blood thinner and pacemaker/ablation

This is unrelated to me but I was wondering. When a person has a pacemaker do they stay on blood thinners the rest of their life? What about ablations--does a person have to take blood thinners for that after? If so how long?

[Jerry_NJ]

It is my understanding that the answer in both cases is:  depends.

If a pacemaker user has no other clot forming risks, I'd guess no thinner is needed,
likewise, an ablation that stops the arrhythmia would allow the patient to get off of all medications.  An aspirin might be prescribed just-in-case.  Arrhythmia has a bad habit of coming back.

Do understand that some people are totally dependent on the pacemaker, thus they have a heart rate controlled by the pacemaker, I'd think no thinner needed in this case.  Others have a pacemaker to prevent the HR from going below some lower limit, maybe 40 bps.  These people may also have other rhythm problems that require a thinner.

Hope you get some input from those wearing a pacemaker.

[bbxx]

Jerry--
Thank you thats very intersting. By the way--you were the first person to say hello to me quite some time ago when I use to have an account on here and you were so kind as to explain that I said I was male but had a girls name. (I still havent gotten all that great at this, but alas I appreciated you! :)

[claytex]

dear bbxx: I had a successful ablation on july 19, 2010 and only took blood thinner for the first 90 days following the ablation while my heart was healing.. I do take an 81 mg asprin daily.  Im 69 so figure theyd want me to take it even with out an ablation.  Hope this helps some.  Never had a pace maker.  I had the darn afib for 13 years and was shocked back into regular rhythm numerous times... It sure is nice to be back to normal now.. Im so glad I had the ablation... no pvcs no afib now ...just a very regular heart rate..hope this helps Claytex

[bbxx]

Thank you claytex very much. I appreciate the info! Congrats. on the ablation working! I cant imagine having to be shocked! WOW---NO AFIB AND NO PVCS either? You are LUCKY!!!