Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...
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Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
"Jill and I put you and your work in our prayers every night. What you do to help people through this [A-Fib] process is really incredible."
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“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
Do I Have a Legal Right to My Medical Records? Can I See Them? Get Copies?
Yes. Patients have the legal right to access both paper and electronic records, to view the originals and to obtain copies of their medical records.
In the U.S. this right is guaranteed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 [HIPAA]. If you live outside the US, know that over 89 countries have adopted Data Privacy Laws. For example, Canada has the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and in Europe there’s the EU Data Protection Reform.
Be aware that while your medical information or data belongs to you (the patient), the physical pieces of paper, X-ray film, etc. belong to the hospital or health care provider.
Make an Inventory of Your Medical Records
When it comes time to see a new doctor or specialist, you’ll want to supply them with a copy of all your relevant A-Fib related medical records.
You may already have many of these records on file and just need to identify those you are missing. (You may be fortunate and have online access to your information, depending on your health provider.)
How to Request Copies of Missing Records
If you are missing copies of some of your files, you may need to request files from current and former physicians and medical centers. So, how do you do that? For all the details, see my article: 3 Ways to Request Copies of your Medical Records
Once you have a complete set of your medical records, store your originals in a binder or file folder. Store CDs in binder sleeves or copy to your PC. Make backup copies of any digital records.
Where Do You Organize Your A-Fib Records?
We strongly encourage you to get in the habit of storing all your A-Fib-related research and documents in one place. Don’t leave your doctor’s office, medical center or hospital without a copy of every test or procedure they perform. If the test result isn’t immediately available, have them mail it to you.
Patient Online Services: If your healthcare provider offers a secure online portal to your patient records, be sure to sign up for it. It is a convenient way to access your health information and medical records. Services include email communication with your doctors (no phone tag), your doctor’s instructions during office visits, a calendar of all upcoming and past office visits, all tests results, a list of prescribed medications and patient education resources.
Store your A-Fib Research: As you search for your Atrial Fibrillation cure, organize the information you are collecting. Start with a notebook and a three-ring binder or a file folder. To learn more, see my article, Why You Need an A-Fib Notebook and 3-Ring Binder.
Make Medical Record-Keeping a Habit: Don’t leave your doctor’s office or medical canter without a copy of every test they performed. Store in your A-Fib three-ring binder or file folder.
A Look at the A-Fib.com Glossary of A-Fib Medical Terms
As part of your education about Atrial Fibrillation, you’re bound to run across terms that you do not understand. Bookmark our Glossary of Medical Terms page (or click on “Glossary of Terms” in the left menu) and refer to it when reading and studying about A-Fib.
Our A-Fib.com Glossary of Medical Terms and Phrases is the most complete online source devoted exclusively to Atrial Fibrillation. Each definition is written in everyday language—a great resource for patients and their families.
A Sampling of Glossary Terms
To give you an idea of what you’ll find, we’ve selected a few Atrial Fibrillation terms and phrases related to drug therapy:
Beta Blocker: A medication that slows down conduction through the heart and makes the AV Node less sensitive to A-Fib impulses.
Calcium Channel Blocker: A medication that prevents or slows the flow of calcium ions into smooth muscle cells such as the heart. This impedes muscle cell contraction, thereby allowing blood vessels to expand and carry more blood and oxygen to tissues.
NOAC: NOAC stands for Novel Oral AntiCoagulants. NOACs are alternatives for vitamin K antagonists (e.g., Warfarin) for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation.
“Pill-in-the-Pocket” Treatment: For Paroxysmal A-Fib patients. When an A-Fib attack occurs, the patient takes an antiarrhythmic med (flecainide, propafenone, etc.) to return to normal sinus rhythm.
Rate Control Medications: Drug therapy that attempts to control your heart rate (ventricular beats), but leave the upper chambers (atria) of your heart in A-Fib.
Rhythm Control Medications: Drug therapy that uses rhythm control drugs, called antiarrhythmics, to try to stop A-Fib and make the heart beat normally.
Browse Our Glossary of A-Fib Terms
Go ahead and take a leisurely stroll through our Glossary of Medical Terms and Phrases. Bookmark the page and refer to if any time you’re learning about Atrial Fibrillation and your treatment options.
By the way: If you don’t find the term you are looking for—email us and we’ll add it.
Go to our Glossary
Bookmark it! Refer to it often!
My Top 5 Picks: Steve’s A-Fib Survival Kit for the Newly Diagnosed
By Steve S. Ryan, PhD. This post was originally published July 15, 2016.
Your first experiences with Atrial Fibrillation have changed your life in a number of ways. As a former A-Fib patient (cured since 1998) I highly recommend these items when first diagnosed with this beast called ‘Atrial Fibrillation’.
My Top 5 Recommendations for the Newly Diagnosed
These are the products I recommend (and use) along with a Bonus: a good medical dictionary. These items are available from many online sources, but I’ve made them easy to order the entire list by making a ‘Wish List’ on Amazon.com: Steve Ryan’s A-Fib Survival Kit for the Newly Diagnosed,(Note: Use our Amazon portal link, and your purchases help support A-Fib.com.)
