Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...
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Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
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Jill and Steve Douglas, East Troy, WI
“I really appreciate all the information on your website as it allows me to be a better informed patient and to know what questions to ask my EP.
Faye Spencer, Boise, ID, April 2017
“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD
Top 10 List of Best Advice from A-Fib Patients Free of the Burden of A-Fib
Other A-Fib patients have been where you are right now. Dozens have shared their personal A-Fib experience (starting with the Steve Ryan) on this site and in my book.
Originally published in Beat Your A-Fib, ‘The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ is a consensus of valuable advice from fellow patients who are now free from the burden of Atrial Fibrillation.
We hope these hard-learned lessons will help you also find your A-Fib cure or best outcome for you.
This 10-part series of posts expands on each lesson learned on the Top 10 List. To read each post, just click on a link:
#1: Find the Best, Choose a Specialist
#2: Should you Dump Your Doctor?
#3: Don’t Believe Everything You’re Told About A-Fib
#4: Don’t Just Manage Your A-Fib with Drugs. Seek your Cure.
#5: Get Treatment Sooner Rather Than Later
#6: Take an Aggressive Approach to Treatment
#7: Persevere—Multiple Treatments May be Needed
#8: Acknowledge the Stress and Anxiety—Seek Emotional Support
#9: Learn All Your Options Before Making Treatments Choices
#10: Strive to be Your Own Healthcare Champion
From Chapter 12 of Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure, by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
For more patient stories, go to Personal A-Fib Stories of Hope.
Be Proactive—Find the A-Fib Treatment Solution that Fits You Best
Advice from Patients Now Free from the Burden of Atrial Fibrillation
Joy G.
Joy Gray, Manchester, New Hampshire
“A-Fib tends to be a progressive disease, so taking an aggressive approach to treatment early on may be your best option.
Sheri Weber, Boyce, Virginia
Sheri W.
“A-Fib hardly ever gets better. Be aggressive. Anger and determination led me to researching options. Find the solution that fits you best. Every case is different.
You can learn from others’ experiences, but you cannot determine what is best for your case unless you have all the facts, tests and personal goals in line.”
Michele S.
Michele Straub, Salt Lake City, Utah
“Do not take “this is as good as it gets” as an answer— do your own research about what’s possible and take a co-leadership role with your doctor.”
A-Fib Patient Stories: Learn from Others’ Experiences
Other A-Fib patients have been where you are right now. Dozens have shared their personal experience with our readers (starting with Steve Ryan’s story in 1998). Told in the first-person, many stories span years, even decades. Symptoms will vary, and treatments choices run the full gamut.
Each author tells their story to offer you hope, to encourage you, and to bolster your determination to seek a life free of A-Fib.
You can browse the many stories organized by categories such as age group, symptoms or treatment choice. Start at Personal A-Fib Stories by Subject Category.
Read how others learned to seek their A-Fib cure.
From The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ , a consensus of valuable advice from fellow Atrial Fibrillation patients; Chapter 12, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
Go to Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice
♥ Please, share the advice ♥
Get Support: A-Fib Wreaks Havoc with Your Head as Well as Your Heart
Anxiety, fear, worry, confusion, frustration and depression, and at times, anger. Most A-Fib patients deal with one or more of these feelings. Beware: research indicates that “psychological distress” worsens the severity of A-Fib symptoms.
Advice About Stress from Patients (and a Spouse) Now Free from the Burden of A-Fib
Jay Teresi, Atlanta, GA, USA. cured after having A-Fib for over ten years:
Jay T.
“Of the entire experience, anxiety has been the greatest challenge. Don’t beat yourself up if you deal with this. Be honest with the doctors about it and get help.
And help your family to understand as they are your greatest support system.”
Kelly Teresi, wife of Jay Teresi, about coping with her husband’s A-Fib:
Kelley T.
“This disease is so far beyond what a non-A-Fib person can comprehend—many times I found myself frustrated, not understanding what was going on with Jay’s thoughts and heart. Jay’s A-Fib and the associated anxiety has left its imprint on our lives.”
Max Jussila, Shanghai, China, about the emotional impact of his A-Fib:
Max J.
“I have never been mentally so incapable…even the simplest work-related problems seemed impossible for me to handle, let alone solve.
