texcat

I've never posted to this board before, but I'm hoping I can get pointed in the right direction. My Mom is 65 and has Graves' disease. She has had bouts of AF on and off for the last year or so, and this time she's been in to the ER three times in the last week and was admitted yesterday. Her heartrate goes up to 170 if she moves at all. If she lays flat on her back it stays somewhat stable, but still high for her (around 120). She had this happen about a year ago, and they shocked her to get her heartrate to convert, but apparently in AF patients it doesn't typically last. So here's my question: The cardio's plan is that they are going to try to convert her with meds (she's been on rhytmol this whole time) and try to get her TSH level under control, since it's double what it normally is. If they can't convert with meds, what's the typical next step? In all of this, they have not talked about a pacemaker, and Mom says that when she first started having AF they told her that she wasn't a candidate, but she doesn't know why.