Better understanding atrial fibrillation guidelines so that you can tackle this condition.

If you, like millions of others throughout the United State, are suffering from atrial fibrillation (or care about someone that is), it is of the utmost importance that you understand as many of the atrial fibrillation guidelines in regards to creating an effective treatment plan as possible.

One of the more serious heart arrhythmia conditions you’re going to come across (and also one of the most common), it is absolutely essential that you move through an appropriate AFib treatment protocol so that you stand the very best chance of beating this condition without any complications later down the line.

Of course, that’s only going to be possible if you are working with the very best medical help and assistance you can find, the kind of medical help and assistance you’re only going to get from the best physicians and specialists in your local area. It’s always a good idea to make sure that you are moving forward with the kind of professionals that know exactly what they’re doing (and have produced rocksolid AFib results in the past), if only to give yourself a bit of extra peace of mind which you may not have had previously.

But the real backbone of treating AFib is making sure that you are going through the right AFib guidelines that have been established by organizations like the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. These guidelines and protocols have been established to better help you understand the treatment options and protocols available, while at the same time giving you a better overview of the specific situations and circumstances that you might find yourself in.

A lot of these protocols and guidelines begin with you understanding your specific situation and your symptoms, moving you through a “flowchart” so that you understand the appropriate steps you need to take to clear up any and all issues that you are contending with. Hopefully, you’ll find the information that we break down below to be useful as you tackle these AFib guidelines yourself!

Everything builds off of an appropriate AFib diagnosis

It’s going to be absolutely impossible to follow any guidelines for AFib whatsoever without completely understanding exactly what you’re dealing with as far as atrial fibrillation is concerned.

Unfortunately, many people out there (otherwise smart and savvy people included) do not understand or appreciate the value of a solid diagnosis from a trusted and trained medical expert that specializes in this particular version of heart arrhythmia. Without knowing exactly what you’re getting into, and exactly what you are up against, you’ll never be able to go through the guidelines as established by the AHA and ASA – and your health and well-being will always be in jeopardy.

Make sure that you have been appropriately diagnosed by a specialist in the field, and that you understand exactly what you are contending with in the first place. You’ll especially want to know whether or not you are trying to prevent a stroke based on a handful of risk factors or instead just looking to adjust and realign your heart rhythm and heart rate from time to time.

When you are armed with that information, you’ll be off to the races!

For those trying to prevent a stroke with their AFib solutions

Those currently living with atrial fibrillation or dealing with a variety of significant risk factors that could contribute directly to blood clots that inevitably lead to stroke will want to be sure that they are doing absolutely everything in their power to prevent a stroke from happening by following the guidelines as established by the American Hard Association and the American Stroke Association.

The first step in this process is really taking a good, long, hard look at the symptoms and the CHADS –VASc risk factors that may expedite the creation of blood clots that can then lead to a stroke later down the line.

You are specifically going to want to identify whether or not you are dealing with these risk factors:

• Symptoms congruent with congestive heart failure or hypertension
• Advanced aging (75 years old and up)
• Either type of diabetes
• Any previous medical history that shows a stroke occurred
• Vascular diseases (including dementia)

… And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

If you have any of those symptoms or risk factors, you’re going to want to move further through the AFib protocol to be sure that you are clearing up the problems so that you do not have to contend with a stroke in the first place.

Some of the solutions available for those that are trying to prevent a stroke include:

• Improving your lifestyle across the board to include more exercise and a cleaner diet
• The consumption of daily or semi-daily aspirin supplements
• The prescription of FDA approved anticoagulants and blood thinning agents

All of these solutions have proven to be effective at helping to mitigate and all but eliminate the potential for strokes to occur when dealing with AFib, specifically because they target the root cause of the strokes in the first place – the blood clots that can occur from irregular heart rhythms caused by AFib.

For those looking to “reset” their heart rate or rhythm

If you aren’t specifically trying to prevent a stroke but instead hoping to reset or realign your heart rhythm and beat, there are a couple of different treatment paths that you’re going to want to consider.

Those that are trying to keep their heart in a normal and healthy rhythm are going to have the most variety of options available, while those that are instead trying to better control the heart rate (slow it down or speeded up) are usually only going to have a handful of different solutions at their disposal.

Let’s start off with those that are looking to keep a consistent and regular rhythm.

For starters, people dealing with your regular heart rhythms are going to have the opportunity to take advantage of a variety of different medications, including beta blockers and blood thinning agents, at work to better “keep time” as far as your heart rhythm is concerned. Most of the time, people’s hearts aren’t beating fast enough, which is why blood is able to clot – though it isn’t at all uncommon for individuals to be dealing with a faster regular heartbeat that leads to a blood overflow, which also opens up the potential for a clot to occur.

Catheter appellation for atrial fibrillation is another solution specifically designed to help hearts keep a better and more consistent rhythm. This is a surgical application where a small amount of your heart tissue is destroyed so that a scar begins to buildup on the muscle of the heart, eliminating the potential for irregular electrical messages to cause the awkward heart rhythm in the first place.

Cardioversion for AFib is another solution that’s available to those looking to keep their heart in better rhythm, though again, it is a riskier proposition and anything but permanent. This sends a jolt of electricity directly to the heart to “reset the clock”, and while it is incredibly effective (with a tremendously high success rate), it isn’t permanent – and there’s only so many times that you can send a targeted blast of electricity to your heart until you start playing with fire.

Surgery is a last-ditch option for those that are going through atrial fibrillation guidelines specifically designed to control your heart rhythm, and are usually only recommended after all other options have failed completely or failed to produce encouraging results.

Surgery is also a pretty risky proposition, as you are quite literally talking about surgically manipulating your heart. The process alone is going to expose some of your most vital organs to a variety of different conditions that aren’t exactly conducive for a perfect healthy living, so you want to make sure that this is the only option left before you pull the trigger.

Those that aren’t dealing with a specific rhythm issue but instead a heart rate condition are going to want to reach out and take advantage of atrial fibrillation medications. Atrial fibrillation ECG solutions aren’t exactly applicable when you’re looking to control heart rate as opposed to heart rhythm, which is why most medical professionals are going to recommend medication over everything else.

There are a number of different medications out there specifically designed at improving your heart rate control (speeding things up, slowing things down, or keeping them consistent), and your physician or specialist will recommend the right option depending upon your situation.

Closing thoughts

At the end of the day, there are a number of different guidelines that you’re going to have the opportunity to follow through on when you’re looking to control, manage, or mitigate the issues that can be brought on by atrial fibrillation and stroke, as well as heart rhythm and heart rate issues.

Hopefully, you have found the information included above useful in giving you the insight you need to better understand the guidelines as they exist today and all of the different options available to you when you are ready to fight back against this dangerous and potentially deadly condition.