Hello every one ☺️ my second post here on the forum, maybe had better start with this one ❤️ We live in the south of Belgium in the beautiful woods without pollutions 🌲 8y ago during one of our walks my husband suddenly went out of breath and passed out! Immediately I called hospital and they were fast to bring him to ER 🍀 he was on 20% fractions ejection conclusion of cardiologist severe myocarditis! After one week in hospital with all the investigation and interventions needed he could go back home with all the medication he needed to become better, the cardiologist said he had big change that his arteries were in good condition and he also, otherwise he had not survived 🍀 Cause said by cardiologist a virus has attacked his heart and couldn’t say what the exact raison was! With the medication my husband started to get better ❤️🩹 but not feeling like he was before, till this day he sleeping a lot, forgets things , can’t walk far anymore and he as liver damage which also needs follow up all the time he also admit he’s feeling like a zombie… but he’s a life 🍀 gaining a lot of weight also! As though we live healthy! Now maybe you guys can understand I have a lot of responsibility taking care of my husband and why I must stay fit and healthy and that’s why I, see my first post! Don’t wanna take medication that gonna put me down! No I know some of you gonna say a stroke will put you down… but it’s my choice I already live with Afib for 4y 🍀 I strongly believe in the power of the brain and I have said to myself “I do NOT wanna have a stroke” I must be there for my husband ❤️ Hope you all understand now 🤞All the best for everyone ❤️
Taking care of your husband who is sick. - Atrial Fibrillati...
Taking care of your husband who is sick.
Hello, welcome back and please be assured that this visit will go more smoothly than your first. There was also a misunderstanding which should not have happened due your reference to Eliquis because the name is normally associated with the US and my certainly my initial reply was based on the assumption that was where you lived, but now we know different.Speaking personally, for reasons I think you will understand, I think it would better to take sometime to digest your post as there will be many here who are keen to help you as much as they can. Hopefully this time, you will get all the help you need…….
Hi, I feel for you, having cared for my husband who was sick for a few years. The first thing we knew went wrong was that he had a little stroke, didn’t seem like much but he was changed by it, a bit like your husband. But my way was to take care of myself by taking my medication regularly and having the vaccinations offered so I wouldn’t be at risk of getting seriously ill. Luckily my medication, including an anticoagulant, didn’t have any bad side effects. I don’t care what the stats are, I don’t want to take a chance on being the unlucky person who has a stroke. After all, somebody always wins the lottery in the end! My cardiologist was grumpy because he said there are so many medications that don’t suit me, so I agreed to take one that I didn’t want to, and it had a very bad effect so I stopped straight away. Just because you try something doesn’t mean you can’t stop if it makes you feel ill.
Looking after someone you love who is ill and not the person they used to be is hard and can make you feel anxious about other things. Keep strong and I’ll pray your powerful thoughts work ❤️🩹
Thank you Buffafly🙏
Hi Naturalforever
I am truly sorry about what happened to your previous post and the fact that it has led to you feeling you need to explain your situation. It is good of you to do so but it should not have been necessary. This forum is normally a welcoming place and I know I can speak for many members when I say how shocked and upset I was by the treatment you received previously. I am glad you have persevered and stayed on the forum.
I am very sorry to hear what happened to your husband, that must have come as a huge shock to both of you. I understand your need to remain as healthy as you can to care for him. I can also understand your reluctance to take medication, having seen the effect it has had on your husband. I’m also in persistent AFib and am sole carer for my elderly mum. I’m not yet on anticoagulants due to my age etc but will give them serious consideration when older, if mum is still around, due to my caring responsibilities. There are no easy choices with this AFib businesses, for sure.
I wish you and your husband well for the future, TC
🙏 Thank you Threecats
I can understand that you are not convinced about taking medication for yourself.
However there is s real risk of stroke with AF.
In an airplane they always say that in the case of loss of oxygen you must put your oxygen mask on first before trying to help others.
I am not sure if my experience could give you confidence In considering anticoagulants, but I have suffered Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation for over 35 years. I have had 7 ablations and now am much more stable.
I take Warfarin, Blood Pressure tablets, statins and Flecainide to control my heart rhythm. I have been taking all these medications mostly for the past 15 years without any known side effects and I feel much safer doing so.
Hope things improve for you.
Pete
Thank you for you're advice Pete 🙏 much appreciated… and your right first take care of yourself then you can take care of others, my life took another direction since my husbands illness, maybe that's the cause of my Afib? who nows?
I think you may be onto something there, Natural. I spent four years caring for my husband during what turned out to be his final illness. It was a very stressful time as I was also working for most of that time as well. After he died there was so much to do and sort out that I didn’t really have time to process everything that had happened. It was only about 18 months later, when the dust had finally settled, so to speak and I finally had the space to start really dealing with the grief that I had been bottling up, that’s when my AFib started.
In a different way you, too, have experienced a loss, haven’t you. In your case of your old life, not to mention the challenges of caring for your husband as he is now. It’s not difficult to see why our poor old hearts have reacted the way they have to such an emotional onslaught!
Soo sorry to hear about your loss Threecats 😢 and yes it is very stressful I read your message and completely understand your situation then, my condolences to you 🌸 and stress is very bad for Afib so I’m sure that our situation can be the cause of it ! Take care and enjoy life Treecats 🌹
Thank you Natural. You look after yourself, too and, as others have said, try and make time for you in amongst your caring duties x
I totally agree with the others, you must take care of yourself first and although I am a great believe in mind over matter sometimes I get it wrong. In order to be a carer you have to first take care of yourself because add the stress and strain of caring to a condition you yourself have can make your condition a whole lot worse. I send best wishes to you and your husband.
