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Doctors & patients are saying about 'Beat Your A-Fib'...

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Roy Salmon, Patient, A-Fib Free,
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"This book is incredibly complete and easy-to-understand for anybody. I certainly recommend it for patients who want to know more about atrial fibrillation than what they will learn from doctors...."

Pierre Jaïs, M.D. Professor of Cardiology, Haut-Lévêque Hospital, Bordeaux, France

"Dear Steve, I saw a patient this morning with your book [in hand] and highlights throughout. She loves it and finds it very useful to help her in dealing with atrial fibrillation."

Dr. Wilber Su,
Cavanaugh Heart Center, Phoenix, AZ

"...masterful. You managed to combine an encyclopedic compilation of information with the simplicity of presentation that enhances the delivery of the information to the reader. This is not an easy thing to do, but you have been very, very successful at it."

Ira David Levin, heart patient,
Rome, Italy

"Within the pages of Beat Your A-Fib, Dr. Steve Ryan, PhD, provides a comprehensive guide for persons seeking to find a cure for their Atrial Fibrillation."

Walter Kerwin, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

Why am I Angry at Some Doctors Treating Atrial Fibrillation Patients?

Published January 24, 2019

I can’t tell you how angry I am at cardiologists who want to leave their patients in Atrial Fibrillation.

It doesn’t matter even if a patient has no apparent symptoms. Just putting a patient on rate control meds and leaving them in A-Fib can have disastrous consequences.

Silent A-Fib Discovered During a Routine Physical

Discovered during routine exam

I corresponded with a fellow who had just found out he was in “silent” Atrial Fibrillation (no symptoms).

I told him he was very lucky (and should buy his doctor a present in gratitude). His doctor discovered his A-Fib during a routine physical exam. If his silent A-Fib had continued untreated, he might easily have been one of the 35% who suffer a debilitating A-Fib-related clot and stroke.

I would normally commend his cardiologist, but his doctor just put him on the rate control drug, diltiazem, and left him in A-Fib.

That is so wrong for so many reasons!

Rate control drugs aren’t really a “treatment” for A-Fib. They leave you in A-Fib.

Rate Control Drugs Don’t Really “Treat” A-Fib

Rate control drugs aren’t really a “treatment” for A-Fib. Though they slow the rate of the ventricles, they leave you in A-Fib.

They may alleviate some A-Fib symptoms, but do not address the primary risks of stroke and death associated with A-Fib.

Effects of Leaving Someone in A-Fib

A-Fib is a progressive disease. Just putting patients on rate control meds (even if they have no apparent symptoms) and leaving them in A-Fib can have disastrous consequences. Atrial Fibrillation can:

• Enlarge and weaken your heart often leading to other heart problems and heart failure.

• Remodel your heart, producing more and more fibrous tissue which is irreversible.

• Dilate and stretch your left atrium to the point where its function is compromised.

• Progress to Chronic (continuous) A-Fib often within a year; Or longer and more frequent A-Fib episodes.

• Increase your risk of dementia and decrease your mental abilities because 15%-30% of your blood isn’t being pumped properly to your brain and other organs.

What Patients Need to Know

For many, many patients, A-Fib is definitely curable. You don’t have to settle for a lifetime of “controlling” your Atrial Fibrillation.

Normal Sinus Rhythm: The goal of today’s AHA/ACC/HRS A-Fib Treatment Guidelines is to get Atrial Fibrillation patients back into normal sinus rhythm (NSR) and stay in sinus rhythm.

Unless too feeble, there’s no good reason to just leave someone in A-Fib (see note below).

Don’t let your doctor leave you in A-Fib. Educate yourself. Learn your treatment options.

Always Aim High! No matter how long you’ve had A-Fib, you should aim for a complete and permanent cure. Shoot for the moon, as they say, and you’ll find the best outcome for you and your type of A-Fib.

Note for this article

A rebuttal: A cardiologist may cite the 2002 AFFIRM study to justify keeping patients on rate control drugs (and anticoagulants), while leaving them in A-Fib. But this study has been contradicted by numerous other studies since 2002.

References for this article

• AHA/ACC/HRS. 2014 Guideline for the Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: Executive Summary: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society. Circulation. 2014; 130: e199-e267 DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000041.

• AHA/ACC/HRS 2014 Guideline for the Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation. Circulation. published online March 28, 2014, 4.2.1. Antiplatelet Agents, p 29.doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000041 Last accessed Nov 23, 2014.URL: From http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1854230