You may differ from
other people with regard to:
- … whether you have negative side effects from
medication (including effects that are dangerous and those
that are merely unpleasant) and how these affect you;
-
- ... your general health, your
genetic makeup, and the state of your liver and
kidneys, as these could affect your long-term
tolerance for certain toxic medications (of course, some
people are happy with any medication that makes them feel
better, and so they will put thoughts about long-term effects out of
their minds) ;
- … what constitutes an acceptable quality of life or a
tolerable level of symptoms of AF. For example, if exercise
is an important part of your life, the restrictions on
activity level from some types of medication or from
an approach, such as rate control, that does not get
rid of AF may not be acceptable to you.
- … your reaction to the idea of
“heart surgery”, as in the various MM procedures, as
opposed to the more benign images of CA. These images may not
reflect the real extent of damage that might be caused by
each of these approaches (see
Advantages and Disadvantages... below).
- … the degree to which you are comfortable leaving
treatment decisions up to your doctor. An increasing number
of people with AF do not expect their regular doctors or
even their cardiologist to keep up with developments in a
rapidly growing specialty like the CA and surgical treatments of
AF, so they educate themselves and insist on being actively
involved in treatment choices.