Hi all
Has aNYONE BEEN IN CONSTANT AF FOR A LONG TIME IE MORE THAN 12 MONTHS? HOW DANGEROUS IS IT TO BE IN IT ALL THE TIME. BEEN SCHEDULED FOR SURGERY BUT OVERWEIGHT AND FINDING IT HARD TO SHIFT. MY BODY HAS SEEMED TO HAVE ADJUSTED TO THE AF AND I ONLY NOTICE IT WHEN IM RUNNING AROUND UP AND DOWN HILLS ETC, IM ON WARFARIN AND BISOPOROL WITH RESTING HR OF BETWEEN 60 AND 70 BPM. ANY EXPERIENCES WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL.
Provided that rate is well controlled which yours appears to be there is little risk. Many people in permannt AF enjoy long and happy lives.
If you need and take an anticoagulant, and your symptoms are bearable, then breathe easy. An elderly friend, now 91, has had permanent AF (at a low-ish heart rate) for many years now.
Steve
Thank you
I just wasn’t sure if or not it could cause heart issues etc
Thank you for reply
Can't say if it was the nearly 2 years of being in persistent AF that caused it or was going to happen anyhow but wife just been diagnosed with heart failure. Have had a lot of positive support from this forum that HF is not a death sentence and that in a lot of cases it can be managed and even reversed.
Hi Henry.
I've been in AFib for well over 12 months. My HR is well controlled so it doesn't really bother me.
Rgds Paul
Thanks paul
Is there a reason why you don’t have surgery / ablation?
Hi Henry.
Not really but I feel there are better treatments for ablation emerging all the time. I'll wait until everything ticks the boxes. My QOL is fine for me so there's no rush. That's me though and doesn't mean that an ablation won't add value to QOL for others.
Rgds Paul
I have had AF for 20 years and was in persistent for well over a decade before having a 3rd successful ablation. Mine did cause some issues but because it wasn't managed. I wasn't on medication and HR was too high. If yours is being managed, then that's the key.
My AF was discovered by chance 6 years ago as I'm asymptomatic. There is no way of knowing how long I'd had it at that point but it was probably permanent. My cardiologist pronounced it permanent 2 years ago and told me never to darken his door again. The possibility of an ablation or other surgery was never discussed.
My resting HR is usually in the 60s and occasionally in the 70s.
Apart from taking my meds, it doesn't impact on my life at all so I largely ignore it.
I'm really disturbed by your Cardio's treatment of you. I'd expect you to be monitored at the very least, especially as you dont detect the AF yourself
Just our wonderful NHS at work!
I have been in it 2 years now, I don’t always feel it, had an appointment yesterday with EP team and it has enlarged my heart, and he suggests they do a 2 stage ablation, but nothing now will get me out of it apparently scary as H…
Hi Henry, The bisopropol slows your heart rate and therefore your metabolism which makes it harder to lose weight. A suggestion maybe to ask to try atenolol instead, I've met quite a few people who put on weight with bisopropol.
On the weight loss I've found a group/company who run an online weight loss program phenomenal. They are called bodyslims. The next ten week program in April is open to bookings. I lost 50lbs in two programs with them. More or less maintaining that loss. And I've tried all the weight loss programs, this one deals with the food, the exercise (walking), and in particular the mental side of food and eating.
Definitely worth a look. There is one of his seminars on YouTube called Turning left turning right. He is from Dublin but HalfofCarla (Instagram profile) is taking over the lectures in April as Ger is following his first love of addiction treatment.
Probably about 14 years. Discovered too late for any interventions. Apparently. But yeah, life goes on, can't help with running up and down hills, am in the same state on that one 
,though look up 'jeffing', might help?
After years of infrequent paroxysmal AF, I went into persistent AF for well over 12 months between having Covid and having my first ablation. It may have been longer than that; all my cardiology check-ups were suspended during the pandemic and I'm not good at noticing what's going on in my body unless it's literally smacking me around (I'm getting better, and I belatedly got a Kardia). I'm slightly older than you -- just turned 59 when all the trouble began. Pre-Covid, I was fit and active. After 18 months of daily metoprolol and less activity due to fatigue/breathlnessness, I have put on weight :-((((
I had some enlargement of my heart due to the persistent AF (untreated for months while I waited for a cardiology appointment to get prescriptions) but not enough to make me ineligible for ablation. My CHADS score remains at 1, only because I'm female.
