I’m 67, 6’ 195 lbs, have always been very active. Usually walk at least 10-12 miles per week. Carpenter and electrician.
I had sporadic and short lived episodes of AFIB starting in my late 30’s. They would last a few hours or a day and then convert to normal rhythm spontaneously. Then early summer of 2022 (64 years old) had an episode that wouldn’t go away. I could still walk around, but climbing a flight of stairs was the upper edge of my exercise tolerance. Drs put me on blood thinner and a beta blocker, and scheduled an appt with a cardiologist. Communication problem, missed cardio appointment, so I was walking aroind with AFIB all summer.
Late August one evening the Afib slipped into a serious episode of V-tac that made me feel like I might die, and sent me to the ER. They did an electric cardio-version and sent me to the ICU.
Had an ablation done for the AFIB early sept of 2022. I can’t remember when the doc told me I could “go for it” but he knew I was going hunting in two months and didn’t seem concerned. By October 20th I was running around high in the mountains with no heart issues. Camped at 7800 hunted up to about 9500 with no issues ( other than being old, 15 lbs o erweight, and not having hiked all summer so a little out of shape). I occasionally get a 20 or 30 second run of arrhythmia when I wake up, but never any problems when I’m exercising.
They wanted me to take blood thinners the rest of my life but I talked em out of it by saying “ You can prescribe ‘em but you can’t make me swallow em.” This is my personal choice and I’m not recommending it to anyone else. But I would recommend the ablation if your doc thinks it will help.
