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What circumstances do others go into AF?

Posted , 14 users are following.

kate07761
kate07761

Would like to ask what may seem like a daft question because I know we are all different however I just wondered  -  What symptons do others get when they go into AF?  And are there times in tends to happen to you?

For me its a flutter almost like indigestion right in the middle of my chest.   It typically can happen in the early hours  1.30 and 4.15 being favourite times often followed by going to toilet.     Other times it seems to have happened after an eventful day or after a medical test and when I have gone to eat.    Yet normally eating doesn't seem to flip it.     I guess I am puzzled over the fact  it's hard to tell if there is a digestive element so am just curious at what others experince.   Just had a AF event this morning thankfully all settled by taking my morning dose early with a little bit extra and am seeing consultant this week anyway.  Thanks 

0 likes, 61 replies

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  • angiemack
    angiemack kate07761

    Posted

    Wow you are all describing my condition and symptoms. I am 53 was very fit at 50 had first symptomatic episode of PAF requiring cardioversion query from deydration and electrolyte imbalance. I then had a cryoablaion and 6 mths later normal ablation, both failed. I find a correlation also between eating too much and abdo distention/reflux as I have a small hiatus hernia and get bad reflux. Also seems to trigger if I am unwell, stressed, in constant pain or had lack of sleep, as I do night duty and dont sleep much through the day. I have just started taking probiotics and yogurt due to irritable bowel/abdo issues and have now been in AF 4 times in the last week, which is quite unusual. I only take 1/4 to 1/2 ea of flecinaide and atenolol and 2 magnesium if I go into AF. This usually reverts within a couple of hrs depending on how quick after symptoms I take them. Its frustrating not knowing the exact trigger so you can prevent it occurring. I have always felt eating a big meal was a trigger but unsure why. My electrophysiologist denies any specific trigger.
    • kate07761
      kate07761 angiemack

      Posted

      Thanks for reply - I have just replied to previous message as to where I am at moment so won't repeat but what does strike me from the replies here and elsewhere is how differently the treatment is of tablets when I am told that there is no alternative to what I take - flecanideand bisoprolol   (as well as Apixiban) without signicant side effects.   I think I will have to ask for 2nd opinion. 
    • 1963deborah1963
      1963deborah1963 angiemack

      Posted

      Totally agree with you on the big meal/full gut/distended abdomen connection with afib.  Also, I too have hiatal hernia.  I'm seeing waaaayyyy too many people with hiatal hernia AND afib to discount a connection between the two and I have been researching this for well over a decade.  We live our lives in episodes...good phases, bad phases.  Of one thing I am sure...big pharma will kill us all.  Fact is, if God wants me home, no pill will stop it lol.  If the pills make me feel like hell and even more sickly, I think I much prefer the gamble of feeling better for whatever time I have left.  I have lived with afib my whole life and I'm 52.  It's when I tell my docs to bugger off and take things into my own hands that I seem to feel better.  For me, how I feel is more important than my heart rate or afib.  Prayers for you my friend.  I understand.
    • elizabeth_12
      elizabeth_12 kate07761

      Posted

      I was given bisop rampril and aspirin 6 yrs ago for a fib. I made several doc apps to sort out how bad I was feeling. The side effects were dismissed and like you was told that these meds were the ones to take. No other meds would be given but I was then offered a cardio doc appt at the hospital. 

        He wasn't good either. Again,my side effects were dismissed and I was given digoxin! To cut this short,I didn't take the digoxin, then saw a new GP who changed the biso to atenolol. Same prob...lots of side effects. I've now weaned off the atenolol....I feel reborn...well still have the a fib. All side effects have disappeared. Read up the latest info on a fib...it may help. It's a  drjohnm and there's research done by a doc from Adelaide .i think he's called dr Saunders. This info has been a lifeline for me. I'm making lifestyle changes...is...lose weight...not one of my docs had suggested this to me. 

