Atrial Fibrillation – anyone else?

Every few weeks for a couple of days my heart beat is really irregular. Not fast, just irregular. Doesn’t hurt, just feels weird. So I went to the Doc, had an ECG and got told I had Atrial Fibrillation. Need to have more tests and then see a Cardiologist.

On the plus side the Doc says I can keep riding my bike.
Worried about the increased risk of stroke…

Anyone else on here got/had this? How freaked out should I be??

Ton has been suffering for a while now with AF

There were a few people on here: ton and OMITN plus some others.

Me too, AF and a TIA (a mini stroke), from about a month ago. Seeing the top doc tomoz, the TIA meant my hand went a bit funny for a while, it cleared up over a week or so. The last skill to come back was signing cheques. I’m on meds for the BP and other stuff. At the hospital caring and competent people looked after me, found the problem and set me up to deal with it.

I’m not worried.

Join the club

Thanks chaps, just went through Ton’s old posts and found this thread.

Not the same, but I’ve just joined the tachycardia club :/

Good luck with getting it sorted!

cheers-drive: Thanks for the link. I’m going to have a good read now.

woodcutter, if you have read that post, you will know i am still in perm AF mate.
keep you fingers crossed that you are not mate, it is horrible.
from my experience, if you are having occasional episodes you should probably get sorted with medication.
if it goes persistant or permenant you will probably have a procedure at some time.
from talking to my consultant, people who are in perm AF usualy revert back after a procedure.
hope you get sorted mate.

Yep.

At least I think so: lone paroxysmal AF (i.e. get it occasionally and no obvious cause). But the last person I spoke to suggested it was atrial ectopic beats, which may be a precursor to AF.

When seeing a cardiologist, if you have any choice in the matter, see an electrophysiologist – cardiologists who specialise in the electrical elements of the heart. I’m off to see one next month.

Ton has permanent AF, although lone AF can lead to permanent AF my relatively minor inconvenience of feeling as weak as a kitten on a few rides per years does not compare.
The cardiologist said it’s just a factor that can lead to strokes which is heavily outweighed by the fact I’m fit and have low cholesterol.

Ton, you’re really going through it. I hope you get sorted it sounds so bad. Chapeau that you keep plugging away.

It’s early doors for me diagnosis-wise, but it looks like I have something similar to TazzyMTB and OMITN. I don’t get the 200+ BPM thing and it doesn’t happen all the time. When it does it is more like missing beats than extra ones. Sometimes the gaps feel really long (watched pot never boils!). My resting heart rate is low-ish (40-50) and my BP is normal.

My Doc has a really good ECG trace of it happening. Blood test next week, then the cardiologist. Cheers for the electrophysiologist tip OMITN, I’ll try and see one.

Thanks all for the supportive comments – fingers crossed for all of us, eh!

Woodcutter – feel free to email me. Anyone else for that matter. Address in profile. Happy to share experiences.

One thing to think about is the longstanding phrase “AF begets AF”. In other words, it is assumed to worsen over time. So don’t leave it alone.

Tom

keep on keeping on fella’s…….. 😀

i got real down last autumn with it, did not ride or try to ride for 4 months.
went for my 2nd ablation in march which failed……and i just thought, **** this, i am gonna try and do something about this.
so i started on the idiet, and now lost just short of 3 stone and feel ace.
started riding to work again, painfully slow, but 12 miles a day is better than nowt.
just done my 2nd uplift day, which i loved, and regardless of what people thing, it is very hard doing repeat runs down a hillside all day.
so, keep your chins up and keep trying to ride and keep active.

and one thing is for sure, if i am gonna die from a heart attack, i wanna do it while out on the bike trying, rather than laid on the sofa feeling sorry for myself……. 8)

but 12 miles a day is better than nowt.

That’s more exercise than the average man, so I reckon your doing alright.

Ton – I misread that, I thought it said “… i wanna do it while out on the bike trying, rather than getting laid on the sofa”. I nearly spilt me cocoa 😀

Hmm. Interesting. Just had first bottle of diet coke in ages (just have water these days).

5 mins later heart goes all wonky.

Tells me I shouldn’t drink this s–t any more!

Tells me I shouldn’t drink this s–t any more!

As you will know.
We Humans have a great capacity for adaptation.

Ditch the cola and fizz.

Long term you’ll end up wondering why you ever drank it.
And like Ton says.
You’ll feel better.

In the middle of diagnosis myself following a first ‘attack’ of irregular heartbeat (one of those linked threads is mine). Similar to OP – no pain, just missing a beat now and again.

Just had my second ECG/bloods and waiting on an echo and 24 hour tape thing.

Since it all kicked off for me Saturday. it seems to have calmed down now. Still getting the odd ‘twitch’ a few times a day (seems worse when laying on my back or just after eating) but nothing like the weekend.

GP has said carry on riding as long as symptoms don’t change, but in his words “don’t go silly with it”.

Have also booted caffeine and booze until I get some answers – no idea whether it will help, but it can’t hurt?

slainte ❓ rob

I’ve also cut out caffiene, booze, chocolate and other sugary stuff until I find out what the Docs say. Not fruit cake though…mmm fruit cake.

From what I understand on AF, often people find there are triggers. However, over time the number of things that trigger an episode tend to increase (comes back to the “AF begets AF” principle).

Booze is a classic one, though – too much to drink, and I notice it. It’s the only thing which gives me a racing heartbeat. Otherwise, I just get the feeling of an irregular beat/missed* beats.

