Selected Podcast
The Latest Afib Treatment Options
Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal rhythm of the heart. Dr. Ajit Janardhan, electrophysiologist, discusses this condition and the latest treatment options.
Featuring:
Learn more about Ajit Janardhan, MD
Ajit Janardhan, MD
Ajit Janardhan, MD is a Electrophysiologist at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.Learn more about Ajit Janardhan, MD
Transcription:
Prakash Chandran (Host): Does your heart ever feel like it’s fluttering or pounding? If your heart races and the feeling lasts for more than a few minutes; you could have a condition called atrial fibrillation. Let’s talk with Dr. Ajit Janardhan, an Electrophysiologist at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.
This is Helmet of Health, the podcast from Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. I’m Prakash Chandran and Dr. Janardhan, I’d love to understand what exactly is atrial fibrillation or as they call it AFib?
Ajit Janardhan, MD (Guest): Prakash, I’m glad you asked. Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal rhythm that comes from the top chambers of the heart and what it does is cause the heart to beat irregularly. It also increases your risk of stroke, congestive heart failure and generally makes you feel poorly. Most patients have symptoms like fatigue, a racing heartbeat, shortness of breath with exertion. And what we try to do is treat it and improve patient’s condition and ideally reverse that condition.
Host: Okay so, what causes it to occur? Like sometimes I’ll have these heart palpitations after I play basketball really hard. But it sounds like this is something different.
Dr. Janardhan: Yes. Atrial fibrillation generally occurs at rest, often when you are laying down at night to go to bed, you’ll notice your heart beating irregularly. It often beats very fast and the risk factors that really cause it some of them are nonmodifiable such as age, but there are others that we can modify such as high blood pressure, excessive alcohol, untreated sleep apnea, and obesity. And finally, a lack of physical activity.
Host: Okay and it actually sounds like some of these symptoms are similar to those of a panic attack. So, how do you know when it’s AFib versus a panic attack that you are having?
Dr. Janardhan: Interesting that you say that. Many times some of our patients who experience atrial fibrillation are told by even physicians sometimes that they are just having anxiety or a panic attack. And that’s because initially, atrial fibrillation comes and goes on its own and so by the time a patient goes to the emergency department, the AFib may be gone and the physician might just see a normal rhythm and that’s that. The only way to really diagnose it is to have an electrocardiogram which is an electrical mapping of the heart during this episode. And what we will notice is that the heartbeat is very irregular and there’s a lack of organized activity in the top chamber of the heart, which is by definition, atrial fibrillation.
So, kind of technical response but basically you need an EKG or an electrocardiogram to diagnose it.
Host: Okay and it’s something that probably the patient is experiencing on an ongoing basis and at that point they should probably come in and get themselves hooked up to an EKG, is that right?
Dr. Janardhan: I would agree entirely.
Host: Okay, awesome. So, let’s talk about the treatment options. Let’s say I get hooked up; you notice that I do have this; what are some of the treatment options that are available to me?
Dr. Janardhan: So, once you are diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, we generally try to prevent bad things from happening such as we try to prevent strokes by putting you on a blood thinner. We try to prevent congestive heart failure by preventing your heart from racing and then we come into a second category of treatments in which we try to reverse the disease process. We try to prevent your atrial fibrillation and get you back into normal rhythm and the primary way we do that is through something called catheter ablation. Where a catheter is inserted from the leg into the heart and the idea is to cauterize the abnormal signals that initiate the atrial fibrillation. In addition to that, there is equally importantly lifestyle modifications such as having our patients with atrial fibrillation lose weight, treat untreated sleep apnea, treat their high blood pressure, get moderate physical activity, control their blood sugar and work on generally weightloss and a healthy lifestyle.
Combined with catheter ablation, these lifestyle changes significantly improve the likelihood of eliminating atrial fibrillation in our patients.
