Rhythm Doctor Everything about atrial fibrillation (AF)

Everything about Atrial fibrillation (AF) and other heart rhythm disorders

Cardiac arrhythmias can be a frightening and unpleasant experience. “Rhythm Doctor” was built to shine a light on these conditions and provide information on how patients can best approach their condition.

Everything about
atrial fibrillation (AF)
Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder we know of, between 2.7 million to 6.1 million Americans have atrial fibrillation.

Some patients suffer the condition constantly, but many others only have it for some periods at a time. Atrial fibrillation can increase your risk of blood clots, unfortunately often in the brain. Additionally atrial fibrillation can weaken the heart’s pumping power, contributing to the risk of heart failure.

Symptoms

Symptoms

Are you short of breath? Do you find it more difficult to exercise? Does your heartbeat feel restless? Or maybe you need to use the bathroom more often. If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have atrial fibrillation.

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Treatment

Treatment

There are different ways to treat atrial fibrillation: medication, electric shock, ablation. It is also important to consider the risk of blood clots during treatment.

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Prevention

prevention

The risk of blood clots, particularly in the brain, is significantly increased by atrial fibrillation. Fortunately it is possible to take measures to reduce your risk of developing the condition through a combination of diet, exercise, and other measures.

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Risk factors

Risk factors

There are a number of risk factors for developing atrial fibrillation. Some can be influenced, but not all.

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Living with atrial fibrillation (AF)

Living with atrial fibrillation (AF)

While atrial fibrillation is unpleasant it is perfectly possible for sufferers to live a good life, enjoying all of the physical and social activities that are close to their hearts.

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Diagnosis
reassurance

Treatment

Secondary
prevention

Follow up

Suspicion

What is your situation and what can you do?

Maybe you suspect you have atrial fibrillation but haven’t been diagnosed yet. Perhaps you have already been diagnosed and started treatment. Perhaps your treatment is not sufficiently effective – and what can be done? Maybe you have doubts about whether you are getting the right treatment. And in addition, you are probably also thinking about whether you can do something yourself to improve your situation and prevent the problem from developing further.

Tap on the various situations / topics to see more about where you stand and what you can do from here.

Primary Prevention

Primary Prevention

No matter where you stand, it always pays to know about and prevent risk factors.

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Suspicion

Perhaps you notice that you occasionally lose your breath easily or get tired faster than usual when you try to be active. You may sometimes notice that your heart beats differently – faster or irregularly – than usual. Maybe you have a friend or someone in the family who has atrial fibrillation and you think you can recognize some of what they say in yourself. One in three will develop atrial fibrillation at some point in their lives. Often when we are older – but atrial fibrillation already starts to become more frequent from the age of 40-50. If you suspect that you have atrial fibrillation, you should talk to your doctor.

The way to detect if you have atrial fibrillation is through an EKG, which can be taken by the doctor.

But there are ways in which you can see on your own whether you should go to the doctor, for example you can continuously take a Rhythm Analysis via our app. However, the app cannot see if you have atrial fibrillation, but it can help you track it down and equip you to handle your atrial fibrillation.

It may also be that you have a watch – a “smart watch” – e.g. Apple Watch – which can record EKG.

Below are a number of articles that can help you find out if you have atrial fibrillation:

What is atrial fibrillation
A little about the heart
Atrial fibrillation – From symptoms to treatment
Symptoms of atrial fibrillation

Diagnosis reassurance

If you have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, there are various things to consider.

Is there something wrong with your heart that could be important for you to have atrial fibrillation? Do you have atrial fibrillation all the time or only occasionally? Do you need blood thinners to avoid getting blood clots due to atrial fibrillation?

From symptoms to treatment
Different types of atrial fibrillation
What do we know about the causes of atrial fibrillation?
Objectives of the treatment
Healthy lifestyle

Treatment

It is important that you get atrial fibrillation treated as soon as possible so that you can have a good life even if you have this problem. The treatment consists of a cocktail that includes:

Secondary prevention

Is it possible to prevent atrial fibrillation (heart fibrillation) yourself? Prevention includes prevention of the harmful effects of atrial fibrillation, but also prevention of getting atrial fibrillation at all, as well as prevention of repeated episodes of atrial fibrillation after you have first experienced the problem.

Primary prevention is the factors you have influence over:

Secondary prevention refers to treatment that helps prevent other complications that can be caused or worsened by atrial fibrillation:

Blood clot
Heart failure

Follow up

Unfortunately, there is no “cure for atrial fibrillation”, so the problem can be solved once and for all. The treatment that is effective and provides a good quality of life today is not necessarily as good in 2, 5 or 10 years. The risk of blood clot complications changes with age – and with whether other defects appear. Fortunately, we are also getting smarter – so the way to treat atrial fibrillation, which was optimal 10 years ago, may no longer be the best. And in 5 or 10 years we will probably have become even wiser and know what is the best treatment and way to live one’s life with atrial fibrillation.

It is important to find the best treatment as soon as possible. And prevent the situation from developing further. Delayed treatment can mean that your life with atrial fibrillation becomes worse than it should have been. If you are already in treatment, it may also be a good idea to re-evaluate and you will then also receive the type of treatment that suits you best in terms of both effect and possible side effects.

Goals of treatment
Live better with your atrial fibrillation
When should ablation therapy be considered?
What do we know about the causes of atrial fibrillation?

Other heart rhythm disorders
Atrial fibrillation is by far the most common heart rhythm disorder. However, there are a number of other heart rhythm disorders that can cause episodes of rapid heartbeat. They can either originate from the atria of the heart, from the AV node, from the ventricles of the heart, or be due to extra conduction pathways between the atria and ventricles.
hjerterytmeforstyrrelser, hjerteflimmer, atrieflimren
The Rhythm Doctor app is coming soon!
Soon you will be able to have the Rhythm Doctor whenever you need to get easy access to information about atrial fibrillation, help and advice, as well as smart functions to keep track of your heart and health via the Rhythm Doctor app. If you want to be notified when the app is ready, write your email below, and we will send you an email with a link to where you can see and download the app!
The Rhythm Doctor app is coming soon!

Snart vil du kunne få Rytmedoktor lige ved hånden og få nem adgang til information om atrieflimren, hjælp og rådgivning, samt smarte funktioner til at holde styr på dit hjerte og helbred via Rytmedoktors app.

Hvis du vil have besked når appen er klar så skriv din email herunder, så sender vi dig en email med at link til hvor du kan se og hente appen!

eBook
"ABC - The Definitive Guide To Living With Atrial Fibrillation"
Everything you need to know about atrial fibrillation Whether you have only recently been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation or have had atrial fibrillation for a long time, knowing more about the condition can help you manage it and live your best life.

I will try to give my opinion on what you should know as a patient suffering from the condition. The topic will be divided into different chapters designed to create a crash-course for atrial fibrillation.