*I’m told this is often extra – ectopic – beats, which are small, and so the feeling of a missed beat and then a big thump follows as the heart has to fully refill before setting off again.

Booze was a trigger for me(or the hangover following booze was). Now off the sauce and I only have very occasional AF episodes if I get run down/have been ill and deal with it using “pill in the pocket” (flecanide).

I believe that warfarin is the standard treatment for AF to help prevent strokes.

I guess that presents an issue if you fall off your bike and bleed.

Maybe get padded up!

Has anyone noticed a link between their episodes of AF and being dehydrated?

Yup.

Before I got my atrium burned by the good people at Papworth, if I has dehydrated I noticed a higher chance of getting into AF. Of course, dehydration was brought on my many things, but a hangover was one. Heat and stress was another.

Woodcutter.

Do not worry about this. See what your specialist has to say and then think about what to do. If it’s episodal, then they may be able to find the triggers for it and control it or stop it. Please do talk to us if you want, or need, to. I don’t think any of us would mind helping out if we could.

Thanks Willard, it looks like its the same for me. Has ablation worked for you?

Willard, did you ablation work?

Yup.

The chap at Papworth burned around all of the pulmonary veins in the left atria and since then I’ve been good. I’ll admit that I worry about it coming back, but I’ve quit smoking since then and cut down/stopped drinking, so I think I’m good for good.

It’s changed my life, so there is hope.

nice one mate, hope it stays good. 😀

i am pushing for a mini maze procedure at present, seeing the consultant in a month, fingers are crossed.

Initial bloods were OK. Two weeks to wait until x-ray, ultrasound and consultation with cardiologist.

Have lost 5kg in 5 weeks cutting out booze, sweet, rich and fatty things. Haven’t had another big AF bout. Still getting small flutters though, often after eating, but not always.

Willard – nice one

Woodcutter – Member
Have lost 5kg in 5 weeks cutting out booze, sweet, rich and fatty things. Haven’t had another big AF bout. Still getting small flutters though, often after eating, but not always.

VERY similar here. Spooky. Don’t weigh myself but definitely lost some girth being off the booze etc. No real ‘attacks’ since the first one a month ago, but had a couple of flutters this past week – both during or just after eating. Lots of stuff around the net about digestion-related arrhythmia. Got my echo a week tomorrow.

slainte ➡ rob

I sometimes notice my heart beating really fast for a few beats then slowing down, then back to normal. I only notice it when say reading in bed, it may happen other times, I dunno. NO adverse health issues otherwise, should I be seeing my GP?

Colournoise – sounds like we have something similar going on. Compare notes in a couple of weeks when we’ve both been seen to, eh?

Cynic-al – if you find yourself asking STW “should I be seeing my GP?” then maybe you should…

My mum has tachycardia. She had an ablation 5 years ago which didn’t work. She now takes low dose beta blockers, she isn’t on warfarin. She is scared to exercise much in case it sets off an attack, but then she never was particularly active before.

Her triggers are caffeine, dehydration, alcohol, stress and getting too hot (she can’t go in a sauna or anything like that, or have a hot bath).

She does yoga for stress which seems to help and she doesn’t really drink alcohol. I have had a couple of episodes of elevated heart rate after drinking alcohol as well which has led me to cut down on drinking quite a lot, as maybe there is some genetic propensity there.

I really cannot recommend cutting down/stopping drinking enough, both as a means of removing a trigger and as a means of general health improvement. It’s second only to quitting smoking. I wish I had done both of these ten year ago.

Cynic-al – if you find yourself asking STW “should I be seeing my GP?” then maybe you should…

This is one of the most sensible things I have seen on this site for a long time.

Woodcutter, keep us up to date with what goes on eh? And if you knocking around Papworth at any point, give me a shout.

wish mine was triggered by something, then i could avoid the thing what triggers it.
being in permenant AF is a proper bastid.
taking 10mgs of beta blocker and 18mgs warfarin daily now……i rattle like a pill bottle. 😆

one thing i do know is that when i started on the idiet in march, my INR went haywire……i was on 13mgs of warfarin before then.
so the massive change in my diet must play a big part in my need for more warfarin to keep the blood flowing free.

so the massive change in my diet must play a big part in my need for more warfarin to keep the blood flowing free.

Clogged up with all that black pudding innit? 😉

I’m off to see an EP (electrophysiologist) on Weds. Wonder what he’ll say. TBH, not had an episode for several weeks, but then I barely drink these days, follow the diet-that-dare-not-speak-its-name and take more (but not nearly enough) exercise. Oh, and my stress levels are much lower.

Ton, warfarin likes stability, changes are bad for your INR levels.

Before I had my ablation I was on warfarin (of course) and was told to keep doing what I was doing. I took that to mean having a glass of red wine at night. When I stopped that in the run up to the op my INR went mad and I had to up the dose a bit before I started on the clexane.

Good luck with the EP bloke OMITN.

After a bad winter I had gone months without an episode until last Wednesday. Had to turn round only 10 miles of my ride and crawl back home 🙁 Luckily it didn’t last too long after I stopped exercising.
I tried ‘that diet’ but had one of my worse ever episodes when on it. Now I just try to eat sensible with the occasional binge.

I can’t seam to pinpoint what sets mine off so I guess as long as it only happens every once in a while I’ll just have to live with it.

Good luck on Wednesday OMITN

Cheers chaps.

I’m off to see him as the current cardiologist is a generalist, so less spacialized. I need to get some clearer understanding of what’s what , what I can and can’t do, what the prognosis looks like for a 35 year old, etc.