Your situation is not ideal but it is not high risk.
Hi
I have had rapid and persistent AF 6 years in Sept.
The important med is the med which will control my rapid AF Heart Rate.
Even the first specialist was confused by my normal Night H/Rate of 47avg bpm H/Rate.
With med Metopolol H.R 186 avg Day but 47avg Night - Pauses at Night and breathless and zoombie Day slept a lot. Exertion was unbearable. Sweating and fatigued.
1 year 4 months later I asked for a Hospital Specialist who after Heart Monitor changed me to Bisoprolol. But Up and up the dose went to 10mg but still H.Rate 156.But no breathless or pauses. Still uncontrolled. I had 2 ops required ahead and no op until H/R was 100 or less.
2 years 3 months struggling.
I was talked into an appmt with a private heart specialist.(He was relnown when he worked at public hospital.
CCB Diltiazem 120 CD mg saved me. Now controlled 3 years 2 months. At first taking 180mg Diltiazem with Biso .. reduced to 5mg I went from 156 to 51 in 2 hours! Twinked to 120mg Cd mg early morning.
I have a severely dilated left atrium. Soft systollic heart murnur Systollic function great.
Thank you private heart specialist for being interested in my history of STROKE, RAPID & PERSISTENT AF and diagnosed with Papillary thyroid cancer within 4 days of hospitalisation. No meds except B12 deficieny for which I take B12 1000ug SOLGAR nugget. Sublingual.
Been on Diliazen fir 3 years 2 months. 120 CD mg early morning after an hour after my Synthroid 125g had thyroidectomy plus in Feb 2020 Covid time.
Dropped all Bisoprolol in December 2024 as BP went low.
Can't have Cardioversion, ablation or Abti-arrhymic med. Abnormal structure of my heart.
cher JOY. 76. (NZ)
Indeed, I have found that Diltiazem is a wonder drug - constant AFIB but am being monitored by a Professor of both cardio/pharmacology, as I also take anti-seizure meds which should not be taken with heart meds. So also on a low dose of Amiodarone to see if I can have a cardioversion later in the year. I'm finding that the Amiodarone is a bit hard on the hair - thinning, but reversible once the Amiodarone is stopped. I'm not in the UK, so I can't say if these drugs are used there. But hello from the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. Good luck all!
Hi
Lovely country!
Have relatives TAYLOR from JARMAN. They have a farm in Red Dear - Tomihoe. Sadly Lubelle passed Red Deer hospital but I saw her beforehand by several weeks. Lovely lady.
I've been 3 times.
By Bus Seattle via Lake Louise doing the YHAs all the way North.
The RED CLASS B Vancouver - Whistler - Jasper -I was told the town flooded. YHA was higher up. So sad. YHA wilderness hostels then bus down to Banff -Calgery.
Calgary - Edmonton - back to Red Deer to see Aunty back to Calgary. Wasn't impressed by the biggest shopping complex in the world.
My cousin was always going on about your your Prime Minister but she liked Mr TRUMP. Whereas NZ think he is a laugh. But he did get in for the 2nd time.
Unfortunately my tape of the train and Canadian places was on disk and someone stole my computer with top notch satchel with the CD in the bag.
1 time filmed JASPER 2nd time I filmed BANIFF.
Wonderful country.
I'n in NZ but as I went to NZ 3 times in my 6 years working, as elderly parents who had medical bone problems I was back to check.
cheri JOY. 76. (NZ(
You may be addicted to sugar- I struggled with my weight my whole life, and when I gave up sugar (and all sweeteners) I was able to shift it and keep it off for the last few years. Its really hard at first, but after about 5 days, it began to get easier, then I slowly began to feel healthier which was also good confirmation. My ectopics and AF episodes also got fewer, and I haven't had any AF episodes the last couple of years (except for a brief period when I had to take prednisone). Just saying.
Unfortunately it's not a simple answer. Some people can thrive in atrial fibrillation, and some people cannot. And it's not simply a matter of how you feel it's what kind of damage is being done to your heart or not being done and it's also not just about controlling rate. If you're being offered an ablation, I would take it seriously however first it's important you get down to a normal weight to improve the chances of it working. There are some excellent new can help in that regard. You're at the 12 month mark now, but if you wait too much longer, it may get progressively more and more difficult to get out of atrial fibrillation, even with an ablation.
Jim
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