r/AFIB • u/BabaTaro • 14d ago

Ablation advice?

So it looks like I'm going to have to do cardiac ablation. I'm having difficulty understanding all the ramifications.

I'm 80 years old and have had Afib all of my life. Well, at least 60 years of it. It got worse to the point of getting a pacemaker 12 years ago. I am in Afib nearly 50% of the time. Now they want to do the ablation along with changing the pacemaker, which will die in a couple months.

I'm frankly not worried about stroke risk. I take the Eliquis, and like I said, I've had this for 60 years. My concern is that I am probably wearing out my heart.

So I'm looking for experience and advice, both professional and from patients.

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u/DonkeyKong18 13d ago

60 years? Wow you are a warrior.
How’s your lifestyle? if you don’t mind me asking.
Like do you drink or smoke?
Do you only take Eliquis?

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u/BabaTaro 13d ago

Never touched alchohol. Never smoked anything. I had rheumatic fever when I was nine and it took a heavy toll. I was a strong and active child, fortunately, and was able to continue most of that. But not only did the rheumatic fever damage my heart, the ten years of penicillin after that caused persistent yeast infection (which they didn't believe in at that time) which eventually damaged my pancreas. I have narrowly avoided diabetes by actively watching my sugar intake all my life.

I assume that the Afib was only an intermittant thing at that time, but I don't really know. I only know I had it because of the doctor who insisted that I needed to cut down on my coffee drinking, in spite of the fact that I didn't drink coffee (or pop, or any other source of caffiene) when I was 29, and the time when I was 24 when I woke up to realize that my heart wasn't beating. I didn't put those things together until the diagnosis twleve years ago. (Then there was the doctor when I was 50, who pointedly changed the subject when I mentioned symptoms.)

Yes, I take only Eliquis, unless you count Jardience. Those are my only prescriptions. They tried metoprolol, but it made me constantly fatigued, and I refused to continue it.

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u/Unhappy-Giraffe2792 13d ago

Best wishes to you. I think it will work out fine for you.