About my dad and a-fib...?

YOU    stated  HE  had  been diagnosed  with a Rapid  heart rate  before  BUT  No one   did anything  about it....  After  being told  YOU  have  heart  issues  ONE   HAS to be  Responsible  for  they're own   health and  well being ...   When you walk into the ED  you see a  bunch of  people  WHo  might have already seem  100  people  that day...  They  tell you   you have  a problem   Ultimately   YOU  have to  take your  head   from  up your  Butt and   do something   NO matter  what.   there  are  various arrhythmias  Afib  is  the most  common  catch all.  For   any number of  caused  issues  in the  Atria  (Upper  chambers)  and   this  afib can be   constant   it can  be  fleeting   ( coming and going away and  getting triggered  Back in...etc   In a  small percentage of  Afibs   medication  can  revert  the heart beat   back to "Normal"  MORE   often  then not  IT  takes a  "Cardio version"  which is  using an electric  shock   to  put the  heart  Back into normal  rhythm  ( typically   the  machine   uses  Two   stick on Pads   the  current   zaps  the heart into Normal rhythm)   the   PT is   put  to sleep  before and  awakened   right  after  (just a few minutes   under)   the  Last  option  If   that  goes  back into AFib  is called  an ablation  which is  done   via  a catheter fished up    through the leg  to the  Aorta  into the  heart and  they scrape  and   work around   the inner walls  of  the  Atria so the  electrical  nodes   work  properly  again  that requires   the  less  invasive day  as a video game  and typically an  Overnight and   release   the next  morning after they are  comfortable with YOUR  being  "normal again"......   you  can always search  AFIB  on  either   Google  or  Bing    search engines     I've   personally  Had  5  Cardioversions  the  last two  never  even  reverted me to  Normal  so  THEY   did  an  Ablation....  Easy peasy   OH  and  NO  the  accident   MIGHT have  helped  His  Afib   come out again  but   ISN'T the "Cause"..  text book  Adult male  Heart rate  (generally at  rest is  60-100)   if his  were 100   normally   then he is out of  shape  pretty  bad  

It is not likely a result of the accident. Trauma to the chest is much more likely to cause ventricular arrhythmias than a-fib. A-fib is VERY common as people age. Some people go in and out of it; some people go into a-fib and stay there. It doesn't always cause significant symptoms, so plenty of times we find it incidentally while evaluating something else. It's not unlike finding a lung tumor when doing an x-ray of a broken shoulder -- the broken shoulder didn't cause the tumor, but it led to doing the x-ray that found it. The trauma didn't cause the a-fib, but it led to doing a complete evaluation that found it.

The problems that a-fib cause are a result of what is happening. The upper chambers of the heart aren't contracting as they should. They're just sitting there quivering (fibrillating). Because they aren't contracting in a coordinated manner anymore, the blood in those upper chambers isn't getting pumped around -- it's just sitting there quivering along with those chambers. Blood that doesn't move, clots.

THAT'S the big danger in a-fib: small blood clots form in the atria, migrate to the ventricles and are pumped out to the lungs, brain, or heart causing a pulmonary embolism, stroke, or heart attack.

Ideally, we want to get those chambers pumping correctly again. The danger is if we don't know how long someone has been in a-fib, they may already have clots in that upper chamber -- and suddenly making them pump can eject those clots. So the first step is anticoagulation; most often with warfarin (Coumadin). That prevents new clots from forming and decreases the risk of any existing clots getting bigger.

The next step is getting those chambers pumping right. We start with medications to do that. The electrical pattern in those atria isn't coordinated, so the medications we use affect the electrical conduction of the heart to get that coordinated again. If the medications don't work, then there are two other options.

Cardioversion is using shocks to the heart to re-establish coordinated activity. It works like defibrillation, but with smaller energy and in coordination with the contraction of the ventricles. The purpose is the same for defibrillation -- use a jolt of energy to get everything to stop and get going again at the same time.

The other option is called an ablation. A cardiologist threads a catheter into the heart and measures the electrical activity to find the irritated part of the heart that is causing the uncoordinated contractions. They then use a small bit of energy to destroy just that tiny area that is causing the problem and let everything get back to being coordinated again.

His high heart rate is a function of the fact that the electrical activity is not coordinated. At a rate that high, the ventricles can't fill very well. If they can't fill, they have less blood to pump out to the rest of the body. That's on top of the risk for clots I mentioned.

That definitely needs treating. The complications from a-fib can be serious or even fatal if it is not treated. A large clot to the lungs, brain, or heart is all it takes and a-fib causes clots if it is not treated. It sounds like your dad's team is taking the appropriate steps to treat this. Talk to them about your concerns, but know that he has a serious heart condition that can be a real problem if it is not treated correctly.

Best wishes to you both.

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What if you let the medical professionals do their job? Your dad suffered a lot of trauma, i don't care if he didn't have broken bones.

An irregular heartrate is not likely from the car accident. It can cause a stroke and needs to be corrected.

It could be that he has had this condition for a while but he has not worried about the symptoms.