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More of My Amazon.com Lists
Besides Steve Ryan’s A-Fib Survival Kit for the Newly Diagnosed, see my other Amazon.com lists for supplements, recommended books and DIY heart rate monitors:
♥ By a Former A-Fib Patient: My Recommended Products
♥ For A-Fib Patients: 7 Supplements for a Healthy Heart
♥ For A-Fib Patients: A-Fib Reference Books and Guides
♥ For A-Fib Patients: Recommended Magnesium and Potassium Supplements
♥ Steve’s Top Picks: DIY Heart Rate Monitors for A-Fib Patients
Note: Use the A-Fib.com Amazon portal link and your purchases help support A-Fib.com (http://tinyurl.com/Shop-Amazon-for-A-Fib). Learn more at: Use our Portal Link When you Shop at Amazon.com.
A-Fib Impacts Quality of Life for the Spouse and Family of Patients
Research verifies that the loved ones living with someone in Atrial Fibrillation may be about as stressed as actually having the condition.
In one study the partners of A-Fib patients reported a significant reduction in their quality of life, to the same degree as the patient. (Note: Most severely impaired was a couple’s sex life.)
Educate the Family, Not Just the Patient
One simple solution might be to make sure the spouse comes to office visits, particularly during the early visits around the time of diagnosis, says Dr. Bruce A. Koplan of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Educational programs and other interventions to eliminate some of the unknowns may relieve the anxiety for the patient and their partner leading to improved quality of life for both.
Get all Your Loved Ones Involved
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is from the patient’s partner: “What can I do for my spouse during an A-Fib attack?”
Perhaps, just as important, A-Fib patients should be asking “How can I help my family cope with the stress and anxiety of my Atrial Fibrillation?”
A Momentary Pause: When I talk with an A-Fib patient, I always ask how their spouse or partner is doing―how they are coping. This often elicits a momentarily pause while the patient stops and ponders the impact of A-Fib on their family.
My best advice to patients is to get all your loved ones involved! Knowledge is empowering and reduces stress and anxiety.
Talk with them, answer their questions. To help you, download my free report, “Top 10 Questions Families Ask about Atrial Fibrillation”.
Be Confident & Stay Calm
In addition, for your family’s peace of mind, learn Why & How to Create Your ‘A-Fib Episode Action Plan’. During an A-Fib attack, an A-Fib Action Plan with specific steps is reassuring and helps everyone stay calm. Your family will be confident they’re supporting you in taking the right action at the right time.
Discuss your A-Fib Action Plan with your loved ones and answer their questions. Post a copy in a prominent place where your family can find it easily.
Knowledge Empowers, Reduces Stress and Anxiety
For A-Fib Patients: An Updated Review of Medic Alert ID Products
When you have A-Fib and you’re taking a blood thinner or other medications, you may want to carry details of your specific medical history.
From the simple printed card to products with an integrated USB drive, there are many ways to carry your emergency history with you these days.
Beyond the familiar styles of metallic Medic Alert ID bracelets and necklace pendants, there are products using newer materials like waterproof foam, Duro silicone and plastic. And products linking to centralized, password protected data storage services.
We’ve reviewed dozens of products to offer you an updated sampling of the available options. (For each product, we’ve included a hyperlink so you can easily get more information.)
A Few of Our Favorite Wearables
These are a few items that caught our eye. An Apple Watch slip-on ID band with multiple lines of custom text, an athletic shoe with medical ID card holder which attaches with velcro. And a sports helmet warning decal for 911 responders, with registered data service and built-in medical ID pocket.
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USB Drive Equipped Products with Medic Alert Symbol
These products all display an emergency symbol or label and include an integrated USB drive. Data can be registered or entered by the owner. A few items are a Duro silicone, latex-free bracelet with pop out USB drive, a stainless steel key chain with the USB built into the fob, and credit-card size data wallet card with a hinged USB drive.
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Keeping it Simple: Print Your Medical ID Wallet Card
If you want the low-tech version, here are three free online sources for printing your own wallet cards:
• Printable Emergency Medical ID Card (online form) by AllFreePrintable.com
• Print Your Own Emergency Medical I.D. Card (online form) by AllenLawrence.com
• Emergency Contact Card (in PDF format) from the American Red Cross
Follow the online instructions to enter your information. Then print, trim, fold and add to your wallet or purse. (Or print the blank form and fill-in by hand.)
Don’t carry a wallet? Consider a Money Clip with medical symbol and a compartment to slide in an emergency medical ID (left); from Universal Medical Data.
Review and Update the Contents Regularly
Whichever method(s) you use to carry your emergency medical information, don’t forget to review and update the contents regularly. For example, when you change doctors, when you start (or stop) a medication, or if you have a medical emergency or surgical procedure.
Knowing you have up-to-date medical information will give you peace of mind.
