Long wait 3

[6TIMES]

8 months to the day of diagnosis after an ecg. The stress of the process of the tests and the phone calls chasing them up a 3 line letter confirming that i am a permanent A. FIBBER could have been worse and at least I'm in good company

[10gingercats]

Well the good news is that most Perm. Afibbers have few,if any symptoms that alerts them to the afib and life continues as 'normal'. This may not be the case of course if there are other heart problems.I have a leaky tricuspid valve and a slightly enlarged heart plus perm. afib. and all is well for 99% of the time. So good luck and |I wish you a long and happy ilfe.

[Scottie3 in reply to 10gingercats]

Gingercat I’m the same permanent Afib leaky Tricuspid valve and slightly enlarged heart Cardo keeping an eye on me every year by doing an Echo all seems well 99% of the time.

[cuore]

I think there is more to your story than a 3 line letter concluding you are in permanent AF. Permanent refers to both you and your doctor both agree that nothing more can be done.

You must have gone through a period of paroxysmal AF unless you were totally asymptomatic while paroxysmal. You appear to say you had an ECG that detected AF eight months ago. So, I am wondering if you became persistent eight months ago or before that period, but you could not detect the symptoms resulting in your not having a specific time -line somewhat recorded.

You refer to "process of the tests, " (plural). I am just wondering if the results of these tests concluded that nothing more could be done for you in terms of AF? Yes, one of your tests was a holter monitor confirming persistent/permanent so you must have worn the holter monitor for more than 7 days.

you are on rate control medication, so I guess rhythm control meds were never discussed to try to get your heart back into sinus rhythm (unless due to time-line it was too late or unless there were other issues with your heart)

The diagnosis seems to come from a cardiologist and not an electrophylogist. If you have not been seen by an EP, it would be to your benefit to get a further diagnosis from one. It just might be that something can still be done for you other than just being "discharged."

Good luck to you whatever path you take: living with AF or beating AF.

[6TIMES in reply to cuore]

Thanks for your response, i don't know how long i have been in permanent AF as it only came out when I had a ecg, and as i have never had any symptoms it could have been anytime, the 2 test's i had were a scan and a 24 hour monitor, i don't know what paroxysmal means, i never got offered any other medication or advice about living with this thing so I can only assume that nothing can be done as there is no cure and I'm discharged to the gp which suits me, I'll just have to live with this invisible condition

[cuore in reply to 6TIMES]

Yes, definitely choose the path which is the most comfortable for you especially since AF is not life threatening. Also you write, it suits you to be discharged back to your EP.

However, based on my experience, I believe you have not fully understood this condition and took the advice of only one cardiologist who probably concluded since you have no symptoms live with it. That is fine if that is what you want to accept and not want to have another diagnosis from an EP.

Paroxysmal means that your AF comes and goes. In other words, you are in sinus rhythm, your heart goes into AF, then it self converts back into sinus rhythm. The frequency varies generally from a few hours to a few days, granted some may experience only one or two episodes a year.

Persistent means that AF is continuous beyond seven days. I do not know whether a patient has to wear a Holter Monitor for seven days or more to confirm persistent.

Long -standing persistent means you have been in AF for greater than one year.

Permanent refers to both the patient and the operator (i believe it should be an

EP and not a cardiologist) agreeing that nothing more can be done.

I am assuming that by a scan, you mean a CT Scan which I had before my ablation to make sure there were no clots. I think you may mean an echocardiogram which is really an ultrasound of the heart to record the structure of your heart which detects condition of valves, the size of the atria and the ejection fraction , plus more.

I still do not know what medications you are on, but from the little information I have, I would speculate that your GP put you on a drug to control the rate ( trying to keep the rate below 100) . You were not put on a rhythm control drug, first because most GPs are not licensed to prescribe rhythm control drugs and also because your cardiologist discharged you meaning he is not going to monitor a rhythm control drug and he probably never prescribed one to you to get you back into rhythm.

You are correct that there is no cure for AF, but that is permanent cure. There is ablation that lasts for different periods of time depending on the factors. The clinicians are working hard for permanent.

I do not know if you are young or old, but if you are young I would strongly suggest that you might spend some more time on understanding this condition by doing some research yourself as you say:

"i never got offered any other medication or advice about living with this thing so I can only assume that nothing can be done as there is no cure " and

" I'll just have to live with this invisible condition."

I am not encouraging you to have an ablation; I am encouraging you to be more informed should you suddenly become symptomatic ( which is what happened to me).