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Atrial Fibrillation....need advice for my father

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Posted 7/30/2010 11:46 AM (GMT 0)
Hello all :)  I am in the need of advice because I just found out that my dad has AF (he's 65).  He fell down in his room the other day and passed out.  I knew he had heart issues but he never would really tell me exactly what was wrong.  So then when he passed out in his room, the docs called his mother (my Gma - they live together) and told her that he would be fine that it was his AF acting up. 

My dad is VERY stubborn and refuses help from anyone and he keeps everything to himself.  I have looked up AF online and all it tells me is what it is and what can be done about it.  But what I need to know is, will this kill him?  He is not very good at taking care of himself and I guess my uncle is in the process of trying to get my Gma in an assisted living center.  My dad might have to go with her because he can not be home alone because he passes out a lot and one time he passed out and was on the floor for 2 days. So I guess I need to know how dangerous this condition is so I can talk my dad into going to a facility with my Gma or not.  Btw, my dad is an alcoholic and I know this does NOT help with AF (he's also a smoker).  I don't know if he was drinking with this last episode or not but my Gma decided to clean out his room while he was in the hospital (which he would yell at her for trying to do this in the past) and she discovered several whisky bottles, however I do not know if they are old bottles or new ones because he has not cleaned his room in a looooonnnggg time.

I do know he takes one heart medication though I couldn't tell you what it is and he was on Rhythemal (?) but the doc for some reason took him off that. 

 

Posted 7/30/2010 2:08 PM (GMT 0)
Sherry,

I am so sorry to read of your Father's cardiac problems.

If someone develops atrial fibrillation, the upper chamber is going let's say 600 beats per minute. If the lower chamber is going more than a hundred beats a minute for weeks or months at a time, that can cause the lower chamber of the heart to wear out and you can develop congestive heart failure and in rare circumstances that can cause cardiac arrest and death.

I suspect your Father's health is not good second degree to the alochol and lack of taking care of himself and this is going to make his heart condition more acute. For some people, drinking alcohol can trigger an episode of atrial fibrillation. Binge drinking — having five drinks in two hours for men, or four drinks for women — may put you at higher risk for A-Fib.

Also he is a smoker which is another risk factor for A-Fib.

I would talk with your Dad about going into an assisted living facility and also if you can get him to seek help for the drinking that would be a good thing.

Remember we can not make someone seek help if they refuse. I know you are a loving daughter and please know that you are doing all that you can.

Your Father is blessed to have you in his life.

Kindly,

Kitt
Posted 7/30/2010 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the response Kitt. My Dad for a while stopped drinking and has told me so. He was quite proud of his achievement but I don't know if he started back up. For a while there, he was drinking pretty heavily and my Gma would call me constantly to try to get him to stop or slow down. But doing that is like talking to a brick wall. If you look up stubborn in the dictionary you probably would see his name!

He has been an alcoholic for about 30 years and all those days of heavy drinking and smoking has taken their toll on him. It was very hard to deal with him as I was growing up and yes, I still hold some resentment toward that but I still love him and want him to be happy and healthy regardless. When he gets out of the hospital, I am going to have a heart to heart talk with him to see where his mindset is and try to convince him to move closer to me so I can look in on him. Right now he is about 100 miles from me and I can't keep driving out there to check on him because of my own health issues. Plus my Gma is taking care of him instead of the other way around and it's hard on her since she is failing too (she's 88).

So I guess I needed to know exactly what I (we) are dealing with regarding the AF. Maybe with this new scare I can try to persuade him to let me help more.
Posted 7/30/2010 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
Sherry,

I do believe you are on the right track and that it is time to have the heart to heart. Let him know how much you care about him and that you would feel better if he would be willing to make some changes in his life. I do understand that change is very hard but it can also make life happier for all concerned including your Dad.

I understand that 100 miles as my folks lived 100 miles from me and as I was my Father's only child I made many middle of the night drives praying all the way that I would get to him or my stepmom in time. It is still one of my biggest anxieties to hear the ringing of the phone in the middle of the night. My father died when I was 40 years old.

Blessings,

Kitt
Posted 7/30/2010 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
Kitt,
I had to edit your signature, you had some strange code in it that was causing some problems in some browsers. Probably from copying and pasting something into the text box. It won't fix problems on previous posts, but it will fix it going forward.

Peter
Posted 7/30/2010 7:25 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Peter !
Posted 7/30/2010 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
Strange, the "fixed" signature didn't show up on your reply. Try tweaking it and let me know if you have any problems.
Posted 7/30/2010 7:33 PM (GMT 0)
I left it off  -  to save space on that post......... smhair   Here it is.

Posted 7/30/2010 10:18 PM (GMT 0)
Nice, feel free to visit the My Profile > Edit Profile section to tweak it to something nicer :)
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