Additional thought: Consider your spouse and other family members. Should they also carry their medical emergency ID information?
What Emergency Medical Info Should You Carry?
For information about what emergency medical information to carry, see our article, Your Portable Medical Information Kit.
Give the Gift of Hope: Steve’s Guides to A-Fib-Related Products
Give the gift of hope this gift-giving season with our ideas for family members and patients with Atrial Fibrillation. We’re often overwhelmed when we shop for A-Fib-related items.
Steve’s Shopping Guides help you sort through the vast array of products of interest to those touched by Atrial Fibrillation. These brands and products are available from many online and other retailers.
We invite you to browse our page with the following shopping guides from books to supplements and heart rate monitors. Go to Steve’s Steve’s Shopping Guides to Recommended A-Fib-Related Products including:
♥ A-Fib Survival Kit for the Newly Diagnosed
♥ A-Fib Reference Books and Guides
♥ Magnesium & Potassium Supplements for A-Fib patients
♥ Seven ‘Natural’ Supplements for a Healthy Heart
♥ DIY Heart Rate Monitors (HRMs)
Support A-Fib.com When You Shop Amazon.com
Use our Amazon.com portal link and support A-Fib.com at the same time (at no extra cost to you). Your purchases generate a small fee which we apply to the costs of publishing this website. Bookmark this link. Use it every time!
“Hi Steve and Patti, I just spent $200+ on Amazon and used the A-Fib.com portal link [to generate commissions for the website]. I, too, want to keep the A-Fib.com website independent and ad free.
I bookmarked your portal link and will continue to use it for every Amazon purchase.”
Barbara Cogburn, Renton, Washington, U.S.
C/NET VIDEO: Compares Apple Watch EKG to Hospital 12-Lead EKG
Dr. Gregory Marcus at the UCSF Medical Center compares a 1-lead ECG from the Apple Watch Series 4 (equipped with the right app) to the results of a traditional hospital 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) monitor.
Hooked up to a traditional electrocardiogram monitor, C/NET Senior Editor Vanessa Hand Orellana uses an Apple Watch 4 app to take a 30 second ECG reading. See comparisons of readings from the two devices. Learn how the Apple Watch 4 captures the heart beat.
Live footage, animation and interviews. Posted Dec. 6, 2018 by C/NET. 4:26 min. Transcript available.
Click on arrow to start video. Hover over video frame for player controls.You can pause playback, turn on closed captions or adjust audio volume.
If you find any errors on this page, email us. Y Last updated: Wednesday, December 12, 2018
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 ♥
Atrial Fibrillation Patients: Guide on How to Get Started with Yoga
In our article, FAQs about Natural Therapies: Yoga and A-Fib, Dr. Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy describes his research with A-Fib patients and how yoga provides a powerful connection between mind and body. “It affects heart rhythm through its significant influence on the [nervous system].” It improves symptoms and arrhythmia burden, reduces anxiety and depression, and improves quality of life (QoL).”
Yoga can be adjusted to any level or intensity. Just start slowly! It doesn’t need much equipment: a mat to prevent slipping and provide padding and perhaps a folded blanket, when needed, to support your knees.
Dr. Lakkireddy cautions that yoga isn’t a substitute for medical treatment, but it can be a good adjunct.
Beginner’s Yoga Guide for A-Fib Patients
We found a great article, Yoga for Atrial Fibrillation, on EverydayHealth.com that offers a beginner’s yoga guide for A-Fib patients.
To get you started, they include directions for seven simple poses each with an illustration. Here’s an example of the instructions:
Yoga for Atrial Fibrillation: Table Pose
This pose helps you warm up and is a starting position for other yoga moves. How to do it:
1. Come to the floor on your hands and knees. Bring the knees hip-width apart, with feet directly behind the knees. Bring palms directly under the shoulders with fingers facing forward.
2. Look down between the palms and allow the back to be flat. Press into the palms to drop the shoulders slightly away from the ears. Press tailbone toward the back wall and the crown of the head toward the front wall to lengthen spine.
3. Breathe deeply and hold for 1-3 breaths.
Special considerations: Place a blanket under the knees to protect them from pressure and stress. Make fists with your hands to reduce pressure on the wrists. Avoid this pose if you’ve had recent or chronic knee or hip injury or inflammation.
For the other six poses and to read the entire article, go to Yoga for Atrial Fibrillation at EverydayHealth.com. According to YogaBasics.com: “By concentrating on your breathing and being present in the poses, you’ll feel the benefits immediately.”
For Atrial Fibrillation patients, yoga can be an effective complementary therapy and a part of your A-Fib treatment plan. Also see our article, FAQs about Natural Therapies: Yoga and A-Fib.
Always consult your doctor before starting a yoga exercise program. For example, if you have high blood pressure, you may need to avoid yoga poses in which your head and heart are lower than the rest of your body, such as the Downward-Facing Dog.Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: A Manual for Students, Teachers, and Practitioners
by H. David Coulter, PhD
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 ♥
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