Mystified.

[Dottilind]

I am posting this as I am at a loss as to what all the jargon on here means. I read all posts everyday but I cannot get my head around abreviations or what ablation and other symptons mean. All I know is that at the hospital they told me I probably have AF as I get pulpitations now and again. Had all tests done for heart attack, had radial angiogram done, echocardiogram, stress cardiogram etc etc etc. Then they decided I should go on warfarin. I used to have a glass of red wineevery day as I was told and read that it was good for flow of the blood, now I am afraid to have it as it messes with warfarin in blood stream. What am I supposed to think as apart from palps once ot twice a month and the odd chest pains, which I put down to indigestion. I now have to have a monitor fitted for 24 hours in May perhaps they can tell me then whats going on.

[dedeottie]

Hi. I know it is a minefield isn't it but trust me it will get easier. On the wine front, unless it is a trigger for the A.F. you can still have a glass of wine every day as its consistency that is important for I.N.R. control. You may need monitoring a little more frequently so the warfarin can be adjusted to start with.Lots of people on here still drink a little alcohol. It is mostly those who have identified it as a trigger that steer clear. I was going to make contact again after the Easter weekend 're our meeting up so if there is anything I can help explain I would be happy to help when we meet. I'm no expert but have learnt quite a lot in the 2 years I have been on this forum. Happy Easter x

[Beancounter Volunteer]

Hi Dottilind, well stay with the red wine, that won't change your INR hardly at all, and consistency is everything with warfarin, don't change your diet, don't change anything except dropping Cranberry Juice if you take that, anything else just eat as usual.

But you do need to be on warfarin or similar the danger of AF is from a stroke, and without being anti-coagulated you are 5 times more likely to have one, and regretably the worst kind of strokes as well.

AF can only really be diagnosed when you are in it, and they perform an ECG, then (I am told) it's very obvious on the print out.

OK jargon, we are all guilty of it, so please list what terms or what jargon is mystifying you, and I am sure that between us all we can give you a plain English explanation of them.

Ablation is a surgical procedure, where they put a catheter into the heart from the groin up the arteries, and then make little scars on areas of the atria (upper part of the heart) to try and put the heart back into normal rhythm, you either have a general anaesthetic or they make you very sleepy while they are doing it. For many people with AF this has been very successful, but it doesn't always work first time.

Any more?

Be well

Ian

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Beancounter]

Ian knows I am saying this as I have contacted him privately but please do not consider ablation as a surgical operation. It isn't. The procedure takes place in a catheter laboratory not an operating theatre and is minimally invasive in that apart from the entry wound for the catheter no cuts are made externally.. The staff who carry it out are not acting as surgeons although some will perform operations like fitting pace makers or even open heart surgery at different times. Procedure always sounds less scary to me than operation or surgery.

Bob

[Dottilind in reply to Beancounter]

Thanks Ian, its great to hear from you as I know you know what you are talking about. The reason I asked about ablation is I did not understand the procedure, and as I have double grafts in femeral artery they would not go in that way as when i had angiogram they had to do radial as not to injure femeral grafts.

Dot

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Dottilind]

Dot they don't use arteries during ablation as they are going in the wrong direction. They enter through the femeral VEIN not artery. With angiogram they need to go into an artery to deliver the die to the arteries feeding the heart so would have gone brachial probably in your arm.. Quite different procedure so you could be OK for ablation.

Bob

[BobD Volunteer]

Hi Dottilind and I agree with the above but also include a brief glossary for you. Remember that there are loads of fact sheet on the main website which cover most subjects.

Atrial Fibrillation. Chaotic electrical activity in the left atria, the top left chamber of the heart.

Atrial flutter-. Chaotic electrical activity in the top right chamber, the right atria.

NSR- normal sinus rhythm.-- how your heart should be

INR -International Normalised Ratio --How quickly your blood clots and used as a measurement for warfarin dose'

EP -Electrophysiologist.- a cardiologist who specialises in rhythm problems

Chads2 or Chadsvasc2- a risk assessment tool for checking if you are at elevated stroke risk for patients with AF

Beta blocker- most drugs ending in lol Used to slow the heart rate in AF and hopefully reduce symptoms.

Rate control drugs such as flecainidde and propafanone, used to try to maintain NSR.

Ablation, a procedure where an EP places a catheter inside the heart to make burn scars around the four pulmonary veins to try to stop the rogue electrical impulses which cause the AF.

Cro-ablation as above but using freezing instead of heat..

PVI pulmonary vein isolation. another term for ablation.

I'm sure I could go on but those are probably the main ones you need. Hope that helps.

Bob

[Dottilind in reply to BobD]

Thanks Bob as like Ian you are in the know and it makes me feel better to know I am asking the questions and the right answers are coming through.

Dot.

[Tobw in reply to BobD]

Thank you Bob, that was much appreciated.

[Rellim296]

It is all a bit mind blowing to start with, but you will probably be more at ease with the world of AF as time goes by.

It might be wise not to rely on a monitor picking up any irregularity. If there is nothing picked up, that in itself is useful for it shows there are no little peculiarities in the background that you don't notice.

If your palpitations when they occur can be recorded with an electrocardiogram (ECG) either at your local surgery or at Hospital, it might help. Always ask for a copy of any ECG for yourself, and take a copy of it to any appointment.

[Hidden]

That was great information Bob, as sometimes its not always easy to interpret the information yourself even with fact sheets. In respect of the ablation procedure, I had misunderstood this, as I had never had an operation before (lucky me) but when I was first diagnosed, (with a test) it looked like an operating theatre, with loads of computer screens up on the wall and over the table, which to me looked like an operating table. I had to climb up on this, which I thought was odd, some sedation but not enough to stop me from moving and talking. Is this the same procedure they do for an ablation?

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

The catheter laboratory is similar in many ways to an operating theatre . Often used for angiograms where they ;look at the artery structures around the heart much of the equipment is X ray machinery as the catheter is guided by the EP using an X ray pulsed TV picture against a CT scan of the heart in many cases. By overlapping TV pictures they can more accurately steer the tip of the catheter to where they want.

I should point out that arteries don't come into the procedure other than for canulas for drugs and anaesthetics etc. The blood vessel they enter in the groin is the femoral vein which they follow into the right atria where all veins end up. They then punch through the septum, the bit between the two sides of the heart, to the left atria to do the isolation procedure. This is the only way they can get into the left atria. If they went in to an artery they would end up in the aorta and have to go up through the mitral valve into the left ventricle and again up into the left atria which would compromise the valves and risk all sorts of problems. I find it all fascinating as an engineer and marvel at who dreamt it up back in 1994!

Bob

[CDreamer]

Similar, it's called a cath lab, the computer screens are for displaying the mapping equipment which is like a GPS for the veins and I think arteries. Some people have sedation whilst others have a general anaesthetic which obviously takes a long time to recover from, is much more invasive and prone to complicactions so most doctors would prefer you to have sedation.

[Hidden]

Thanks so much Bob and CDreamer I was intrigued when I got in there too, I was glad they didn't put me right under. I am a qualified artist and teacher, retired from teaching now, so many interesting sections to look at. This puts my mind at rest as I didn't mind the procedure but must say I did my relaxation and meditation for a few hours before getting there which calmed me considerably.

[gemini52]

Oh Gosh - thank you thank you for posting about the terminology. Being fairly new to AF and all the medication that goes with it I was sometimes confused re abbreviations etc. used on posts and thought I would sound silly for asking . I should read more stuff on the main site. Thank you once again. Regards Patricia