Posted by Bill Kilgore on June 30, 2004 at 17:54:01:
In Reply to: palpitation and quivering of the heart posted by SARA-K on June 28, 2004 at 22:26:00:
Sara,
As Mike wrote last week anyone with a-fib should be evaluated by a doctor for anticoagulation therapy. There are guidelines taking into account a person's age, other risk factors for stroke and the frequency and duration of a-fib. If you are having long episodes of arrhythmia, I would recommend getting an appointment with your cardiologist or your primary care doctor as soon as possible and then let him/her refer you to the best EP in town. Any good doctor can read a-fib from an EKG strip and prescribe anticoagulation therapy. A-fib is characterized by an irregularly irregular pulse, and you might be able to detect that, yourself. Until your appointment you can take one adult aspirin a day, which is about 1/3 as effective as Coumadin and Coumadin requires a perscription and monitoring.
I am still on anti-coagulation (Warfarin-generic Coumadin) even though I have not experienced a-fib since one week after my PVI-ablation procedure at CCF late last year. Until my mild pulmonary vein stenosis is known to be regressing or stabalizing, they are keeping me on Coumadin - for just a little while longer, I hope.
Bill Kilgore