![]() Rhythm control means either a drug or a combination of drug plus a shock (cardioversion with defibrillators - don't worry, they put you to sleep for it), with the goal of getting you out of A-fib. The ultimate form of rate control is ablation - knock out all communication between atrium and ventricles to prevent your ventricular rate from getting too fast, and put in a pacer to keep it from getting slow People can get too slow with A-fib too, and a pacemaker is needed for some. Most common is beta blockers, but other options are dilitiazem (cardizem) and digoxin. Rate control means therapies that keep your heart rate from getting too fast. As a general population people with A-fib have about a 5% risk per year of strokes, but the CHADS-2 can refine that (higher or lower). This would be with something like warfarin, aka coumadin - this is typically decided based on a score called CHADS-2 that is used to estimate your risk of a stroke. Your main questions for your doctor should be the following: ![]() You sound like the poster child for a beta blocker if you've got A-fib and your HR gets sustained in the 120s-140s with minimal provocation. ![]()
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