Atrial Fibrillation (AF)

  After being admitted to the hospital with symptoms of irregular heartbeats, I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrilation (AF) (this was 6 years ago) after I consumed a large amount of alcoholic beverages (stupid for me). My cardiologist also found-out I have mitral valve prolapse.
  I am a very fit person (plenty of cardio excercise) and a good eater. I recently had a similar incident of AF, but this time did not consume any alcohol or any other drug (including caffeine).
  My cardiologist recommended I take a beta-blocker Tenarnin or ? indefinitely (which I find very disturbing).
  Any other recommendations for me would be appreciated. Thank you very much. ---Jim
    
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Dear Jim:
Alcohol [especially binge drinking] is a common precipitant of atrial fibrillation.  Caffeine, dehydration, stress, and diet pills are other causes.  Valvular heart disease, especially mitral valve disease, can cause either bouts of atrial fibrillation or sustained atrial fibrillation.  Mitral valve prolapse, if it is associated with a leaking mitral valve, can definitely predispose to atrial fibrillation.  Fixing the mitral valve surgically can sometimes cure the atrial fibrillation.  However, many cases of mitral valve prolapse that are diagnosed, really do not represent true disease, but rather an over-call of a minor abnormality seen on cardiac ultrasound.  This is especially true of people diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse in the 1980s; many of these people in fact have normal valves.
It is important for you to find out if your mitral valve is leaking, and if it is, to what degree.  Surgical repair may be indicated.  If you do not really have mitral valve prolapse, other medical causes of atrial fibrillation should be explored, for example thyroid disease.  If you do not have an underlying medical or cardiac condition that causes the atrial fibrillation, then medicines to prevent it sound reasonable, if it is a recurring problem.  Whether to treat or not depends on the frequency, duration and severity of the episodes of atrial fibrillation.
Information provided here is for general purposes only.  Only your doctor can provide specific diagnoses and treatments.  If you would like to be seen at the Cleveland Clinic, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE for an appointment at Desk F15 with a cardiologist who specializes in elect