Conference

[dedeottie]

Was the conference last weekend? If so , I hope you all had an enjoyable and informative weekend. X

[BobD Volunteer]

Yes it was and what little I saw of it when not selling raffle tickets was very good. Great to see the old familiar faces .

[dedeottie in reply to BobD]

Glad to hear that. The line up looked good this year and I am sorry I missed it but a last autumn holiday before the winter sets in, got in the way. Hope to see you next year.x

[CDreamer]

I found the PoTS meeting excellent - first time they had their own meeting. I am sure the AF meeting was good, I just didn’t see or hear anything new or startling. Again it was good to meet up with others but I didn’t like sitting in rows in the AF meeting and everything seemed too rushed and timings overran far too much. I would have liked fewer topics and more interactive time.

Some interesting new tech coming on line though. A wearable ring which is cheaper than iWatch and monitors continuously. Too late for me now but I would imagine interesting development for many.

[dedeottie in reply to CDreamer]

Im glad PoTS is finally getting recognition. X

[BobD Volunteer in reply to CDreamer]

It ALWAYS over runs. Too many people asking questions and the speakers are far too accomodating as usually the chair.

[Drounding]

I think the AF meeting was very good, as it always is and our grateful thanks must go out to the organisers.

Questions times are always popular and of course the times available for them are limited. They are also very important for many people as it's the only opportunity they may have to speak directly with our learned friends. I think it might be worth considering breakout groups or something similar for questions on some topics. I also think that going through a list of commonly asked questions could be a good idea.

[CDreamer in reply to Drounding]

Good suggestions. In 2013 we did have break-out groups and I learned far more in those sessions because you were able to have a more intimate experience with the speaker and go into more depth around concerns & thinking. Certainly FAQ would be good to ease time constraints. The PoTS session was giving more research and linking up and looking at Nutrition - not diet!

It so annoys me that NHS practitioners still use two phrases ‘diet’ and blood thinners. Both of which which have ridiculous, unhelpful connotations about lettuce leaves and anoroxic young girls and blood seeping out of our bodies - nutrition and eating plans and anti-coagulation PLEASE!

I thought the session on exercise at the AF meeting was too vague and the CBT session too much information and too busy without any suggestions of what to DO. Psychology is much too big a subject to only have one 30 minute session on and no time for questions. What is the most often question asked here? Coping with anxiety and AF. I left extremely frustrated and fatigued.

Value for money it is outstanding and so very, very, grateful for all the speakers contributing their time and knowledge. And for anyone new to AF - an absolute blessing to gather information and experiences of others.

All my comments fed back, for what they may be worth.

[Thomas45 in reply to CDreamer]

I was filling in an online form for travel insurance and came across a question which was along the lines of "Do you take blood thinners?" Well no, I don't. There wasn't a question about anticoagulants, one of which I take. I did tell them on a feedback form that some of their questions were wrongly worded.

[Aprilbday in reply to Thomas45]

Priceless!!!! You got them on that one!!! Lol!!

[CDreamer in reply to Thomas45]

Always has been that way which is one of the reasons I wouldn’t take Wafarin when I was travelling so much, I think the question was do you need to have regular INR testing - which completely discounted NOACS. I know my insurers have now caught up with modern developments and ask if you take anti-coagulants or anti-platelets.

[Paige70 in reply to CDreamer]

I was unable to go to Patients Day but wondered what they said in the first session about the benefits of weight loss and if it was helpful. Thank you for all your interesting posts

[CaroleF in reply to Paige70]

Have you seen my reply to the post headed AF Patients Day here:

healthunlocked.com/afassoci...

I hope that might go some way to helping to answer your question?

[Paige70 in reply to CaroleF]

Thank you, I have just read it, and found it helpful.