Follow up on the AC debate

[CDreamer]

As many of you know, a few months ago I was in a quandary about whether or not to go back on anti coagulants as I now officially 'old' ie:- I was 65 last week, now I have no more AF since last ablation, 2014. I was really grateful for all the comments I received to my post and had more or less decided that I would go back on them, if my EP recommended that course of action, which he had suggested back in June 2014.

Since Oct last year I have experienced a few ectopic episodes and several bouts of tachycardia, no signs of AF, although uncomfortable, not disabling. I was able to capture some events on my Kardia monitor, which he found very useful and studied carefully. After some discussion he was of the opinion that the irregularities were likely caused by medication I take for Mg, which is a known antagonist, and/or vagal response. Vagal I can cope with so not worried there. I may have to increase the dosage of my Mg meds soon so I will have to see how that plays out and advice was to keep monitoring.

I was quite surprised to find that on the AC question, his opinion had changed and that he now believes, in light new research which hasn't hit the press yet, my stroke risk is now reduced to prior diagnosis of AF levels - ie- no significant raised risk of stroke. The study is a 'Registry' study performed in US on 4,000 AF patients who had all had successful ablations, patients had been monitored for 12months+ to ensure there were no episodes of AF. He therefor was happy I stay off ACs - as long as I continued to monitor regularly.

Needless to say I am delighted! Not least because I was on Dabigatran, which many of you who take this drug, can be tough on your digestive system and I have enough trouble with the Mg drugs which are notorious for causing gastro-intestinal problems.

So, breath easy again, aaahhhh, I hadn't realised just how stressed I had become over this issue until I got home yesterday and burst into tears, that's me, delayed reaction!

Hope you all enjoy the w/e and the beautiful sunny weather, here in Devon anyway, whilst it lasts.

Best wishes CD.

PS - I know many people choose to stay on ACs even after successful ablations and that medical opinion does vary so this post is simply an update on my decision, please do not take it is as advice, I am not wanting another debate!

[Tricia239]

Hi, I am confused having just read your post and think I must have missed out on something (I am relatively new on here). You say that you are officially 'old', well I guess I must be officially 'ancient' at 73! However, I didn't know that age had any negative impact on AC,s or vice versa. I am on Apixaban and was prescribed this about 18 months ago. I don't knowingly have any problems with it, but I do hate the fact that I come up in 'blotches' at the slightest pressure on my skin. So, am I missing something I ought to be aware of? Tricia

[CDreamer in reply to Tricia239]

Hi Tricia

No I don't think you are missing much - age does have a slight negative impact in that for the NOACS the dose is reduced as you age you may be more prone to bleeds, but I think it is 80.

several months ago I posted about my ambivalence on going back on anti-coagulants - I had a successful ablation back in 2014 and after 3-4 months my EP was happy for me to discontinue taking them as I had no AF but said he would like to review when I became 65 and at that time, the advice was to take anti-coagulants as your CHADSVASC score rises one point which would mean I would score 2 - 1 point for being female and 1 point for being 65. At 2 the guidelines say that you should be anti-coagulated. I was very ambivalent and this provoked much debate as many people prefer to stay on anti-coagulants for life - which I wasn't keen on - despite having had successful ablations.

Best wishes CD