- Hey, I'm Dr. Morales.
I wanted to make this video to give you my top tips
for anyone living with atrial fibrillation
no matter where you live
no matter where you are with your atrial fibrillation,
these are my top tips that can be helpful for anyone.
So number one would be the find
the right treatment for you.
And that basically goes along with saying,
don't settle for treatment options
that are not working for you.
I can't tell you how many people
have reached out to me,
whether that's through social media
or through email who tell me that their experiences
at home have been very subpar
in terms of their interaction with their doctors,
get a medication, say, here's your medication.
You gotta take the medication,
better take the medication than to get a stroke
and just deal with it, you're stuck with it.
You're gonna have it for the rest of your life
without really giving you a whole lot
of options about what your treatment options can be.
When variety, there's usually a lot
of treatment options that are available
to people with atrial fibrillation.
Medications are very appropriate for many people,
but there are also procedures as well,
procedures such as a catheter ablation procedure,
which can be very helpful for a lot of people.
And the earlier that is done in somebody
when they're further diagnosed with AFib,
the better the success rate.
In addition, lifestyle modifications,
such as losing weight or reducing
or abstaining from alcohol,
those things can also be very beneficial.
So if you feel that your doctor's really not giving you
the right treatment options or telling you
all the different potential options
that you can have or that treatment's just not working,
if your doctor's not willing to work with you,
then it's always fair to get a second opinion
and find that right treatment that works best for you.
Whether that's doing your own research online,
such as what you're doing now
or finding another doctor that will give you
more treatment options,
and that also goes along with seeing electrophysiologist.
Electrophysiologist are the experts
atrial fibrillation like myself.
We've done many procedures on people
who have atrial fibrillation.
So it is always key to get an opinion
from someone who's electrophysiologist
early as possible in your disease course.
'Cause that's when you're really gonna get
the main treatment options.
So the first thing is really find
the right treatment for you
and don't settle for whatever it is your doctor
may be giving to you if it doesn't appear
to be working for you.
Number two tip would be to understand your risk of stroke.
Risk of stroke is the most devastating part
about having atrial fibrillation.
And it is the most serious consequences
of having atrial fibrillation,
but not everybody at risk of stroke is the same.
It's very individualized,
based on your own individual risk factors.
The most common risk factors scoring system
use called a CHADSVASC risk scoring system.
You can look it up and figure out
what your individual CHADSVASC risk score is,
and understand how your risk of stroke
can be from atrial fibrillation.
For the grand majority of people, though,
the main way to reduce a risk of stroke
would be with blood thinning medication,
because they work really, really well
to reduce risk of stroke can be very important
for many people who have atrial fibrillation.
But for those people who do not tolerate it,
there's also for some procedure options as well,
which again goes along to find
the right treatment option for you.
Make sure you're discussing it with your doctor,
make sure they're doing all the best options for you.
Third thing would be to find that your triggers
for atrial fibrillation.
Triggers can be very individualized.
You know, what the triggers for me
may be different from somebody else or another patient.
So you really have to be a bit of a detective
to know what triggers it off for you.
For some people, it may be sleep deprivation,
for some people may be stressed,
for some people may be very fatty foods,
for example, or maybe alcohol.
So finding what really sets off
your atrial fibrillation could be very important thing
to figure out because that may will significantly reduce
the amount symptoms you're having.
And then the fourth thing would be to put an emphasis
on lifestyle modifications.
Lifestyle modifications,
which for a lot of people would be losing weight,
but that could also go down
to reducing inflammation, reducing blood pressure,
having a healthier lifestyle that reduces
excess sugar, artificial ingredients.
All of these things are not only healthy for your body,
but are also healthy for atrial fibrillation.
In addition, these lifestyle modifications
can also improve the success rate
of your other treatment options.
So people who end up needing
a catheter ablation procedure,
for example, under having a component
of lifestyle modifications as well
improves the success rate
of the catheter ablation procedure as well.
So they all work well together.
So lifestyle modifications are extremely important
and can really help your overall treatment plan as well
that you have with your doctor.
So those are my top tips for anyone
with atrial fibrillation.
Fortunately, when it comes to lifestyle modifications,
I created the program already
that gives you the step-by-step plan,
where everything that you need to improve
atrial fibrillation naturally,
and has to take control of AFib program.
So right underneath this video,
there you'll see a link that will take you
directly to the signup page,
where you'll be able to see more about the program itself,
as well as see real life testimonial
from people who have taken the program itself.
See what they have to say,
and sign up for the program for yourself.