I was only 52 years old…but mentally I was reduced to a six–year-old child with constant tantrums.”
Joe Mirretti, Gurnee, IL, a 62-Year old cyclist, about the personal A-Fib stories on A-Fib.com:
Joe M.
“Like everyone has said in their A-Fib stories, A-Fib does such a job on your head. Every time you feel something, it scares you like you’re going back into A-Fib. That’s been a mental battle.
That’s why reading those patient stories [on A-Fib.com] help.”
A-Fib Doesn’t Have to be in Your Head as Well
Don’t be ashamed to admit how A-Fib makes you feel (especially if you’re a guy). Your psyche is just as important as your physical heart. Just acknowledging you have some or all of these symptoms is a step in the right direction.
PODCAST: 15 Ways to Manage the Fear & Anxiety of Atrial Fibrillation. Tune in to learn ways to cope. Listen as Steve Ryan and Travis Van Slooten, publisher of LivingWithAtrialFibrillation.com discuss ways to help you with the emotional component of A-Fib. (See show notes for the list of 15 tips.)
Acknowledge the Stress and Anxiety.
Seek Emotional Support.
From The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ , a consensus of valuable advice from fellow Atrial Fibrillation patients; Chapter 12, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
Go to Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice
♥ Please, share the advice ♥
Don’t Delay. Get Your A-Fib Taken Care of. It Won’t Go Away by Itself.
Advice from Patients Now Free from the Burden of Atrial Fibrillation
Daniel D.
Daniel Doane, Sonora, California, USA, A-Fib free after Totally Thoracoscopic (TT) Mini-Maze surgery:
“I didn’t realize how continued A-Fib so drastically remodels your heart. ‘A-FIB BEGETS A-FIB’ was the phrase that brought it home to me.
Every instance of A-Fib changed my heart, remodeled the substrate, and made it more likely to happen again. Get your A-Fib taken care of. It won’t go away. It may seem to get better, but it will return.
Roger M.
Roger Meyer, Columbus, Ohio, from three generations of A-Fib, had the Cox-Maze surgery:
“I can now say, first hand, that there ARE bad effects from A-Fib and especially from A-Fib that is not treated early. I now wish I had had some of the today’s more aggressive A-Fib treatment options which weren’t available to me in my younger years.
My best advice: Don’t let A-Fib wreak its havoc untreated!”
Joan S.
Joan Schneider, Ann Arbor, MI, from Pill-in-the-Pocket therapy to A-Fib free after catheter ablation:
“My advice to other AF patients: Know that paroxysmal AF becomes chronic. Drugs only work for so long. Heart modification will occur, and options will become few. Get with a great EP and/or AF clinic and find your cure.”
Don’t Delay—A-Fib Begets A-Fib.
Do not remain in A-Fib indefinitely if possible. Your A-Fib episodes may become more frequent and longer, often leading to continuous (Chronic) A-Fib. Each A-Fib attack changes to some extent the cellular matrix in your heart’s electrical system leading to more A-Fib episodes. The abnormal rhythm in your heart causes changes and enlarges your atria (called remodeling), making it work harder and harder over time. (However, some people never progress to more serious A-Fib stages.) Unless too feeble, there’s no good reason to just leave someone in A-Fib.
A-Fib is a progressive disease. Controlling symptoms with drugs, but leaving patients in A-Fib, overworks and weakens the heart, leads to fibrosis, stretches/expands the atrial heart walls, increases the risk of stroke, develops (congestive) heart failure, and leads to dimentia because of reduced blood flow to the brain.
Drug therapies are never curative. Don’t just manage your A-Fib with medication. See Editorial: Leaving the Patient in A-Fib—No! No! No!
As anyone who’s had A-Fib can tell you, being back in sinus is wonderful! Sinus Rhythm Begets Sinus Rhythm. Your heart develops muscle memory which makes your heart want to stay in sinus.
Don’t delay—Seek your Cure.
From The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ , a consensus of valuable advice from fellow Atrial Fibrillation patients; Chapter 12, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
Go to Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice
♥ Please, share the advice ♥
A-Fib is Not a ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ Disease—May Involve Various Treatments
Over time, these patients chose more than one type of treatment to become free from the burden of Atrial Fibrillation.
Kathy H.
