Fairly new pacemaker/afib found

Hello,

I was just told this morning that my father has an afib in the upper part of his heart. He had a pacemaker put in in 2012. The afib was just found because of a reading and a regular checkup with the VA. Per records the afib showed up in Dec of 2014, Jan, Feb of this year.

We've many questions of course. My concerns are if he would have to go back into surgery for treatment? Has anyone here been in this situation? Do or can pacemakers cause afibs?

He is awaiting a call from his local VA clinic to get in to see someone. He told me he saw a nurse up where he went (has to travel 4hrs to see a dr) and the clinic where he lives will call him. He told me he called them this morning. Its Friday and I know we won't hear anything til Monday the earliest.

I am trying to research and get as much information as I can for us.

I am very worried.

I appreciate any input at all.

Thank you much, Tammy

1 Comments

Afib is tricky

by Theknotguy - 2015-03-13 08:03:14

Afib is tricky. Along with the problems that caused your dad to have a PM, afib can be a natural progression of the heart disease. The PM in and of itself should not have caused the afib.

There are several different kinds of afib. Some kinds can be triggered by different things, stress, foods, alcohol, and other things. They don't know what triggers my afib and that's the case for a lot of people.

The problem with afib is it can cause an interruption of the blood flow in the heart. The pooled blood can form a clot. Then when the heart resumes normal pumping, it can pump out the clot out, which in turn, can lodge in an artery or vein and cause a heart attack or stroke. They usually give people with afib a blood thinner such as Pradaxa, Elequis, or Coumadin (Warfarin) to prevent blood clots. Blood thinners increase the chance of uncontrolled bleeding.

Two methods of controlling afib are rhythm control and rate control. I don't know about rhythm control. In rate control, they use drugs to slow the heart (which may reduce the number of afib sessions) and use the PM to keep the heart beating at speed. Ablation is a medical procedure to reduce or stop afib.

Some medications to control afib are Metoprolol, Flecanide, and Cardizem.

Hopefully your dad can get in to see someone and they can get his afib under control.

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I am just thankful that I am alive and that even though I have this pacemaker it is not the end of the world.