I regularly suffer from atrial fibrillation. I was treated in hospital for this once. I have been taking acenocoumarol since June 2011. I’d like to get rid of that, but the cardiologist thinks it’s better that I continue. Do you agree with that?
Male, age 58
Joris Bartstra, journalist with medical diploma
atrial fibrillation means that the atria of the heart do not contract properly. As a result, the blood flows a bit more ‘messy’ to the ventricles. In some corners of the atria, blood remains, in which clots can form. These can be taken along with the blood stream and then hide a blood vessel ‘higher up’. The vascular system branches into increasingly narrow vessels, so at a certain point such a lump gets stuck.
And if that happens in the brain, it leads to a stroke. Acenocoumarol has an anticoagulant effect. Without anti-coagulants, someone with atrial fibrillation has about a 5 percent chance of having a stroke each year. With anticoagulation, the chance is about the same as that of a peer. If you have prolonged periods of atrial fibrillation, it is important that you take the inhibitors. If it takes ten minutes every now and then, the risk is smaller. Therefore, discuss with your cardiologist how long and how often you suffer from it.
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