How long befor you go on anti coagulants after af attack

[zak123]

Hi there afibbers as the title says how long do you need to be in af befor you need anti-coagulants !

[Hidden]

If you have been diagnosed with AF you need to check your CHAdsVasc score and if you score more than 1 you would be advised to speak to your GP immediately and ask about anticoagulation NOW. Either Google or check out the AF Association webpages but it is something you should URGENTLY.

[Hidden]

Well your EP stopped your warfarin a year ago, 12 months after your ablation and told you your Chads score was OK. Many here advise life long anticoagulation after ablation.

Why not have a word with the arrhythmia nurse. Are you still under review?

[sportscoach]

My own personal situation......

Chads score 0, very low chance of a bleed (hasbled)

EP states I can come off anticoagulant however, I still get AF after one ablation.

I have been unable to find any reliable statistics for people with results like mine who have gone on to have a stroke so I have decided to continue with an anticoagulant.

They are trying to develop a blood test that will give a much more accurate result of stoke risk but at the moment we are stuck with the chads system.

[secondtry in reply to sportscoach]

Hope they succeed with the new blood test. I don't quite understand why this can't be an INR test as I believe you have to have to check your protection if you are on warfarin. In the past I have had my INR checked as part of a host of checks, nobody said why??

[CDreamer in reply to secondtry]

But INR only works for Wafarin and many people these days don’t use Wafarin which works on only one level of the clotting process VitK whereas DOACs work at other levels. The clotting process is a very complex mechanism, not one I understand as I haven’t studied in detail but to illustrate

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coa...

From what I do understand it will have to be a very sophisticated blood test which will probably mean expensive which will probably mean it won’t be given en mass on the NHS.

[secondtry in reply to CDreamer]

Thanks CDreamer. My personal view, and I realise I will be in the minority here, is that most people can do much more to help their bodies clot bust by ensuring a top diet, lots of water and exercise with maybe a few supplements e.g. garlic. Most don't adopt this approach I suspect because it is too expensive and time consuming, however the quick easy way has a habit of not delivering long term. All that said I have discussed it with my cardio and GP last month and accept even if things continue well my opinion may change around 68yo - they didn't Red Card me!

[CDreamer in reply to secondtry]

Couldn't agree with you more. Nutrition, exercise, stress and hydration I think have a huge affect on the autonomic system which controls everything else including the immune response. The only thing with clots is that they are tricky little devils and somewhat unpredictable and of course we all like a bit of predictability and anti-coagulants do give that little bit of assurance that we will be better off with them than without them. Nutrients are adaptogens and therefor not as predictable.

[Auriculaire in reply to secondtry]

Before I had my colectomy the surgeon requested a couple of blood tests to check on coagulation. One was pro thrombin I think. I was not taking any anticoaglant . Perhaps such checks are standard here in France.

[Auriculaire in reply to sportscoach]

The CHADSVASC system sems to me a very blunt instrument . It gives the same risk of stroke for a 65 year old woman with no comorbidities as a 64 year old man with CHF and diabetes! No notice is taken as to whether the patient is a smoker or not which seems odd.

[Hidden in reply to Auriculaire]

Agreed. Separately, I was surprised how wide ranging the definition of vyascular disease is in Chads 2, as below (score 1)

“Prior myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass surgery.The presence of any the following: intermittent claudication, previous surgery or percutaneous intervention on the abdominal aorta or the lower extremity vessels, abdominal or thoracic surgery, aterial and venous thrombosis.“

chadsvasc.org/

[Vonnieruth]

I was given them straight away once diagnosed with PAF

[6jane2]

Had my first and only attack of AF at the end of February. No anti coagulants as I was told I don’t need them as too young at 55. I am on beta blockers. The Doc said it could be years until I have another one or even never, with this thing you just don’t know. I do worry about the stroke side of things though.

[Jc24]

My ep didn’t want me to stay on anti-coagulates after my ablation but said I had to because of my family history. Too many strokes in the family! It does give me a feeling of security, though.