Just back from hospital, been there since 10.30am today. Went into AF 5.30am New Years day. Waited
hoping it would right itself but this morning 30 hours later, I had to go to A and E. Had ECG - irregular but had slowed down a lot, had bloods done etc, i hour later it righted itself. I could tell straightaway, Docs said I should have come yesterday, but was lucky it righted itself. Still now sure ... dont feel completely stable but hey-ho I home. I have 2 glasses of wine New years Eve, not a regular drinker jut hols and special days but it could have been the trigger I suppose
New thought my life would sought of revolve around my heart rate, had a few health issues in my life but this is rather like migraine you take lots of precautions but it still jumps up and bites you. But...Im thankful and hope it settles down.
Bye for now
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ruskin10
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Hi Ruskin, - Happy New Year to you too. How tedious for you to start the year like that - but every time you have a session you learn a bit more about AF and become wiser and more knowledgeable about your own brand of it. Let's hope you have a decent spell of good behaviour from your heart now.
To a happier and less eventful new year! For the wine..... I tested once with one glass - same wine.... once I had Afib, the other not. It can be a number of things, so I hope you at least enjoyed them! I cut it out once I no longer wanted to take the risk. ... Most of the time! I am learning not to have anything if I am tired!
Sorry about your episode. When I plan to have a drink or two, I take two tablets in advance: A (quarter) beta blocker (atenolol: racing heart is a trigger for me) and Nexium to prevent stomach acidity (also a trigger). I've never had any episodes of AFib after wine using this strategy - whereas without these prophylaxes wine tends to be a trigger for me.
Interesting Tom, I think I need to look at stomach acidity a bit closer…..I like eating meat but my sixth sense is telling me to cut down and I have long since been unable to face a sirloin steak. I will increase salad with olive oil dressing.
I had to go on nexium to address a stomach problem, and noticed during that treatment that it helped with food and alcohol related fibrillation triggers. The atenolol was prescribed for AFib but I only take it as prophylaxis. Using the two in combination before a potential major trigger (a party w lots of food and alcohol, or strenuous exercise) was something I discovered not a doctor, and it may relate to my individual circumstance.
My GP has advised me to cut out any form of alcohol which shocked me slightly as I presumed in small amounts would be ok, I did cut out wine some months ago but still would drink acouple bottles f lager over the weekend whilst out or after golf
Not sure how I will cope particularly on holidays, what a bummer.
It's sensible to remove all potential triggers initially until you get a handle on your condition. I initially stopped all alcohol too. Now that I have my AFib mainly under control (reduced acidity in my diet; reduced workload and stress; lost a lot of weight; go to bed early and stick to a sleep routine; high daily magnesium intake; avoiding sugar; daily flecenaide) I can have a glass of red wine after dinner 3-4 times per week, or if I'm out with friends I might have a beer or other drink (gin & tonic). It probably does lower my threshold for AFib, so if I have 2-3 drinks (rare!) then I might take a quarter beta blocker before bed as a PIP to make sure everything stays quiet. But white wine, sweet wines, and champagne are triggers for my AFib, so I avoid them. Nexium is the brand name for esomeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor used to control stomach acid. For me, stomach acidity seems to be a trigger so I also take nexium as needed.
No, I haven't had an ablation. Maybe down the road. At the moment 50 mg flecenaide twice a day does the trick. If that stops working I'll increase the dose to 50 mg 3 times a day. If that stops working I might combine with a beta blocker. If that stops working I'll look at ablation. I know some go for ablation immediately and it's usually effective, but I'm waiting. Ablation strategies and technologies, as well as skill levels of ablation specialists, are good now, but they'll inevitably improve even further as time goes on - and for me there is no urgency. As soon as AFib starts affecting my quality of life significantly, I won't hesitate.
Thanks, all advise appreciated but flecainide defo not working for me been off it two days and feel better already, just betablocker now and magnesium/taurine supplements.
My EP has suggested going on a research program which will bring my ablation forward appointment is Monday 19th Jan
Good luck with yours as you seem to still have good QOL
Hope you have a good day today. Totally agree with Rellim that the silver lining to episodes is that you learn each time.
I declined many goodies during Christmas through gritted teeth as AF is very fickle and even a small change in consumption can affect things……I am also chicken about going into hospital over Christmas/NY! I only slipped up once when I decided to have Christmas cake (includes some alcohol) as part of my breakfast on Boxing Day and I got some early signs of the AF trying to get the better of the Flecainide so rested and it passed thankfully.
The beta-blocker will help slow the heart down (deals with rate), the flecainide is sodium channel blocker which helps the high rates and the irregular heart beat. They are often prescribed together. I needed both to have an effect, though such is not the case for all.
Im on Pradaxa (anticoag) and Biosoporal. Some days have bad headaches. GP tried me without Biosop for 10 days but still had headaches on and off, so changed me from Apixaban to Pradaxa, still getting the heads though, going back to GP this week, if I can get in that is!!!
Everyone is different re triggers I think. I drank a whole bottle of red wine (8% proof) at a New Year party this year (I know, I know I was pushing my luck) and no A Fib but I can just turn over in bed and off it will go so there is no rhyme or reason to this condition, we are all different. I sometimes wonder if we should just give up trying to control it as it obviously has the upper hand! I am just doing my best to get through the episodes without panic which only makes them worse. Happy New Year to you and hope you stay in SR.
You are so brave with the wine but yes, life has to be lived and we try not let it control everything we eat, drink, do. Its a blessing to know I`m not the only one, my friends and most of the family have never heard of AF but then I hadnt until it `visited` me
Well, you have a second home now! Everyone hear understands, hope things improve for you. Understanding your situation helps, so get the answers you need!
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