Atrial Fibrillation

Posted By louis on May 04, 1999 at 20:41:50
I am 52 y/o male in excellent health with solo paroxysmal
fib for approx 6 yrs. I have had all dx testing including echos (esophageal), stress testing(thallium),r and l heart cath w/swan ganz pressures....all very normal.
I have been on various meds to control rate and rhythm, none of which worked for more that 9 mo, including procanamide, quinidine, flecanide (had adverse reaction w/ventricular tach), and cordorone. I am currently only taking verapamil for rate control and coumadin...no rhythm control med. In the past I have been in atrial fib almost continuously when not controlled w/med. However, in the last 6 mo since I have dc'd the latest drug Cordarone, I have  been in atrial fib approx 8-10% of the time. I have episodes about every 1-2 wks of 8-12hrs up to 36 hrs of atrial fib, then convert on my own. The atrial fib almost always starts when I am asleep and goes away when awake and active.
I have the following questions:
1) Is it possible that the cause of my atrial fib is lessening...or have you known of patients who had atrial fib and experience a complete recovery? Or, should I be more pessimistic and expect it to get worse as I get older?
2) Is there any other medication that I could try to control the atrial fib that has few adverse reactions.?
3) Is there more likelihood that I will continue to have atrial fib at the current frequency, that it will get better or worse (considering that it has lessened from 100% of the time to only 10% in the last 6 yrs).
Thank you very much for your support and advice.










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