getting brain freeze in you esophagus( sp) . I take two 5mg valums and two alka-seltzers. Sounds funny but most times works fine. I have stopped going to the hospital because it is too costly as I don' have insurance.
Please let me know what you do to stop that afib. mpcathouse@suddenlink.net Thanks looking forward to hearing back.

Kathy: probably a long time. Your results, by what I read, are common enough after ablation procedures so if ablation caused people to die prematurely at the rate of getting said pulmonary damage, I'd think they'd stop it. New stuff keeps coming in, so don't worry...new procedures to stop stenosis etc. I'm not an expert but just do a search on it....my Dad has a stent, put in when he was 80 and he's in his 92 year doing great!

Recent evidence indicates that ACE inhibitors can prevent electrical re-modeling of the heart which causes permanent A-fibs. There is some indication they can prevent A-fibs as well. Certain beta-blockers can actually cause the heart to start electrical re-modeling in some individuals except Coreg which actually helps the heart. I have had two A-fib episodes..one in 2005 and another in 2007...took up intensive interval training with my elliptical (now over two years)..so far so good. Increased Vit D to over 1000 I.U. a day, take magnesium/calcium but not supplementing with potassium due to ACE inhibitor and diuretic. Last A.fib came on from drinking cold milk..always converted to normal sinus myself. Eat a low glycemic meditarranean diet. I have lots of PACs and VACs and suspect that under certain circumstances..like a large meal or cold drink...convert into A-fibs...and think the ACE inhibitor helps...had a run of several premature beats last year and thought I'd go into A-fib but didn't. I hear there's a new drug coming out to prevent strokes with very little side effects and no bad ones at all....

I began having A-fib last November. I was sent by a cardiologist to a very well known medical center where a heart ablation was performed 5 1/2 months ago. The electrophysiologist thought everything was fine at my two month check-up. At my five month check-up a CT scan was done. It revealed that during the ablation procedure, two of my pulmonary veins had been damaged. One is mildly damaged, the other moderately. Yesterday I had a perfusion scan done which, depending on the results of that, will tell if I need to have a stent in one of my pulmonary veins. Does anyone know the success rate and life expectancy after having a stent placed in a pulmonary vein? Any information will be greatly appreciated

Has anyone out there had a myxoma tumor which caused afib? I had one, had open heart surgery to remove it. It was diagnosed when I started having afib and subsequently had an echocardiogram. My cardiac surgeon said that I was extremely fortunate because these tumors are usually found in an autopsy. Comments, please. Thanks jp

Given the importance of being well informed, I thought this link might be useful, since good medical information concerning atrial fibrillation can be found there.