Waiting time & hospital for cardiovertion,let's see what people are experiencing

[Nugger]

! Barnsley,south yorkshire

10 weeks from seeing cardiologist

They used to do 8 a month now only do 4!

[BobD Volunteer]

To start with, unless done within 24 hours of onset (48 in extreme cases) cardioversion can not be done unless the patient is fully anti coagulated for at least four weeks. Again in extreme cases a TOE (trans oesphageal echocardiogram) can be done to check for any blood clots which may have formed in the heart.

I have had DCCVs done quite quickly on occasions with my first being arranged in ten days when I was treated by my EP team in London (I live in Devon) and twice at my local hospital when they were so instructed by my EP. These were done next day. As none were done for AF but atrial tachycardia this may not be normal. I have never stopped warfarin so as long as my INR was OK they did it.

[jondeanp in reply to BobD]

Yes, my first cardioversion, 4 years ago, was 5 months after diagnosis due to me needing to get my INR in range on warfarin.

My second one, i pushed for with my knowledge gained on this forum, and was done within 24 hours via A&E.

[Nugger in reply to jondeanp]

Location? & what was the knoledge,I've thought of going into a&e & saying I have chest pains but am too honest lol

[jondeanp in reply to Nugger]

Coventry.

Knowledge being that it may be possible to be cardioverted within 24/ 48 hrs of the start of an AF episode even if not anticoagulanted. I wouldn’t have known this if I hadn’t found it on this forum

[Nugger in reply to jondeanp]

Gotcha

[jondeanp in reply to Nugger]

?? 🤔

[Desanthony]

Hi, Well here in the western tip of Wales when I was diagnosed I had to wait from April to September to even see a Cardiologist as there wasn't one at the local hospital. I consulted with a private cardiologist and would have paid for cardioversion but just after I had been on aixaban for a month was told to stop it because they had found a teeny ulcer on a gastroscopy. This actually was on the advice of my GP and the gastroenterologist had not said this but it took him until October to let my GP know! Anyway, I eventually had my cardioversion on May 29th this year - a year and a week since diagnosis and thankfully it worked and is still working. Glad about that because I had the devil of a time finding that bisoprolol, verapamil and 125mg digoxin played havoc with me. 62mg digoxin was all I could use but everyone seemed intent to control my AFib with tablets.

I was born in Yorkshire and got to say I wish I lived there now as 10 weeks is brilliant.

[Nugger in reply to Desanthony]

There's actually people on here that have had one done in 4.5 hrs from leaving house to getting back to house!

Then again it all depends if your symptomatic or not,thanks for the input

[CDreamer in reply to Nugger]

It really seems to depend upon where you live and the hospital and the individual EP. Someone recently posted that the wait for an EP appointment in Exeter, Devon is something like 5 months - they were quoted November.

[Desanthony in reply to Nugger]

I went to A&E 3 or 4 times but waited to go to my GP in the morning after I was breathless during the night when Af was first diagnosed. A friend of mine in Cornwall was cardioverted a number of times in A&E but she has different AF from mine and it has never worked for her I never had really high heart rate but hers goes up to 300 during an attack.

[DoubleEm1]

Royal Glamorgan Hospital, approx. 12 -16 weeks

[Nugger in reply to DoubleEm1]

Now that's what I was aiming for,short & to the point thank you!