AF newbie

[GazzaD57]

I am a 58 y/o male. I was found to have AF after minor knee surgery caused a DVT and PE clot. I am currently on Apaxiban and Metaprolol. I am waiting to have defibrillation treatment ( sorry i dont know the technical names) but this cant be done till after the clots have cleared up,  hopefully in about 3 more months, its already been 6 months. I read with interest that people can tell when they are in and out of AF, i havent noticed, i always seem to be short of breath when working or exercising,  could i always be in AF? What is the success rate of a single Defibrillation treatment? Could this be an ongoing issue? Its hard sometimes to get answers off the specialists. 

[Beancounter Volunteer]

Hi Gazza

Welcome to the forum, if not the crazy world of AF. I think you are referring to Cardioversion, (CV) and the answer is that it almost never is a long term solution. Sorry to tell you that, it is however a very good indicator of how easily your heart will slip back into Normal Sinus Rhythem (NSR) which will then indicate which treatment path to take.

You need to read and find out as much as you can about the condition, and the best place to start is the AFA website which is chock a block full of good stufff, and of course you can ask questions here.

I'm in 24/7 AF possibly like you and my only real symptoms are the shortness of breath. However you could be going in and out, but they cannot perform a CV on you if you are not in AF at the time.

Be well

Ian

[GazzaD57 in reply to Beancounter]

Thanks Ian for the " not so good news" lol. I'm fairly certain im in AF all the time, every test i have done, even those related to the clotting, they tell me im in AF. Clearing the clots is priority one before they can continue with any AF treatment. I recently had a heart ultrasound ( results unknown till i see my cardiologist again in July, by which time i hope i will be clot free. Until then ill read up on as much info and forum posts as i can. 

Thanks for your reply, 

Gary.