FH and AFib

All I know is that my mother had a very high total cholesterol count of over 480. I never got mine tested until later in life when I found out mine was about 284.

High cholesterol and afib

At the time, my internist said that my HDL was very high and that was good and my LDL was ok and minimally high. They were little over normal but OK and we didn’t need to do anything about it.

After he retired, I got another doctor who didn’t say anything about it. I had an incident of atrial fib and saw a cardiologist who recommended I take baby aspirin and that was it.

Side effects of aspirin

I took baby aspirin for some time, but it caused a lot of bruising of my arms and I also read an article that did not recommend using aspirin for atrial fib and I showed the article to my cardiologist. He agreed and told me to stop with the aspirin since it was causing me a lot of bruising of my arms.

Occasionally, I would have the feeling that my pulse would take off very fast, but it didn’t last very long and it would come and go, but I took no medication for 14 years. My doctor had retired and the next doctor didn’t say anything about it and he moved away and I got a new doctor.

Beginning treatment with blood thinners

After that, I had a major afib situation one day and went to the ER and spent the night there. A lot of tests were done and my cardiologist now recommended I take four medications — one a statin, one to bring my pulse rate down, a blood thinner, and one other one at night.

He did not tell me that with the blood thinner I would be taking the risk of my life. And I kind of wish I had known, but maybe I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Experiencing afib symptoms

So what I can say is that I started these meds a year ago, in May 2023 I believe. I had one short episode shortly after May but since then, nothing. No other afib incidences and no hyper atrial pulse. I know there’s a term for it. I can’t think of it right now.

I had gotten after my very first afib situation one of those EKG testers, so I do test once in a while.

The second time that I got the afib incident, I saw right away when I tested it that it was afib. So now it’s been over a year and a half, and I have not had any other incidences of afib.

Well, there was a short one-night incident I had, but that was also not for the past year and a half. Nothing since then.

Working on lowering my cholesterol

My cardiologist checked my blood values over a year ago and they had gone down from the 245 to less than 150. But he’s not happy with that. He wants it down to 50. Not sure I totally agree with that but no one's tested it for the last year so I don’t know right now where it’s at.

My LDL had definitely been rising by the time the second afib situation occurred. It was much higher than it should have been. So I guess it was important that I get it treated.

So that’s my story. I know I could tell it differently and maybe someday I’ll rewrite it.