Thanks a lot opal11uk 🙏
Hope you got some helpful responses from your post that help you move forward with confidence. It's unfortunate that you dived in with an absolutely genuine question that is sometimes a 'hot topic' here. No way you could have known and not your fault. Welcome to this forum!
Thanks a lot Singwell 🙏
Do keep in mind the suggestion, I know you read it, that your 60kg weight might make you a candidate for a half-dose anticoagulant regime as others on the Forum are prescribed. Worth considering rather than simply an all or nothing approach. Otherwise, welcome to the Forum, you sound a wonderfully warm human who cares, and I hope you do find the best way forward for yourself and your family.
Thanks a lot ozziebob 🙏
I understand your wish not to take anticoagulants. Even though I do not have the problems you have wanting to stay healthy in order to care for your husband. I have had my health seriously compromised over many years by being unnecessarily treated with a toxic antibiotic and have always been sensitive to medications. One of the consequences of the FQ treatment was to bring on my afib. I stopped the first anticoagulant ( Préviscan) prescribed by the hospital cardiologist ( with my own cardiologist's blessing as I was not then 65 ). Later after I had turned 65 I tried another that did not suit me and again my cardiologist said I did not need it as I had no comorbities. But then in 2019 I had a TIA (AIT en français) despite having a diet rich in omega 3 and taking various supplements with anti aggregant properties including nattokinase. This time the cardiologist said Eliquis. I do not get on well with it and discovered when taken off it for 8 days before my first hip replacement operation that it was making my joint and back pain far worse. I now take only a half dose ( I don't qualify for this officially by weight and my kidney function is very good! ) but I can tolerate the half dose and I would rather take the small extra risk ( I read the clinical trial and the half dose did prevent strokes though not quite as well as the full dose ) than be in severe pain every day of my life on the full dose. I still take nattokinase as well as the other " thinning" supplements and have not noticed that my blood clots quicker. On the contrary - if I cut or scratch myself it takes ages to clot! Toutes mes meilleurs voeux et Bon Courage.
That's interesting to know Auriculaire. Thank you. I am just wondering about half doses. Presently I am so ill on all of them, couldn't visit my brother dying last week and being ill all the time is not fair on my husband. My life is not living, ill all the time, but I'll discuss this with my lovely doctor. Many thanks.
I have not discussed this with my doctor. I know what he would say so no point in having the aggro. My life and body is my own to decide what to do with. The only DOACs that do a reduced doseI think are Apixaban and Dabigatran . Dabigatran is not a half dose just reduced from 150mg to 110mg. I do not believe in one size fits all prescribing -this has been found to be overdosing women on various drugs especially old drugs that were developed when women were excluded systematically from clinical trials. Also it has recently been discovered that people differ genetically in how quickly they metabolise drugs and the recommended doses can lead to either overdosing or underdosing for those who are slow or quick metabolisers. Most docs are probably unaware of this new research.
Thank you, I understand. My latest is the 110 dabigatron but still not well and very concerned with the heart damage caused, and now accepted by Boehringer Ingelheim. My worst was Eliquis, but I'd love to be able to take it as so many people swear by it. Just wondering whether to try breaking them in half??
I use a small sharp knife. Cut down to one and a half per day without telling my doctor who wouldn’t approve my taking 2.5 dose although I am 78 and weigh only 48kg!
Thank you! Keep well.
My second anticoagulant was the full dose of Dabigatran . It gave me gastric issues, and I lost all interest in food. I live in France and one of our pleasures is eating out once a week in good restaurants. So I was not very happy! Eliquis also gives me reflux, bloating and diarrhoea at the full dose along with awful backache but I can tolerate the half-dose. I break them in half. If I get an afib attack I go back to the full dose till I can't stand the side effects any longer then drop down to 3/4 dose then back to the half dose. It's a question of balancing QOL against a stroke that might never happen. Luckily my afib attacks are not every week!
Merci pour ce bon conseil Auriculaire, et bonne soirée 🙏
Pareillement.
I didn't see your original post but gather it caused some debate. As a care giver, you need to ensure that your health is as good as it can be, otherwise, who will look after you and your beloved husband? I've seen the after effects of strokes at both ends of the spectrum and, much as I hate taking tablets, I personally don't want to risk having one.Much as I believe in the power of positive thoughts, sadly, I don't think it's enough to stave off serious illness. If it were that easy, I wouldn't be on the waiting list for open heart surgery 😁.
Whatever you decide, make sure you have an informed choice and that you have weighed up all of the risk/reward scenarios.
Best wishes to you and your husband.
I am also caring for my husband. I broke both bones in my lower leg, just as my husband was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. I have had a very stressful time over the last three months. He wanted to go to Spain as this might be our last holiday together, and we are here now, but it’s so hot, and pushing a wheelchair up hills and ramps is quite difficult for a 79 year old old codger like me, it hasn’t helped the AF much, but what can you do. However I could never not take my anticoagulant, it’s my lifeline. If I had a stroke, what would happen to my husband. I really hope what you’re doing works for you, but please think about it very carefully.
One reply on this site that will be with me until I die was by Jeanjeannie who used to take care of people and she said how she would look at people that had a stroke and how they could wanted to move or talk but they couldn't even though she saw the life in their eyes" One split second this could happen to anyone of use with afib but the chances are cut way down by taking an anticoagulant. I fought it for years and my EP never fought me on my decision when I finally realized I don't want to be like those people that Jeanjeannie describes. It's our choice. I know you love your husband but if anything like a stroke happened to you what do you think it would do to him?
Feeling overwhelmed by chronic paroxysmal AF
My husband who is 84 has just been told he has atrial fibrillation. 
Follow up appointment has left me more confused!!!!
Sick of af