Host: All right Dr. Janardhan. I really appreciate your time today. that’s Dr. Ajit Janardhan and Electrophysiologist at For Walton Beach Medical Center. Thanks for checking out this episode of Helmet of Health. Head to www.fwbmc.com to get connected with a provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library of topics of interest to you. Thanks and we will see you next time.
Prakash Chandran (Host): Does your heart ever feel like it’s fluttering or pounding? If your heart races and the feeling lasts for more than a few minutes; you could have a condition called atrial fibrillation. Let’s talk with Dr. Ajit Janardhan, an Electrophysiologist at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.
This is Helmet of Health, the podcast from Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. I’m Prakash Chandran and Dr. Janardhan, I’d love to understand what exactly is atrial fibrillation or as they call it AFib?
Ajit Janardhan, MD (Guest): Prakash, I’m glad you asked. Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal rhythm that comes from the top chambers of the heart and what it does is cause the heart to beat irregularly. It also increases your risk of stroke, congestive heart failure and generally makes you feel poorly. Most patients have symptoms like fatigue, a racing heartbeat, shortness of breath with exertion. And what we try to do is treat it and improve patient’s condition and ideally reverse that condition.
Host: Okay so, what causes it to occur? Like sometimes I’ll have these heart palpitations after I play basketball really hard. But it sounds like this is something different.
Dr. Janardhan: Yes. Atrial fibrillation generally occurs at rest, often when you are laying down at night to go to bed, you’ll notice your heart beating irregularly. It often beats very fast and the risk factors that really cause it some of them are nonmodifiable such as age, but there are others that we can modify such as high blood pressure, excessive alcohol, untreated sleep apnea, and obesity. And finally, a lack of physical activity.
Host: Okay and it actually sounds like some of these symptoms are similar to those of a panic attack. So, how do you know when it’s AFib versus a panic attack that you are having?
Dr. Janardhan: Interesting that you say that. Many times some of our patients who experience atrial fibrillation are told by even physicians sometimes that they are just having anxiety or a panic attack. And that’s because initially, atrial fibrillation comes and goes on its own and so by the time a patient goes to the emergency department, the AFib may be gone and the physician might just see a normal rhythm and that’s that. The only way to really diagnose it is to have an electrocardiogram which is an electrical mapping of the heart during this episode. And what we will notice is that the heartbeat is very irregular and there’s a lack of organized activity in the top chamber of the heart, which is by definition, atrial fibrillation.
So, kind of technical response but basically you need an EKG or an electrocardiogram to diagnose it.
Host: Okay and it’s something that probably the patient is experiencing on an ongoing basis and at that point they should probably come in and get themselves hooked up to an EKG, is that right?
Dr. Janardhan: I would agree entirely.
Host: Okay, awesome. So, let’s talk about the treatment options. Let’s say I get hooked up; you notice that I do have this; what are some of the treatment options that are available to me?
Dr. Janardhan: So, once you are diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, we generally try to prevent bad things from happening such as we try to prevent strokes by putting you on a blood thinner. We try to prevent congestive heart failure by preventing your heart from racing and then we come into a second category of treatments in which we try to reverse the disease process. We try to prevent your atrial fibrillation and get you back into normal rhythm and the primary way we do that is through something called catheter ablation. Where a catheter is inserted from the leg into the heart and the idea is to cauterize the abnormal signals that initiate the atrial fibrillation. In addition to that, there is equally importantly lifestyle modifications such as having our patients with atrial fibrillation lose weight, treat untreated sleep apnea, treat their high blood pressure, get moderate physical activity, control their blood sugar and work on generally weightloss and a healthy lifestyle.
Combined with catheter ablation, these lifestyle changes significantly improve the likelihood of eliminating atrial fibrillation in our patients.
Host: All right Dr. Janardhan. I really appreciate your time today. that’s Dr. Ajit Janardhan and Electrophysiologist at For Walton Beach Medical Center. Thanks for checking out this episode of Helmet of Health. Head to www.fwbmc.com to get connected with a provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library of topics of interest to you. Thanks and we will see you next time.