I was diagnosed with A-fib in 2017 . Over the next couple years , every cardiologist I saw essentially told me the same thing. "You're young . You're otherwise healthy . Think you'll be fine." Then the stroke hit in August 2019.
I was supposed to have ablation in November 2019, but they had to stop due to the fact that I still had a blood clot in my heart. Felt like we had been told to "settle your affairs". Scary time.
February 2020, they were able to get the ablation done. And for the most part its been successful.
For the most part.
January of this year, I was hospitalized for an intestinal infection. It turned really , really bad. Ended up being in the hospital for two weeks , two surgeries . The pain was unlike anything I 've ever experienced. Violent vomiting , followed by a tube inserted to drain stomach fluid. Wound vacs and , eventually, a colostomy due to colon resection.
Good times !
And , of course, I went back into A-fib. Haven't had an episode , since. Been on blood thinners and metoprolol since the stroke.
Doing pretty well now. Finished up all my IV antibiotics about three weeks ago. Colostomy bag is supposed to be removed in May. I hate that thing. But my heart is back to behaving like it should. But the stress of that really had my heart on the fritz.

I do take some weird comfort in knowing that my obituary will never read," After a long illness ... ". My heart won't be able to withstand a " long illness ". I'm ok with that.

Were you on blood thinners before the stroke ? Sorry you went thru all that and glad you’re in the mend !

No sir. None of the doctors I saw considered me as “at risk “ for heart attack or stroke.
Appreciate the well wishes.

An electrical leak between the terminals of a dirty battery is similar to what an electrophysiologist explained to me as my problem of an atrial flutter which is form of irregular heartbeat. I had an ablation which involved burning the area of the leak moving the electrical signal back to the terminal where it belongs. That took care of the flutter. He told me I had a 97% chance it would never return.

Think BP is right about AFIB after covid. I had covid. I was diagnost with Afib after that. Had an ablation. Have had a few flare ups but nothing like before the ablation. All the flare ups came from heavy exertion I probably shouldn't have been doing or stress.
Doctor told me they can mitigate the Afib but there is no complete cure for it. Take metropol and blood thinner as a precaution.

Seems to be plenty of cardiologists that recommend ablation. Worked for me since 2017!

I was told a high systolic number usually causes a heart attack. While a high diastolic number causes a stroke. This is not always the case, but most often.
I take Eliquis for AFIB and carvedilol and amlodipine for blood pressure. My systolic number is always around 120, but my diastolic number runs around 80-90.
I keep seeing ads on tv about this Watchman procedure, but don't know anyone who has had it. Supposedly, it will do away with AFIB and eliminate your dependence on blood thinners.

My ablation did away with my a-fib and the need for blood thinners. Had it done in 2014, normal rhythm since then. I do take a baby aspirin a day because I do have one stent that was placed in 2007.

I was told the same

Diagnosed around late 2015. Ablation Nov. 2017. No symptoms since. Take pills for blood pressure. Won't take Eliquis. Baby aspirin as a blood thinner.

wife has it takes eliquis,

I too have been dealing with occasional episodes of A-fib for many years. My heart rate goes up to 130 - 150 (occasionally higher) with many skipped beats/ pauses. I also have Bradycardia which is a low heart rate. Normal resting heart rate will be upper 40's I have recorded it as low as 36. Cardiologist put me on eliquis and recommended an ablation. It seemed that mine were most often associated to alcohol, so I quit drinking almost 3 years ago and it seemed to help. I noticed that 3 of the events that I have had since eliminating alcohol happened while eating ice cream or drinking an ice cold beverage rapidly. I did a little internet search and found a study by Dr. David Vinson on cold triggered atrial fibrillation. divisionofresearch.kaiserpermanente.org/cold-drinks-trigger-afib I have since cut out ice cream and try to avoid beverages with ice. When i do drink cold beverages i sip them and try not to drink in fast large gulps like I used too. So far I have not experienced any A-fib events since making these changes. I talked to my regular Dr. about this and he was quite interested as he had never heard anything about cold effect a-fib. I would prefer not to have any Ablations if I can control it with a change in diet and eating/drinking habits.

My cousin just had an ablation done about a month ago.they had shocked him numerous times and he was on meds before this and it kept going back out of sync.hes 50 years young.

I had an atrial flutter. I had two options: Shocking my heart to stop my heart, or having an ablation done where they go into your heart and burn that area causing the problem. They said stopping the heart can last for 5 years or less and the irregular heartbeat will return. With the ablation there is a better than 90% chance the irregular heartbeat will not return. I chose the ablation. The flutter has never returned. An atrial flutter is different than afib. I haven't heard of anyone having their heart stopped to cure afib. Unfortunately, I still have afib that I take Eliquis for.

There supposedly is another option for afib called Watchman. I have thought about this procedure which is rather invasive since they have to go into the left atrium. I feel at my age I'll put up with the Eliquis.

I've had afib well before covid. I've never had any of the covid shots, but had covid twice when it was more prevalent. Both times I compared it to a common cold with a couple other symptoms like lack of endurance, green apple two-step, and a slight fever. So, I know covid didn't have anything to do with my heart issues.

We have a helper at the food shelf who has faithfully kept up with all the covid shots. Last month he was hospitalized for almost a week with a blood clot in his leg. He was told if they hadn't caught it as soon as they did, it would have travelled to this lungs. I've heard blood clots are becoming more common from the covid shots.

Not me but my wife has it. They tried meds but ended up putting in a pacemaker. No issues since.

The wife is going to do the watchman thing sometime in Dec.

I am not a doctor so please check with your doctor before trying this.

A few years ago I had a few bad episodes of A-Fib. I ended up in the emergency room one time it was so bad. I was telling my chiropractor about it and he asked me if I was taking a statin for cholesterol. I told him that I had been on a statin for several years. He told me to start taking CO-Q-10. I started taking it and so far, knock on wood, I haven't had any more episodes of A-Fib. I take one 100 mg capsule every morning.

Hope this might help someone.

Good lord, I've got it.

I am surprised I only heard one mention of a CPAP. Between that and daily doses of Digoxin and Xarelto mine is mostly managed. I do feel that flutter on occasion.