hi whiterocks!
i haven't been on in some time, but i saw your thread today and thought i'd chime in...
joey, my husband_ the patient, used to go in and out of afib all the time before his surgery. his cardio had put him on betapace/sotalol one day after cardioverting him, as a preventative measure. this worked very well until the week before his surgery when joey went into afib again. he had his presurgical cath done while in afib and took lovenox shots for several days. he came out of the afib before his surgery.
all was smooth until 4 days post op when the afib recurred. they tried betapace, but it didn't work this time. so, they put him on amiodarone.
the amiodarone has been very effective and although there are many side effects and it is very strong stuff, he is monitored closely and is almost totally weaned off the stuff.
we met with an ablation specialist at montefiore hospital who told him that he is NOT a candidate at all for ablation. his afib, if/when it does recur (and it has for an hour here or there), is not constant enough and has a definitive cause (stemming from his valvular heart disease). he said that he usually does abaltion therapy when it is more constant, meds don't work, and there is no cause that can be pinpointed.
we were very surprised. he also said that joey could remain on this low dose of amiodarone for a very long time (i tend to strongly disagree with him).
this from a very reputable cardiologist by the name of dr. soo kim.
so, although i didn't help much, i hope you feel better knowing that you're not alone.
xtremelee,
thanks for that site... i learned a lot from it that i didn't know.
be well and please let us know how you're doing,
sylvia
