Familial Atrial Fibrillation.

[Elephantlydia]

My Partners two brothers have atrial fibrillation and use the P.I.P. My Partner is controlled on drug therapy,and is waiting for E.P.assessment.Does having siblings with atrial fibrillation help us,and we are told up to 30% of Atrial Fibrillation is Familial.(genetic) and has having siblings with atrial fibrillation helped you ?

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My both parents had arrhythmia problems and were taking Concor (bisoprolol). They passed away 20 years ago, so I do not know what the exact diagnosis was. They were not taking anticoagulants, they never suffered the stroke, father lived till 81, mother till 78.

[BobD Volunteer]

Although there is often genetic similaritie, becasue AF is such an individual condition which we all suffer differently, having relatives with it seldom helps.

[CDreamer]

I’m not sure how having others with AF can help, other than people to swap notes with.

My father had AF but we only discovered this after his death, from other causes. In his time AF was just palpitations that old people got!

[wilsond]

Helped in what way? I expect it is helpful to have living relatives with AF fir support and advice?

My mum and Granma had AF ,sadly both died of AF strokes. Mum died in July 2012 and I was diagnosed in Nov 2012.

Mum made light of any illness so it was never really on the agenda to hear about it ,except her pacemaker proceedure.

I do feel if I had been diagnosed I would have queried why she was not anticoagulated.(very high risk)

So what I'm saying is mutual support from closest to us is probably the main ' benefit' but I also thought that maybe disposition towards tolerance of drugs might be more obvious too.

Best wishes to you all x

[jeanjeannie50]

My mum had AF, but it wasn't discovered until she was dying with cancer aged 60. She never, ever went to the doctors and when she did with stomach pain was sent home with indigestion medicine. She was dead within a year. Thinking back she was never a very active person and I wonder if she'd had AF for a long time.

My dad died from a stroke aged 88, afterwards we discovered he'd been taking aspirin, but never found out why. He was someone who'd never had a days illness either. My brother and one of my sisters have it too. Me, I was diagnosed with AF about 16 years ago, but feel I had it long before then.

I cant see how having siblings with AF would be of any help, other than them perhaps being a little more understanding as to what it's like, but we all get the condition at varying degrees. Some people get it for 10 minutes and it causes them worry, others a couple of hours, then others again for days, months, or even permanently. Then there are so many various ways that the heart can beat incorrectly, some episodes can make you feel really ill and others not. We all only know what AF is like according to how it has affected us personally. So a person who has it mildly may say that there's nothing to it. While another may feel as though their heart is trying to get out of their chest, struggle to keep conscious and feel nauseous.

Jean

[Buffafly]

It helped me in the sense that I knew it wasn’t a fatal condition as my father had it for many years before dying from something else and so did my grandfather who died of a stroke in his eighties. Several other family members have it too.

[dani777 in reply to Buffafly]

for me, it's not the point that it's not necessarily fatal. yes, that's a worry, but that's not the point. we're all gonna die one day, anyway. for me, it's just how debilitating having a frequent arrythmia can be. i will have days where i have heart flutters that last all day long, but off and on, so they come and go, but it feels like torture. and you limit your activities because of it. least i find that i do, so your quality of life goes downhill. when i am bad, all i want to do is sit up in bed and watch telly, or lie down in a quiet room if it's really bad. i don't want to go anywhere or do anything. i cannot stand this condition and it also runs in my family, although i seem to have it worse than my mom did. but when i tell hospital doctors that this runs in my family, they seem to disregard this.

[The_Lord_is_with_Us]

AFIB is rare ... they told me. When I was going through early stages of it, I told my younger brother. As I was healing from my ablation ... he told me that he had came down with it. I thought he was joking with me. But, it was no joke.

I had medical insurance that allowed me to seek help with any specialist anywhere who I desired. My brother's medical was what's called a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). He had a gatekeeper doctor who had to approve everything. Very limited options for who he could see as a specialist. And, of course, that would have to be approved by his gate keeper.

Well ... they strung him along for months before they would allow him to seek competent treatment. I know the first-class treatment I received and contrasted that with the penny-pinching treatment he was getting. Not good.

[dani777 in reply to The_Lord_is_with_Us]

for ages, i was fobbed off my hospital doctors who kept telling me that, in spite of abnormal ECGs, that i was just suffering "anxiety." and i had to literally battle with them to get them to do tests, etc. you shouldn't have to do that. i will ask them "then why are my ECGs always abnormal?" and they will say "oh, you can't rely on the machine." right.

i was also blamed by my endocrinologist for having gained weight after being put on steroids for my bowel disease, when i don't eat much because of frequent nausea. there was no recognition that the steroids themselves were the culprit. so i was blamed for the weight gain from the steroids. this is what i'm talking about. the attitudes.

but i have found that if you have anxiety, that many doctors write off your test results and put it all down to anxiety. and that can be potentially disasterous for the patient. you know your own body, and you know when it's just anxiety symptoms, because you've had them for years, and when it's not just anxiety as it feels different. but you have to convince doctors that it's not just anxiety. my GP agrees i have a heart issue, but the docs at the hospital try to tell me nothing is wrong. and i know people say to trust doctors, but i also think doctors can be biased - trust YOURSELF and your gut feeling. i've had NHS 111 staff tell me to keep battling with them as apparently they are used to hearing from patients that are fobbed off by doctors for years. it's not right. how many stories are there of cancer patients who were told for a year or more that they were fine, just suffering something very minor. too many.

[The_Lord_is_with_Us in reply to dani777]

Horrible how you were treated! (abused). Unfortunately my mother was treated similar. Went in for treatment. Had pain in jaw .. and down one arm. GP said ... You know how women are ... it's just anxiety. Go home and take a rest.

I pressured her to get a second opinion. She was in the hospital for 2 cardiac stents that week .... with 90% blockage. Specialist said it was a miracle she wasn't dead.

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I have it and now my son has it too! At 50 he no longer listens to his mother except in matters related to AF👍