triggers

[atrialfib]

does anyone really think there are triggers,one day i can drink wine,one day it seems i cant ,one day i eat anything next day i cant,one day i can run upstairs next day i cant.

[BobD Volunteer]

Lots of people are convinced that they have triggers. I'm not sure as like you things are never the same. If those people get comfort from not having a glass of wine. piece of chocolate, nice cheese etc then it is right for them. As I joked once before like a lead balloon, you won't live any longer but it might feel like it.

[Hidden in reply to BobD]

Hi Bob.

I love your final comment - very clever and amusing!

I do wonder whether, since humans seem to love searching for and finding patterns in various phenomena, we instinctively do the same with AF episodes. I do so myself, and have come up with quite extraordinary (and usually bonkers) conclusions. Some, though, seem to stand up to a degree of scrutiny.

Regards and good wishes to you all.

Pete

[dedeottie]

I am like you. Everything or nothing could be my trigger. I have totally given up trying to work it out. Other people on here do have definite triggers though. One thing I know for sure is that always rears its ugly head just when I don't want it to.x

[Craggy]

More than once I thought I had identified specific triggers but the results have turned out to be very inconsistent (to say the least!). However, I am still convinced that stress is an important potential trigger.

[Hidden in reply to Craggy]

I totally agree with you, Craggy. I feel sure that stress does make it more likely to have an episode, whether it be at the time or, as BobD comments, subsequently.

Cheers,

Pete

[jennydog]

I also have stress as a trigger. The very first time that I had an appointment with my EP we had a nightmare journey - we couldn't find the place, then we couldn't get into it and parking was a problem. I arrived with 5 minutes to spare in full- blown AF. At least the ECG was a sight to behold. I feel ill thinking about it, 10 months later.

I really do have to avoid stress if I'm to stay AF- free.

[BobD Volunteer]

Funny that it was always stopping the stress with me. I was fine when I was flat out like a blue tailed fly but as soon as I stopped and relaxed BAM!

[Bagrat in reply to BobD]

Yes Bob. My migraines were like that. Never had them till the weekend or day off!!! Convinced my body has to have some thing to make me chill out. Migraines stopped so developed something else!!! Wendy

[Larry2]

I'm not convinced about triggers either but that is just me. When I was experiencing paroxysmal AF I tried a number of alterations to my lifestyle, even to the extent of not having a beer for eight weeks (geez that was a long eight weeks!!) but I could find no pattern except for the period of resting after vigorous exercise. My EP does not seem overly convinced about triggers either. Cheers all...Larry

[Rellim296]

Perhaps it's a combination of two triggers that sets off AF. You can drink as long as you don't also run upstairs, for example. You can do either as long as you don't do both in quick succession.

[Buffafly in reply to Rellim296]

My husband has a saying that it takes three things to make a disaster, very true, try it, but in the case of AF I think you are right that it often takes two eg going swimming after having a wheezy chest the previous two days! So we are talking two things that stress the heart even slightly happening together or in succession.

[jeanjeannie50]

I know for a fact that artificial sweeteners trigger my AF.

At work I discovered my AF would ALWAYS kick off after eating apple crumble lunch time. I was assured by our cook that that there were no artificial sweeteners used and even looked at the ingredients on the tinned apple used myself. Then one day our cook came to me and said she had suddenly realised there were artificial sweeteners in the custard. From then on it was crumble without custard and no AF afterwards.

Stress triggers mine too, so I do my best to avoid it.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Aspartame should have been banned years ago. Just google it!

[lingooz in reply to BobD]

I am scared to as been using it daily for 50yrs maybe why I am PAF or years of anti inflams

[MarkS]

I'm also very doubtful about triggers. I went years trying to find a connection with what I ate/drank/did - I'd convince myself that there was a connection - then I'd get AF anyway.

I believe there was a connection with stress - or at least coming out of a stressful situation, but there again many times I just got it anyway.

The human mind is designed to over-identify patterns - is that waving grass just the wind or a waiting lion? Those who thought it was the wind were right 9 times out of ten - but they didn't survve the one in ten!

Mark

[Mrs-Gilly]

As well as the panic and gloom of more and more floods and leaks at home, I find any excitement can trigger ectopic beats - even Lewis Hamilton rounding the last corner of the Abu Dhabi grand prix! I have to temper my ranting and raving at the TV nowadays; how boring is that?

Yours rather subdued

Mrs Gilly

[atrialfib]

thanks for all the comments,i agree it adds up a bit more when you look at more than one thing,i think the migraine thing could be down to sleep patterns maybe a lay in at weekends who knows.

[Jason1971]

I've given up on triggers atrialfib. Sometimes looking for something to blame and the stress of avoiding said things can be a trigger in itself I go into AF every week and have done for 6 months now. I've had every trigger from Exercise to alcohol to big meals to cold drinks and I have an AF diary that is an A4 pad full. I cannot find a link and speaking with my EP he even said why don't we concentrate on fixing you first. He wasn't particularly bothered about my diary, but I can't blame him considering its length.

There are definite triggers for people on this forum and I think lucky you, unfortunately (For me) I aint one of them.

[Hidden]

Maybe the point is the triggers that folks latch on to are just the ones that are the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

i.e. If your stress levels are up already any number of things you eat, drink or exercises could set AF off, hence the confusion that sometimes one thing is a trigger and at other quieter times it isn't.

Just a quick thought as I plough through my emails having lost broadband for 10 days….better watch out my stress levels are up!!