Is AF going to shorten my life??

[artmcclin]

I have continual AF, irregular beats and a resting heart rate around 100bpm. I am on 10 mg Bisoprolol, which means my heart rate never goes above 125 bpm. My quality of life is fairly good, and I am not particularly breathless. I have seen two cardiologists. One says that my condition shouldn't shorten my life. The other says that he is concerned that my AF and fast heart rate WILL shorten my life. I am awaiting cardiac ablation and am having doubts as to whether I should proceed with this. Any views would be appreciated. Thank you.

[CDreamer]

Hi and welcome. I can see you are a new member and this is your first post. AF causes much concern because it’s our heart and we only have one of them so when something goes wrong with it we feel anxious.

To answer your question directly - the jury is out because not enough is known about AF.

If you have what is termed Lone AF ie:- no other conditions such as Diebetes, Thyroid problems, CVD (Cardio Vascular Disease) are not obese, generally fit and able to live an active life - probably will not shorten your life.

There maybe some concern if there is dilation of the atria when you have been in fast AF for a protracted period (fast AF = uncontrolled HR of 120+). Your’s is controlled.

It is usual to have an echocardiogram or a scan to track the condition of the muscle of the heart over time.

May I suggest that you go to the AFA website and read as much as you can about AF and the treatments and then you will be able to discuss treatment options with your doctors and come from a place of knowledge. Treatment is for QOL rather than life prolonging.

My first bad episode of AF was in 2006, although I had probably had minor episodes a lot of my adult life. At it’s worst - I was having episodes 2-5 times a week with HR of 170+ and hardly able to recover from one before the next started. I have been through the gamut of treatments - drugs, ablation and now Pacemaker. I turn 70 next week. I have had 3 episodes in the last 3 years, one quite recently but all 3 brought on by virus infection. I can’t do a lot of the sports I used to but am relatively active, I have to pace myself but that is more because of a neurotransmitter disease which means my muscles don’t work. So that’s just my story but you will read many more on this forum of people living with AF for 30-40 years - one of the top EP’s in UK has.

How can anyone predict how long they will live? All I know is that worry only induces stress on the heart - which makes it beat faster so can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Be aware that cardiology is a very broad field and the speciality who treats arrythmias such as AF are Electrophysiologists or EPs who are very specialised cardiologists. You often get a much, much different opinion on AF from an EP than a cardiologist.

Hope some of that info helps - don’t hesitate to ask any questions.

Best wishes CD

[artmcclin in reply to CDreamer]

Many thanks CD for the info. My first cardiologist I don't think specialised in AF, arrhythmia etc., and the second one was I think an EP. It was he who said I should have ablation....so, I'll go with that. Thank you again.

[BobD Volunteer]

The short answer is that well controlled AF is not life threatening but it is important to keep in mind that the life style changes you should make can in many cases actually improve your life chances.

Diet (less meat, less processed foods and a more plant based diet) no alcohol , less stress. good hydration at all times, weight loss if BMI 26 or over, and a regular but not excessive exercise regime will all help to improve not only your quality of life (QOL) but also life expectancy.

The one caveat to all this is stroke risk as AF increases our stroke risk five fold. There is a scoring system known as CHADS2VASC2 which uses various paramters such as age, blood pressure, diabetes, previous heart problemsetc to decide if anticoagulants are essential so I do hope that this has been discussed with you and assessed.

Regarding ablation, as a fan of this procedure (no AF for eleven years since last one) it does enable one to stop taking some really nasty drugs although anticoagulation if appropriate is usually for life . (There is no confirmed data to show that sucessful ablation reduces stroke risk) .

[artmcclin in reply to BobD]

Thank you BobD.....I appreciate your advice.

[Hidden]

The only thing I would add is that over recent days there have been a number of posts about people’s doubts relating to having an ablation. Can I suggest you read them first and if you still have any doubts or questions, we will do our best to answer them......

[TracyAdmin Partner]

Hello there, I'm so sorry to read your post and how you are feeling at the moment. I am glad that you have joined the Forum, all our Members are so kind and have given you excellent advice. If you feel you would like any extra support, contact the A F Association heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...

[The_Lord_is_with_Us]

Get the book THE AFIB CURE by John Day EP (comes in audio, too). That will clarify everything and help you chart a path forward. He's pro ablation for a variety of reasons.

Depends on how bad the AFIB gets. Mine was aggressive, so I opted for ablation. One ..... gave me 10 years of peace and normalcy. Just had recent one in OCT. Hope it will give me 10+ years, too, or cure.

If you do decide to go with ablation .... don't worry or be anxious. It's a routine procedure that doesn't last long .... usually no pain .... in and out same day or after overnight for observation. Just get the best EP to perform it you can find.

[artmcclin in reply to The_Lord_is_with_Us]

Thank you....I will get this book!

[Ducky2003 in reply to artmcclin]

Mine arrived yesterday so will be having a read later. I'm 6 weeks post ablation and hoping to come off meds and have a better QOL.

[Ppiman]

Welcome!

I'd be surprised if your cardiologist wasn't up to speed on arrythmias, you know, since he or she deals with them daily and will have a vast experience. I tend to trust these specialists since they are among the most highly trained of doctors. Being human, they do differ in what they feel it is useful for us patients to know but this seems fair to me since they know well the issues "cardiac anxiety" can cause.

Will our lives be shortened by our arrhythmia? I tend to think not. My elderly friend is on his way to 90 and has had permanent atrial fibrillation for a very long time. A recent echocardiogram showed nothing much different from a normal heart of someone his age, i.e. some valvular weakness. My son's colleague has had, I think, four ablations and is now in his mid-70s and is also doing well.

From my reading about this topic, what weakens the heart is persistent tachycardia. That's what my atrial flutter was doing to me two years ago and it took an ablation to solve it. There is some work being done now to see whether atrial arrhythmias can weaken the heart and cause atrial myopathy, but this doesn't seem to be generally accepted.

Live long and prosper, eh?

Steve

[The_Lord_is_with_Us in reply to Ppiman]

Steve .... wealth of good info and inspiration to others in this post. Reading it ..... maybe we all have many good years ahead of us. Thank you.

[Ppiman in reply to The_Lord_is_with_Us]

That was a lovely reply - thank you! And goodness, I do hope so, eh? I'm not always as positive as I sound, mind you.

Steve

[artmcclin in reply to Ppiman]

Thank you Steve.......all useful info.

[doodle68]

Hi artmcclin it could be argued AF can extend your life because many like myself are so shocked on diagnosis they make lifestyle changes which improve their overall health lessening their chance of developing some life limiting conditions.

After diagnosis I lost 1.5 stone, gave up alcohol, improved my already good diet ,excercise more, avoided stress got more sleep and I am generally fitter than when I was diagnosed 4 years ago .

I still have long highly symptomatic episodes of P-AF every 10 days and was relieved to find in spite of this a recent Echocardiogram revealed that there had been little change in my heart since I had one 4 years ago.