A Fib and Gastric Bypass

[MountainClover 82]

I woke up yesterday in the middle of the night with my heart racing and feeling dizzy and light headed. I had a cardiologist appointment at 8am for cardiology cleareance. Needless to say I didnt get that clearance and was sent straight to the hospital in A fib. My heart eventually straightened itself out on its own and I was send home with metoprolol and plans to get on a blood thinner. My question is can I still have the gastric bypass surgery with A fib? I am terrifed they are going to say that I cant have the surgery now because of the blood thinner. They wanted me to go on Eliquis but with my insurance it costs $370. I cant pay that every month, so Im waiting for the dr to call in something else. Please tell me this is not the end of the journey for me.

[Arabesque 7,534]

How scary for you. Glad you got medical support & they were able to help you

Your question is only something your doctors are really best to answer. They have access to your medical history, knowledge about the severity of your A Fib episode, medications, etc. It may just mean a delay to your surgery until your meds make a difference & your heart is healthier & more stable & you can be off the blood thinners in the lead up to the surgery. You’ll be put back on them after the surgery anyway.

All the best.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Arabesque

[kcuster83 1,504]

AH scary, glad you are ok.

Since you now have a pre existing heart condition, your surgeon will have you get cardio clearance. I believe as long as your cardiologist clears you, you should be good to go.

[RickM 1,753]

You probably can go through with your bypass, but that is a call for your medical team - the surgeon and cardiologist. Typically, they want you stable and under control when you go in for surgery - they don't want surprises on the operating table - that's what these various specialist clearances are for. If we were all in perfect health with no pre existing conditions, no one would ever get WLS.

I hear you on the Eliquis - it's the new kid on the block which makes it expensive, but the older meds are a lot more inconvenient to use (when my father was still alive, he was always needing blood draws to adjust the doses of his coumadin/warfarin blood thinner, which isn't necessary with Eliquis.) The drug companies often have discount programs for these expensive drugs to drop the copays for the patient (they don't mind sticking it to the insurance companies, but they want it cheap enough for the patient to use the med rather than a cheaper generic alternative,) so check into that.

It's not the end of the journey, but it is a Detour. At the beginning of this year, my PCP found that I was in Afib when I was getting a clearance for cataract surgery, which put that off for a while until it got treated, but it did happen, though a few months later than expected.

[MarisAthena 61]

I know that I am late to this topic, but as a person that was newly diagnosed with AFib and has the surgery scheduled for 6/5/23, I think I understand the subject well. There is solid research coming from Australia that shows that AFib reverses or at least improves after drastic weight loss. This is what my mayo Clinic cardiologist told me. I hesitated for years to get a gastric bypass but after learning this aspect, I scheduled my gastric bypass surgery. I talked to my gastric surgeon, he knows I have Afib and that I take medication for it and there are no issues whatsoever. I am sure he is consulting with my cardiologist. I wish you the best, this gastric bypass surgery might save us from Afib at least for some years. Let’s hope that the Aussies are 100% correct! 😀