Can I do a bit of gardening, when i am in AF, and a little bit breathless??
Excersise, and AF, how much? - Atrial Fibrillati...
Excersise, and AF, how much?
Written by
dirose
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34 Replies
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BobDVolunteer
Try to live as normal a life as possible . AF may be in your life but is not ALL of your life. So long as it doesn't hurt or make you feel ill carry on. I would shy away from rowing across Windemere or trying to do an iron man competition but walking and gentle exercise is fine.
Bob
Hello dirose
Enjoy your garden just don't over do it, I like walking I also
get short of breath, I shall keep going for my walks my Dr says just take it steady it is best to keep exercising,we need to keep fit, enjoy your garden over the summer, afternoon tea sounds nice !
Christo.
My Dr. Is always encouraging me to MOVE. He told me to start slowly and increase time I am doing it by 1 or 2 minute a week. If I am getting out of breath to only go to the point where I have to think about talking not to the point where it is hard to talk.
my cardiologist advised me to carry on exercising, but he encouraged me to do breathing exercises at the same time
I have PAF. I could never start or continue exercise when in an arrythmia but otherwise I play tennis and go to the gym allot (did both yesterday) and am fine with that. You just have to see how you get on and what suits you
I think that what you can do whilst having an AF attack depends on the severity of the symptoms. A little gardening may take your mind off the AF and if you feel worse then you can go and sit down or lie down. It would not be wise to get in your car and drive to the local town to do the shopping. You risk being taken ill in the middle of ASDA. The important thing is to manage the AF as best you can and to stay safe.
Your comment on Asda got me wondering. Any supermarket really! There's something about these interiors that seems to affect my heart rhythms. I know it sounds crazy but could it be something to do with the lighting instore? I know that strobe lighting can affect the heart and I know that supermarket lighting is not strobe but I do find it very bright and harsh???
in reply to Mamamarilyn
I'm not sure about AF but Asda used to make me feel really weird when I was pregnant - I keeled over three times while shopping there. The last time, one of the cashiers said cheerfully 'oh, lots of pregnant women do that here' and I remember thinking, no, it's just me lots of times! But perhaps the lighting or something does have an effect - maybe there are hundreds of us feeling bad...
Mamamarilyn in reply to
Perhaps I should listen to my inner voice which says "use your local independent stores" ........
Yes, and how caring they are,if uou got ill in there you would know they would look after you. X
Rellim296 in reply to
This takes me back to the first time I experienced palpitations. It was about 24 years ago and I had gone to our newly-opened Asda store for the first time ever.... But have been many times since without problem.
in reply to Rellim296
Like Mammamarilyn, I wonder if it's the lighting...
At the risk of sounding boring and repetitive, I stick to the old adage of "Listen to your body." I go to the gym regularly. Sometimes I feel great right through the training and sometimes I don't. When I don't , I stop , have a rest, then go home. Physical activity is important for all of us, even if we feel we can just be active for a few minutes before tiring. A smaller amount of regular exercise is safer and healthier than trying to do something mad after a period of inactivity.
Keep well all you AFibbers x
I'm sure it's very individual, the important thing is not to push it, just go gently when you're actually in AF, I think everyone's tolerance for exercise is different, some people cheerfully go cycling and others have to sit or lie down. I'm trying to get fit outside of episodes, to make my heart healthier and hopefully better able to withstand all the bumping and thumping. I have gardened while in AF, but never actually chopped down a tree or lifted bins above my head, or anything...
Rellim296 in reply to
I stay at home when in AF and garden and carry on much as normal but gently. I am going to ask my GP next time I have an appointment about treadmilling as a means of escaping from an AF session.
This time last year I was 200 miles away from home on my own with a busy schedule of visits over three days. On the second day I woke in AF at about 4.30am. It wouldn't go away and I had two appointments ahead of me, so carried on as if I was OK but took taxis instead of walking. Spoke to a friendly pharmacist about taking extra flecainide - I was on 100 twice a day then - and he advised me to see a doctor. So I bought some asprin and continued through the day, travelled (by train) about 50 miles, mentioned my situation to no-one, hoping that if I turned deathly pale, help would be summoned. At about 8pm I realised I was back in NSR. I was fine for the rest of my trip away, but have not been brave enough to go off on my own again. Wings feel very clipped and the past 12 months have felt rather blighted.
I did see a doctor when I was back at home and asked for guidance. He was a locum and said you should not leave AF for anything much over half an hour before reporting to some professional, sent me to see a cardiologist who a) put me on warfarin, which I do not like - understatement of hugely immense proportions - b) upped the flecainide and c) sent me to an EP who put me on his list for an ablation. It will be my second.
