After 9 Years Atrial Fibrillation Strikes Again

I’m always moved by stories from other people who are experiencing atrial fibrillation for the first time or are in the beginning of their “afib journey.” It’s never a fun road to travel on.

As someone that has occasional lone atrial fibrillation, I can tell you it sucks. There is no other nice way of saying it. I don’t wish this on anyone.

I just ran across an interesting blog post by Leslie Lafayette. She has apparently been writing about atrial fibrillation and her experiences with it.

In her latest blog post, she talks about the loneliness of having atrial fibrillation and the frustrations that come with it. If you have afib, you know the feeling. This part of her post sums up best what most of us think and feel as we deal with it:

It’s a very difficult disease to understand. Your friends think, well, you have a few palpitations, but you’re taking a pill for it, so what’s your problem? Your doctor even thinks he’ll cardiovert you after he makes sure your blood is thin enough, and that’ll be it! Well, it’s no so easy as all that. People think it’s not dangerous, like a heart attack. It isn’t exotic, like the “broken heart” syndrome. And, it isn’t even devastating, like heart failure. Of course, they’re wrong. Afib is too often portrayed as a minor inconvenience rather than a serious condition.

It is amazing how misunderstood this condition is when it’s the most common heart arrhythmia today. Most doctors will tell you it’s “just an inconvenience…you’re fine.” And while it’s certainly more than an inconvenience, it isn’t usually life threatening either but try explaining that to your wife. Every time I have an episode and a subsequent cardioversion, my wife freaks out and gets worried that I’m going to die even though I assure her I’ll be o.k.

I hope for two things in the coming years – a better understanding by everyone what afib is and isn’t, and most importantly, a cure!!

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