Kathleen Haxton, Surprise, Arizona, describes her various treatments leading up to a successful Ablation:
“At first I was able to control the a-fibs by increasing my magnesium and potassium intake. (Low sodium V-8 juice was very helpful.) However, after a while that wasn’t quite good enough.
[Then] Sotalol worked pretty well, but I knew I had to do something. I did not want these a-fibs to control my life any longer.
Because in all the research I did, I knew I wanted to have a Cryo-Balloon Ablation.”
Jay Teresi, Atlanta, GA, describes his second ablation after being A-Fib free for three-years:
Jay T.
“[My EP] explained that my first procedure was a success. However, during the healing process a tiny spot did not scar and this allowed the A-Fib to trip again.
He ablated that portion and touched up all the other areas. I have now been free of A-Fib for over four years..”
Emmett F.
Harry Emmett Finch, Malibu, CA. With 40-years of A-Fib, Emmett’s treatment evolved beyond drug therapy: a PV catheter ablation, then AV Node ablation with Pacemaker and, most recently, installation of the Watchman device:
“There is more help available today than when I first developed my A-Fib [in 1972], and I’m sure more treatment options (like the Watchman device) will be available in the future.”
A-Fib is Not a One-Size-Fits-all Disease
Your Atrial Fibrillation is unique to you. Along with various treatments, you may need to address concurrent medical conditions (i.e, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, sleep apnea). Likewise, you may need to make lifestyle changes (e.g., diet, exercise, caffeine, alcohol, smoking).
Your heart is a resilient muscle that tends to heal itself. So, prepare yourself—over time you may need a repeat treatment or an additional procedure. Learn more at: Treatments for A-Fib
Need More Than One Treatment?
A Heart in Normal Sinus Rhythm is Worth it!
‘From The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ , consensus of valuable advice from fellow Atrial Fibrillation patients; Chapter 12, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
Go to Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice
♥ Please, share the advice ♥
Patient Advice: The First Doctor You See isn’t Necessarily the Right One for You
Advice from Patients Now Free from the Burden of Atrial Fibrillation
Susan Klein, comes from a long line of people with cardiac rhythm disorders. She recalls finally being properly diagnosed:
Susan K.
“I began reading everything I could about the condition but mainly how to make it stop.
Along the way I can’t recall how many times I was told to take the medicine and stop looking for trouble.
I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the naysayers, because today I’m A-Fib free and loving it.”
Warren Welsh, Melbourne, Australia, talks about the years he needlessly endured A-Fib, in part, based on one doctor’s advice:
Warren W.
“I would urge any A-Fib sufferers not to make the same mistakes I did by not researching their treatment options.
…I experienced several years of unnecessary suffering by accepting an opinion of one specialist who said I would have to live in A-Fib.
Sheri Weber, from Boyce, VA, shared this advice about finding the right doctor for your treatment goals:
“I wish I had realized that the first doctor you see is not necessarily the right one for you. I fooled around way too long, believing what my cardio doctor said. I should have been thinking outside the box.
Run―don’t walk―to the best specialist you can find in your area.”
How to Find the Best Doctor for You
To be cured of your A-Fib, you may need to ‘fire’ your current doctor.
Seek a heart rhythm specialist, a cardiac electrophysiologist (EP), who will partner with you to create a treatment plan—a path to finding your cure or best outcome.
To make this happen, see my page, Finding the Right Doctor for You and Your A-Fib.
The First Doctor You See is Not Necessarily the Right One for You.
From The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ , a consensus of valuable advice from fellow Atrial Fibrillation patients; Chapter 12, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
Go to Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice
♥ Please, share the advice ♥
Read the July 2018 A-Fib Alerts! Subscribe & Get 50% Off My Book
From Chile and Egypt, to Australia, Canada and the Ireland, patients around the world are reading my July 2018 A-Fib Alerts newsletter. Read it here.
Or sign-up to get my FREE monthly A-Fib Alerts sent directly to with:
♥ News about A-Fib treatments and relevant research
♥ FREE downloads and special Videos
♥ Links to new Personal A-Fib stories
♥ Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Special Bonus: Sign up for our A-Fib Alerts and get special discount codes to save up to 50% off my book, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure, by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
Get the eBook for just $12 ($24.95 retail). Or get the softcover book for only $24 ($32.95 retail). Sign-up and you’ll get your special discount codes by return email. Join Today!
