What Is The Best Way To Get Rid Of An Atrial Fibrillation

What Is The Best Way To Get Rid Of An Atrial Fibrillation

Patients often ask how they can get rid of an atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation (or a fib) is an abnormal rhythm within the heart. It can cause:

Palpitations

Profuse sweating

Shortness of breath

If left untreated for a long period of time, this condition can raise your risk of heart-related complications and stroke.

The best way to get rid of an atrial fibrillation is to seek treatment from a cardiologist. The question then becomes: what treatment is best?

Two Approaches to Treatment

Cardiologists have several different approaches to treating cardiac arrhythmia, but these offshoots usually come from one of two main methods.

Method #1: Rhythm-control-ultimately, the goal is to get your heart back into a normal rhythm and keep it there. It sounds deceptively simple, but for someone with a fib, it can be a challenge. This approach is primarily therapy and lifestyle based.

A heart specialist will look at triggers of a fib in your daily life, such as:

• Stress
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Anxiety
• Diet
• Smoking

Once those factors have been evaluated, your specialist will help you adjust the factors in your life that could be responsible for a fib. Sometimes learning skills like stress management and a few nutritional guidelines is all it takes to get rid of atrial fibrillation.

The problem with the first approach is that it may set an unrealistic or unachievable goal for certain patients suffering from arrhythmia. If this is the case, they may benefit more from a secondary approach.

More than a Lifestyle Modification

Simple changes may work for some a fib patients, but for others it’s more about getting the symptoms of the condition under control as quickly as possible to reduce the dangerous secondary health risks that can develop.

Method #2: Rate-control – for patients suffering from prolonged a fib, there needs to be an alternative approach to therapy and lifestyle changes. It’s usually more effective to allow the symptoms to persist until they can be safely reduced and eliminated.

Using this approach you slowly return the heart to a normal rate while addressing risk factors. It’s not uncommon for the second method to be supported by medications like blood thinners and anticoagulants. These medicinal boosts reduce your risk of stroke.

Which treatment is the right treatment to get rid of atrial fibrillation? Some patients have arrhythmia caused by external environmental influences, while others have secondary conditions like heart failure or CAD that contribute to their rhythm problems.

A cardiovascular evaluation will determine the correct approach.

& Dr. Seldon, a Heart Doctor and Cardiologist in New York City, offers same day appointments and all testing is done on site.   Call us at (212) 367-8000.