When I saw my own GP not so long ago, he encouraged a much more casual approach to bouts of AF and encouraged me to travel instead of living in the slow lane.
in reply to Rellim296
Yes, well, I get where you're coming from, I'm freelance and ended up on a gruelling mission to Amsterdam last year, and to Busan (Korea) two years before. Luckily I didn't go into AF but it was a 'what if' at the back of my mind. Nobody has ever said to me, 'talk to a professional if you're in AF for over half an hour', my understanding was that if I went over 12 hours they might want to cardiovert me and I could always call if I was worried... Maybe that is me being too casual, I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong!
I just assumed for my trips that if I went into AF I would find some way just to walk gently around, give myself more time to get to my conference sessions, make sure I didn't work my heart harder than I thought it could stand. It sounds as if your trip turned out okay? I'm going to 'proceed with caution' as they say and just have a plan for if I do get an episode.
I'm on warfarin too by the way, and was worried about it beforehand... but now I am trying to see it as a life saver that will let me carry on with my life without worrying about stroke.
I do relate to your remarks about wings being clipped and feeling blighted. That's me,exactly.
Re ASDA, I do feel the lighting could be a problem. When I was younger I used to get migraines - flashing lights was the trigger.
In Liverpool it is always called "The ASDA." Hence "I'm going down The ASDA." I recently heard someone say "I'm going down The Lidl."
dirose in reply to
Noooo way, just putting in the bedding plants, weeding, and mulching!
i have read some posts on here of people who or Iin AF going for a jog or go for a brisk walk to bring them back INR All through i no longer go to gym these days i cycle up to a hundred miles a week and short two miles jogs every so often. I believe in keeping active to strengthen my heart. I would also
Advocate doing some light yoga which will encourage better blood circulation and have a calming effect on the mind. i sure your garden will look great this summer. keep smiling
My super fit brother who regularly runs marathons and iron man competitions in Australia recently had AF, he was successfully treated with shock to put it right, tablets for 6 weeks but has just had an angiogram to confirm no lasting damage and permission to go back to his running. He is 50 with no other medical problems. We are unsure what caused the AF in the first place but re-assured that he has had no other episodes.
Hi Dirose, I have PAF, and every day when I'm not in AF I do a 1 to 2k treadmill walk at speed, as long as I'm on the flat I don't get too breathless. I also play bowls three times a week and Tai chi once a week. When I was first diagnosed and on beta blockers I thought I would never have the energy to exercise again, but now I find the more I do, the more I am able to do. As long as I listen to my body and don't push it too far I'm fine, but I cannot exercise when the AF strikes.
I went to Kenya, Romania and Uganda for work with AF - tho it is now controlled but still there. Get well anti coagulated, don't be frightened and take deep breaths.
When I was really poorly with paroxysmal AF and before the pacemaker implant and 3 ablations, I found that exercise was a trigger and could bring on an AF episode. This being the case I found the only way to get through an episode was to lie down (sometimes sleep) and wait for it to end. Now that I am in sinus rhythm and hardly any AF I try to walk somewhere every day, but it wouldn't suit me to try anything more vigorous. Is there anyone out there who is the same?
dirose in reply to
Yes, I find excersize a trigger, my heart rhythm goes into overdrive, and I feel totally worn out as though I had been for a jog or something!
CDreamer in reply to
Yes vigorous exercise is also a trigger for me as is overdoing things generally, not good at pacing myself! I am all go or all stop.
in reply to
Yes, unable to do anything too strenuous...I love cycling but sadly for the last 2yrs I havn't been able to do any. Within a couple of hours of doing so, i was going into full blown AF and mine is really bad in that I get chest pain and very breathless. Cardio wasn't (i've moved recently) a fan of Ablation as he said people usually need another and perhaps another further down the line, so i'm happy to go along with his advice. He also told me i had to go to A&E whenever i'm in AF but so far i've been able to control it by taking a flecanide to get me back in nsr. I take bisoprolol daily but flecanide when needed as extra. The hospital told me to never do any exercise or exert myself when in AF as it puts too much strain on the heart and was equivalent to running a marathon..so guess thats why it's so tiring.
I had AF yesterday and completed a 2hr cycle but at a steady pace. Normaly kicks heart back in, but not this time. I regularly do quite heavy gardening with AF but again take it at a steady pace and stop for breaks. It was rotavating that eventually kicked things back in yesterday. Don't overdo it ! I get annoyed that my heart is being lazy. Consultant says OK to exercise but do not overdo it. I am 65 year old male.
I thank every one here who has been sco kind to reply to my question about excersize, this is all really wonderfully helpful. X
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