See an A-Fib Expert Right Away—a Heart Rhythm Specialist
‘Find the best heart rhythm specialist (EP) you can afford.’
A-FIB PATIENTS’ BEST ADVICE
From Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure, Chapter 12: Your Journey to a Cure:
Michele S.
Michele Straube, cured after 30 years in A-Fib, wrote in her personal A-Fib story:
“Go to an electrophysiologist, an A-Fib expert, right away, one with a high success rate at getting patients back into normal rhythm—you deserve nothing less.” (pp. 88-90)
Terry DeWitt, cured in 2007 from a clinical trial for CryoBalloon ablation, offered his best advice:
Terry D.
“Spend the time to find the best Electrophysiologist (arrhythmia specialist) you can find. It makes a big difference in treatment and in the success of the ablation procedure.” (pp. 138-143)
How to Find the Best Doctor for You
To be cured of your A-Fib, seek a heart rhythm specialist, an cardiac electrophysiologist (EP), who will partner with you to create a treatment plan—a path to finding your cure or best outcome.
To make this happen, see my article, Finding the Right Doctor for You and Your A-Fib.
Run―don’t walk―to the best specialist
you can find in your area.
‘The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ is a a consensus of valuable advice from fellow patients who are now free from the burden of Atrial Fibrillation. From Chapter 12, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure by Steve S. Ryan, PhD (beatyoura-fib.com)
Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice
♥ Please, share the advice ♥
Don’t Believe Everything You’re Told About A-Fib
‘Don’t let anyone tell you A-Fib isn’t that serious,
or just learn to live with it’
From Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure, Chapter 12: Your Journey to a Cure. Advice from patients now free from the burden of Atrial Fibrillation:
Ken H.
Ken Hungerford from New South Wales, Australia, shared:
During this period I asked three cardiologists about these episodes, and they all basically told me to simply put up with them. (pp.125-128)
Sheri Weber from Boyce, Virginia, was dissatisfied with the answers from her doctor:
Sheri W.
“I questioned the cardio doctor about my future with A-Fib thinking there must be a cure and knowing absolutely nothing about the disease. His response was to tell me many people live with A-Fib and did not suggest any treatment aside from medication. (pp. 106-109)
Warren Welsh, Melbourne, Australia, talks about the years he needlessly endured A-Fib, in part, based on one doctor’s advice:
Warren W.
“I would urge any A-Fib sufferers not to make the same mistakes I did by not researching their treatment options. …I experienced several years of unnecessary suffering by accepting an opinion of one specialist who said I would have to live in A-Fib.
I believe that unless there are special circumstances…any advice on treatment that is not directed towards a possible cure should be questioned.” (pp.116-118)
VIDEO: Buyer Beware: Misleading or Inaccurate A-Fib Info Abounds
Always Question the Source
In a short video, Steve S. Ryan, PhD, warns to beware of misleading and incorrect A-Fib information published by reputable sources on the internet and in print media.
Talking with host Skip E. Lowe, Steve gives three specific examples of why you need to be on the lookout for inaccurate statements about Atrial Fibrillation. 3:59 min. Watch video now.
‘The Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice’ is a a consensus of valuable advice from fellow patients who are now free from the burden of Atrial Fibrillation. From Chapter 12, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure by Steve S. Ryan, PhD (beatyoura-fib.com)
Top 10 List of A-Fib Patients’ Best Advice
♥ Please, share the advice ♥
Read My March 2018 A-Fib Alerts! Signup & Get 50% Off My Book
From Chile and Brazil, to Australia, Canada and the UK, patients around the world are reading my March 2018 A-Fib Alerts newsletter. Read it here.
Or sign-up to get my FREE monthly A-Fib Alerts sent directly to with:
♥ News about A-Fib treatments and relevant research
♥ FREE downloads and special Videos
♥ Links to new Personal A-Fib stories
♥ Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Special Bonus: Sign up for our A-Fib Alerts and get special discount codes to save up to 50% off my book, Beat Your A-Fib: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Cure, by Steve S. Ryan, PhD.
Get the eBook for just $12 ($24.95 retail). Or get the softcover book for only $24 ($32.95 retail).
Sign-up and you’ll get your special discount codes by return email. Sign-up Today!
