Can af just disappear

[julesp]

I was diagnosed with af in July 2014 after months of investigation. Also diagnosed with lbbb and mild dilated cardiomyopathy. Was put on amiodarone in August 2014 as well as taking dabigatran to thin blood atorvastation foi cholesterol plus my usual blood pressure tablets. After having a monitor for 14 days in January was told by my cardiologist that the af had gone and he took me off all my tablets apart from blood pressure ones as there was no sign of af. I was told it could come back and feel since my appt with him its back worse than ever. Is it worth getting back in touch with him or not. So confused.

[BobD Volunteer]

YES go back at once. Make sure you are on anticoagulation if nothing else and demand to be treated. Please don;t leave this. AF almost always progresses and sledom if ever just goes away.

Bob

[Finvola]

Definitely follow this up - it seems strange that a cardiologist would assume after 14 days that the AF is gone as it can 'keep quiet' for months at a time, even without drugs to suppress it.

If it were me, I would be seriously and urgently looking at changing my cardiologist. Best wishes

[Dave1961]

I agree with Finvola. Removing ALL your meds with no real plan in place to work on keeping your AF at bay seems ridiculous.

My cardio told ME to go off my Amiodarone and I felt very nervous about it and negotiated until we agreed I would drop to 100 mg and review inn a few months.

3 weeks later I had a full on AF attack - my first in months - and after leaving A&E took matters into my own hands and increased back to 200 mg. MY AF has not really plagued me very much since then but introducing magnesium supplementation has REALLY seemed to halt it in it's tracks.

II have never heard of AF just disappearing. Staying quiet for an extended period, sure, but not just going away.

I have always thought of AF as being a little like a stream that when blocked or diverted finds a new path and the more it is pushed the more entrenched the path becomes i.e. it takes a lot to push your heart out of rhythm but once it happens it gets easier and easier for it to occur so you have to work consistently on keeping it under control

[julesp in reply to Dave1961]

Thanks everyone. Im going to see my gp in next few days but if have af longer than couple hours will do my usual trip to ae plus going to ring my cardiologist x

[cat55]

Hi, when I was first diagnosed 14 years ago I asked the consultant would I get it again and he said of course I would. I was given Sotalol at the time, felt absolutely awful on it so just stopped it a few months later. Still only take Warfarin but now have Propefanone as pill in pocket. I am very fortunate that I don't have frequent episodes indeed I have gone as long as 3 years and then it can come with a vengeance. I realise now it won't go away ever, hopefully it will stay like this for a long time to come but who knows. I have only taken anti-coagulants for the last 8 months which will help me not panic quite as much when next it happens. I was also lucky that my first episode lasted so long I had ECG evidence straight away, has never shown on Holter monitors yet. Hope you get sorted very soon Best wishes Kath

[Bernie13]

Hi Jules, I hope your GP puts you on the right track to sort this out for you. I often wonder when my AF will start again as I have had just one episode since diagnosis in November 2014. I have gained so much knowledge and support from this forum, I don't know where I would be without it. Good luck x