    • kate07761
      kate07761 elizabeth_12

      Posted

      I cannot take asprin so hence have never been given.  My brother also has AF and has rampril but he also has had stents which I don't need.   As soon as I try to wean myself of Flecanide the AF goes right away.    Yes read Dr John its very interesting.    I have put on a lot of weight around middle in last year it specifcally happened as soon as I went on drugs again - I think its the bisoprolol thats the culprit and not any other factor.    Keep up the good work. 
    • elizabeth_12
      elizabeth_12 kate07761

      Posted

      Iveput on 3 stones in weight when I've been taking the bisop and then the atenolol. I was so lethargic I didn't want to do anything. The 2.5 rampril makes me feel tired too,but I can't stop this med until I've lost some weight. 1 stone lost so far,but I'm sticking at my weight ...it always happens. I'm going to persevere though. I can't understand why none of my gps ,or then 2 visits to see 2 different cardio docs...didn't mention my weight! Meds seem to be their solution! Thankfully I've found the latest research...I'm giving it a go! Better than meds,any day. The biggest problem now is my lower backache..I can't stand for long without having awful pain. Hopefully this also may improve with losing weight! 

        I don't take aspirin now. I'm taking rivaroxiban....which seems to be ok. At least there's no need to have it monitored!

       Hope you're having a good day. This a fib can be so dibilitating as well as a worry. 

  • frank61666
    frank61666 kate07761

    Posted

    I really think for those of you with afib brought on by food-related triggers, there will be no clinical trial because the solutions would be cheap and easy, and certainly not financially worth while for pharmaceutical companies.

    That said, a single food might not elicit a histamine response in the gut, but a combination of several histamine-indiucing stimuli would, and over a few days - the histamine bucket starts to overflow causing the afib, which subsides in a few hours when the histamine is consumed to low levels....

    Docs are not interested in this; no money for them or the company selling drugs for afib. Plus for a Doc to get to the root of the food intolerance, tedium would result and Docs avoid tedium like the plague.

    Find out what you ate for 2-3 days prior to an afib episode and avoid that stuff.

    Left over food is a total no - no.

    Frank

    • angiemack
      angiemack frank61666

      Posted

      Interesting, never thought about it being a histamine response, does make sense. I understand anything that elevates your normal BP can trigger AF.
    • frank61666
      frank61666 angiemack

      Posted

      Just a little tid-bit of information.  Histamine was discovered over 100 years ago.  Early tests were performed by injecting test animals with it and evidently they all went into cardia arrythmias. If you were to google histamine intolerances, cardiac palpitations lead the list of symptoms.
    • angiemack
      angiemack frank61666

      Posted

      Thankyou very interesting and useful information. Will check it out. Especially considering I have a family history of allergies and both mother and her mother died young of cardiac arrest. I had been diagnosed as having allergic reaction to pollens and asthma for 15 years before it was picked up my symptoms were from paroxysmal AF instead.
    • frank61666
      frank61666 angiemack

      Posted

      I've posted this before - but see if an antihistamine, like benedryl, will calm things down for you.  It can't hurt, that is for sure.
    • frank61666
      frank61666 angiemack

      Posted

      Good idea - same as benedryl but without causing sleepiness. However, I would take it closer to bed time since that is when, lying down, stomach contents can come up and irritate the vagus nerve that controls heart beat.

      Please let me know how you do with this approach.

  • reginald86759
    reginald86759 kate07761

    Posted

    Does anyone know if there any issues with trying Zyrtec or similar?

    Side effects or incompatibility with other medicines? I would like to give it a try.

    • frank61666
      frank61666 reginald86759

      Posted

      Here in the USA those drugs that are over the counter, and not in need of a physician's signature, are considered to be very safe with few if any side effects.

      Zyrtec is one of those drugs that are so safe and effective it is available to anyone, and that is based on years of followong the drug.

      Frank

    • Greebo64
      Greebo64 reginald86759

      Posted

      Zyrtec's clinical name is Certitizine which you can buy from Boots, another brand name is Benydril, but look for "Certirizine" on the box, because there are other strains of Bebydril Antihistimines.  

      i take Benydril Certrizine.

      I have multi-allergies as well as Asthma & PAF, its very very difficult to tell what pills will help stop or relieve AF attacks

      its a " Mine field"

    • reginald86759
      reginald86759 Greebo64

      Posted

      What else have you tried Greebo? I have to see my Consultant soon so am trying to gather some information. I only take amlodopine for hypertension. I would like to stay away from too many drugs.
    • Greebo64
      Greebo64 reginald86759

      Posted

      At the moment i am taking mostly Non Chemical meds,

      i only take one chemical drug for High Blood pressue and that is Candesartin 4 mg which seems to do the trick, this is also the blood pressure pill for those that have an Enlarged Left Atrium, which i have also.

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