Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...
"A-Fib.com is a great web site for patients, that is unequaled by anything else out there."
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."
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
The Costs and Consequences of Living with Atrial Fibrillation
Our mission at A-Fib.com is, in part, “to empower patients to find their A-Fib cure or best outcome.” We often advise:
Don’t listen to doctors who want to just control your symptoms with drugs. Leaving patients in A-Fib overworks the heart, leads to fibrosis and increases the risk of stroke. The abnormal rhythm in your atria causes electrical changes and enlarges your atria (called remodeling) making it work harder and harder over time. Seek your Cure.
A Few CDC Facts About A-Fib
I was recently reminded of the other costs of living with Atrial Fibrillation when I re-read the A-Fib Fact sheet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In part it reads: “More than 750,000 hospitalizations [in the U.S.] occur each year because of Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib). The death rate from A-Fib as the primary or a contributing cause of death has been rising for more than two decades.”
The A-Fib stat that jumped out at me was:
“Medical costs [in the U.S.] for people who have A-Fib are about $8,705 higher per year than for people who do not have A-Fib.”
How disconcerting! A-Fib costs you in many ways. Beyond the physical, mental and emotional toll, staying in A-Fib with medication is costly to your wallet. Besides the annual costs of your medications, the odds of your being hospitalized increases. Just in terms of dollars and cents, A-Fib on average costs you an additional $8,700 a year.
How Much Will You Pay to Stay in A-Fib?
Remember: ‘A-Fib begets A-Fib.’ The longer you have A-Fib, the greater the risk of your A-Fib episodes becoming more frequent and longer, often leading to continuous (Chronic) A-Fib. (However, some people never progress to more serious A-Fib stages.)
When you add up all the costs (physical, emotional and monetary) of living in A-Fib, doesn’t it make sense to ‘Seek you Cure’?
Don’t let your doctor leave you in A-Fib. Educate yourself. Learn all your treatment options.
