A-Fib

I was diagnosed with A-Flutter (A-Fib's low rent cousin, though I can tell you that after a week in the hospital plus a planned overnight return plus sleep study and everything else there was a whole lot of "RENT" my insurance did not cover.. Oh for the old days when they covered it).

Though they had me on rat poison when I was in hospital and they were testing every period of time (Multiple times a day) They switched me to Xalarto when I checked out.. There are a couple of alternatives to Coumadin now days... You might wish to speak to your cardiologist.. one of the things I talked to him about is the fact that I'm a full time RVer so weekly visits to the lab are not all that easy to arrainge (Actually they are Great hospital less than a mile from where I go for choir practice every week, but that only applies to my winter-quarters).

I was thinking "I need to talk to him about these alternate meds" and then I checked my list of 'scripts and decided that talk was not needed.

Walked into ER with A-Fib, Congestive heart failure and 20% heart function..
Week later wheeled out and went home, came back a few days later for one procedure.. Weak as a new born over the weekend.. Came back a couple weeks later to be fitted for a monitor, and later to chat with doctor.

On those two fittings due to the Wi-Fi in the park I drove up early in the AM, checked into the hospital (Cafeteria that is) for Breakfast, Lunch and Wi-Fi,, When the place got overly busy and they needed my table, I checked out and hiked roughly a half mile to the doctors (Was nice weather, not too cold or hot, not too windy and no rain, liquid or powder type I enjoyed the walk).

I must say Doctor was impressed.

They put me on assorted diuretics,, I lost over 40 pounds in one week, alas, gained about half back (they cut one diuretic) I will have to talk to him about that when I get back "home". Home,,, is where I park it, "Home" is S.E. Michigan.

If you are medicare eligible the meter Doug mentioned is covered by medicare and probably any secondary insurance you may have. With it you take your own weekly or monthly tests depending on the test reading and call them into a private company. That company then calls your doctor or "Coumaden clinic" with the results. The clinic then calls you if the dose of medicine, coumadin, has to be adjusted. I fortunately am not on coumadin now but was once told I needed to be on it for the rest of my life. Long story but with second opinions, more testing and more dr's I managed to stay off it. Cannot address bleeding, but with the the two it is a problem. I would be getting second and / or other opinions.

DW was just diagnosed with A Fib. She takes Xarelto so no blood testing is needed. We considered warfarin and decided the other meds were the best way for her. There is a meter and test strips you can buy so you can run your own PTs and report the levels to your doctor. This is one PT Meter, the down side is these are expensive to purchase but they do offer some degree of freedom. I have no idea if insurance would cover some or all of the cost.

I have heard of people having standing orders at a national lab chain (like Quest) and just arranging testing that way. There are ways to do this and still have the ability to travel.

Best of luck,

Doug