Hi, So my Grandpa is 89 and is curently in the hospital.  He has had Atrial Fibrillation for sometime now but has been very healthy up until the last couple months.  He wil be fine one day then wake up the next and not be able to breath, walk and then is very confused and disoriented.  We have him on blood thinners and are just trying to get to the bottom of whats happening.  they feel these epsisodes are either caused from his heart or from these mini strokes in his brain.  I just want another opinion or maybe some advice on possible treatments for him.  he is a very strong man and is a fighter and wants to get better... any thoughts?
Hello thanks for posting here. Your grandpas symptoms are due to intermittent episodes of AF with fast heart rate. The heart doesn't fill properly due to the fast beats and hence the breathlessness. So for the AF he needs to be on rate control medications which I assume he is already taking. I think since he is still having fast heart rate episodes the medications need to be either changed or dose increased. Another important group of medications is blood thinners due to the mini strokes' history. Since you have not mentioned which medications he is on, I cannot comment further. Thank you.