1. Atrial fibrillation (AFIB) is a disorganized electrical signals originating in the heart’s upper chambers (Atria), causing the rhythm to be irregular.
2. During AFIB, the heart does not pump blood effectively to the rest of the body.
3. Though AFib isn't life threatening, it can lead to awareness of heart beats, feeling tired all the time or getting short of breath with exertion
4. People with AFib are five times more likely to have a stroke compared to people without the condition. Doctors often prescribe blood thinners (anticoagulants) to patients with AFib to reduce this higher risk of stroke.

Atrial Fibrillation Complications:

Stroke

1. In atrial fibrillation, the atria do not achieve a solid contraction, which means blood may not be fully emptied from the chamber. This can lead to blood pooling, and blood clots may form. A blood clot in the heart can travel to the brain and cause a stroke.
2. Health care providers can estimate your risk of having a stroke using your age, sex and other medical conditions, such as high blood pressure (hypertension), heart failure, diabetes, and problems with your arteries or veins (vascular disease). Based on this, you may be prescribed a blood thinning medication (anticoagulants)

Heart Failure

1. If atrial fibrillation continues without control over a long period of time (years), the decreased efficiency of the heart can lead to heart failure. Heart failure is the long-term inability of the heart to pump enough blood for the body’s needs, and the body’s organs don’t receive the oxygen they need to work properly. It is important that AF be converted to sinus rhythm, or controlled.

Atrial Fibrillation Medications

The most common initial treatment for AFib is medication. These include three types (blood thinners, antiarrhythmics & rate control medications). Finding the right medication or combination of medications requires a partnership of the patient and his doctor. AFib that does not respond to treatment with medication may require catheter ablation.

Blood thinners (known as anticoagulants)

They include warfarin and novel oral anticoagulants. These medications prevent blood clots that can result from AFIB, thus reducing the risk of having a stroke from AFib. It is important to know that anticoagulants work the best when taken as prescribed. If you do not take the right amount of medication and your blood is not thin enough, you could have a stroke. On the other hand, if your blood is too thin, you could have dangerous bleeding. To avoid these complications, you should adhere to your anticoagulation treatment plan.

Antiarrhythmic drugs

These medications restore the heart’s rhythm by blocking the abnormal electric signals and irregular heartbeats. The success rate of drugs to maintain sinus rhythm is about 50%.

Rate control medications

They include digoxin, beta-blockers, or calcium channel blockers. These drugs are helpful for reducing a muscle cell’s ability to contract which helps to control the speed of the heartbeat, reducing the chaotic contracting rhythms caused by an arrhythmia.