[Anonymous]

#1053744

Hi Cathy,
Hello, how’s u mum?
I’m a medical student at Sydney, Australia. Um, I’m not very good at
giving advises yet. Ok, I’ll try to explain to u about atrial fibrillation(AF).
AF is one of the complications of GD.
Increased thyroxine in GD will cause increase heart rate.
Some people with GD will experience heart racing,
palpitations, anxiety and increased sweating.

In AF, the left atrium (LA) of the heart beats very fast in a irregular rate.
If LA is in AF, it will not function normally. This will cause a blood
clot forming in the LA. If the clot broken off free from LA, it
will cause strokes! Stroke is most serious complication of AF.
Therefore anti-coagulant should be given in chronic AF patient to prevent
clots forming in LA.
The side effects of anticoagulants(blood-thinner)is haemorrhage.
Minor haemorrhage is common, u shouldn’t worry too much.
Major haemorrhage only happens if u are overdosed with anticoagulant.
Complications of overdose include haemorrhagic stroke( especially if u blood pressure is high).

People taking anti-coagulants should check their coagulation status
regularly, once a month to once every 3 months depending on u situation.
Blood tests will tell u doc if u are under-coagulated or overdosed with
u medication.
Under-coaged will not be effective against clots formation.

Ok, I wish these info will help a little bit. Advises here will be
make sure u mum takes her medications on regular basis and get a blood
test every now and then.

all the best!

Luke

[Anonymous]

#1156945

Luke, Thanks much for the info. The hospital confirmed that her
TSH levels were too high. They gave her Rythmol and told her to
take that and 1 aspirin every day. It sure seems like any possible
complication or illness can be traced back to Graves’ if you have
it. Needless to say, it was a really scary time. The blood thinners
did give her hemorrhages in her eyes, and she is still having them.
Her eye doc is furious about the aspirin and blood thinners, but
if you have to make a choice, I vote to take the aspirin.

Sydney huh, that’s a long way from Texas!

Cathy

[Anonymous]

#1156946

Hi

I heard an interesting blurb about atrial fibrillation this afternoon on NPR’s All Things Considered. It does an excellent job of explaining what happens to the heart during a-fib and talks about the risk of stroke associated with a-fib. It also talks about a new device, similar to a pacemaker, that has been developed that helps control a-fib. It doesn’t specifically mention thyroid or other causes of a-fib.

If you’d like to listen to it, you can access it through the NPR website. You’ll need Real Audio to hear it, but there is also a written synopsis of the show.

The link is:
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/

You’ll need to select either “listen to the latest show” or “Archived ATC programs”. It is on the October 19, 1998 show, and the title is “Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke.”

Cindy

P.S. Sure is great to have the BB back! Thank you!!!!!

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