Hi i am new to here so many of been answered many time.
I have Paroxysmal Afib. I am 48 and had this for a few years. currently taking 100mg flecainide twice a day.
I cycle and try to push myself hard. so my fitness has improved, although still over weight.
My question is that my rest pulse rate was around 70ish however more recently it is around the mid 50's.
I am not sure if this is because i am fitter or it has something to do with my Afib.
Chris mine to dropped and just about gets to 50, but I am on 2.5mg Bisoprolol, which will keep it down, saying that befoe this awful AF was bestowed upon me my standing heart rate was always around 60ish.
Flec is rhythm control, not rate control, so must be your fitness, nice one.
I wish i could still exercise, prided myself on my fitness, but the last month as all but proved impossible, I am now at the stage of any form of physical activity will bring on my AF, not immmediately, but within the following 24hrs.
Good luck with your fitness and Flecainide, its good that some of us respond to the meds and have a choice and some QOL, Flecainide just seems top make me worse.
My only choice is the abaltion now, next Tuesday.
I will be thinking of you on Tuesday. Don't worry, it is really o.k. and I am the world's biggest coward. The groin was stiff and bruised for 24 hours but now it doesn't hurt at all and it had stopped bleeding by the following morning. The bonus was having a good-looking doctor applying pressure for 10 minutes!
Are you having sedation, if so ,don't be afraid to ask for more. I asked even if I felt a twinge with the result that I really had no pain at all.
I have taken everyone's advice and rested even though I am not good at resting but I must admit to feeling very tired.
So far there has been no A.F. yesterday I had about 2 hours of ectopic beats which normally trigger A.F. but they stopped of their own accord. A good sign I hope.
I have to stay on bisoprolol and flecanide for 3 months till my next consultants appointment. I have an appointment with the arrhythmia nurse in 4 weeks.
Once again good luck and I look forward to hearing from you.x
Thankyou Dedeottie
I will make sure I request more sedation, my pain threshold is rather poor, told me EP that and he just laughed.
Will keep you posted on progress, I like you not one for resting.
My wife has a trip booked to Paris with one go our daughters two days after my ablation and not sure if they need to cancel it, any thoughts.
Well, I must admit that I made my husband cancel his bowls matches in case I had any funny turns but as it happens I have been fine so far. I am at the end of the 3rd day and feeling much better so you may be ok but I would buy in lots of microwave meals so you don't have to work hard.
I think by choice I would rather have company but some people who live alone seem to have been ok.
Have you got family or friends who can pop in for a chat? X
Hi Chris, I'm 43 and take 1 x 100MG of Flec twice daily too. I'm fortunate enough to still be able exercise and do regularly. I'm 15 stone and over 6ft, so if my BMI was taken into account I would be classed as overweight. I never knew what my resting heart rate was prior to getting AF, but needless to say I'm a bit of a saddo when it comes to keeping a record now. I was on Amiodarone first of all and when on this my resting HR was around 60 - 65, I switched to Flec and after some other health issue got sorted my HR is now between 50 - 55. As Mick states Flec is a rhythm control drug, as was Amiodarone, but I got slightly different HR readings, still I'm with Mick and believe it must be your fitness.
Hope everything keeps going well.
Jason
Would love to know why Flecainide does not work on me and I could carry on exercising, even a round of golf now sets me off 24hrs later.
Flec seems to be a wonder drug for so many.
Up until last October i was playing 5 times a week, as well as my other fitness work.
It's not such a wonder drug for me Mick, but I do appear to be in a more fortunate position than you. I had about 7 months this year where I was in AF every week and a decision was made to book an ablation. The issue I had was thyroid related and I'm positive that was the reason behind my increased episodes. It's now under control and things had been great as I thought the Flec was working. However, over the past couple of weeks I have been having episodes again for what appears to be no reasons whatsoever. I've got my ablation in the 23rd Feb, so I'll take it from there.
Good luck with your ablation Mick and keep us posted.
Thanks Jason.
Have my own theory on Flecainide as mentioned previously on another post.
Good luck to thee also
It didn't work at all for me either. Only made full time afib less violent. Only thing that has helped, and that magificently, was ablation. Doc got six areas in three hours and I've been in sinus rhythm ever since (September ) and off flecainide completely.
Thanks everyone for responding. Sorry to hear some cannot exercise now. It is the only thing that keeps me sane but to be honest after my 103 mile charity ride last August it took a while to fee better. Not sure if that was the Afib or just a fat guy riding a long way lol
Chris that's an impressive bike ride even without AF, being fat, skinny short or tall, nice one.
Miss my exercise big time, sit on my arse all day at work and then couch it in the evenings, never done that what I can remember in all my 55yrs.
However all that said can't wait to be able to sink a few bottles of becks without worrying about the on-set f AF.
Hi Chris, I have PAF and am on the same dose of Flecainide and although it is principally rhythm control it shifted my pulse down from around 60 to 56.
Not sure about your exercise regime, cardio said do your normal exercise (tennis and a bit of running), the EP said leave it out. I miss it but so far I have followed EP's advice. We are all different and you may have less other issues e.g. stress enabling you to exercise fully.
MickN. I'm a runner and the AF pretty much prevented any sort of decent training - or even easy running if I'm honest - as soon as I started to run, along came the AF. I had an ablation last May and other than a few episodes in the first two weeks afterwards, I've been AF free and back to doing all the running I was before the AF came along. I've been advised to cap my distance at 10 miles because of the link between endurance sports and AF, but to be honest, it's a small price to pay. Good luck with your ablation. Sue
That's fantastic news Sue on the ablation, see quite a few posts on failed ablations so great to see successful ones.
Target first up for myself will be now to have a round of golf without being followed by AF episodes 24hrs later.
Only advise my EP did give me was not to strain when lifting any weights, which I took heed of, he was quite surprised when I last spoke with him I had to stop practically everything, even staying off work improved my symptoms, and I am sat at a desk all day.
So ablation it is tad nervous, but thinking positive about what I get back once all done, happy days.
Hi there, just reading about you being a runner , I too am or was a runner until I started with af last September ,I carried on but at Christmas was in af every weekend for about 5/6 weekends , I stopped running for a while gradually doing a little now but more walking , anyway hopefully going to have the ablation and its good to hear you can get back to normal once this af is hopefully sorted , I struggle with the bisoprolol and flec too,cheers Paul
Paul. I wish you well for the ablation. I can honestly say that it's given me my life back. Let me know how you get on. Sue
Mick - easy for me to say I know but the ablation is nothing to worry about. I had sedation and can't remember a thing. Let us know how you get on.
Lordy guys, its all so very confusing for a more or less newbie!
I'm on Flecanide twice a day and this is the first of me realising it's a rythm control med. I have learned so much just by reading all your posts and although some of it is scary, I'm grateful for the knowledge you all have.
I am attached to yet another heart monitor till the 19th when I go back to hospital to hopefully get it off! 2 weeks with it attached is playing havoc with my skin....very sore! The monitor itself is no bother, I must have a bit of an allergy to the sticky pads.
I hope ALL of you are better and stay well!!!
Blue 
x
Af seems very confusing.
I had a view episodes that I ended up in hospital.
No one ever caught it. I had a thing called a cardio call fitted which you press when you feel something going on with your heart.
I had a very minor episode so pressed it and from that they told me I have afib.
An EGC has never picked it up even when i was sitting in the back of an ambulance with my heart racing.
I saw an EP in Bristol who suggested Flecanide and statins (even tey my cholesterol is good)
After being on them with no symptoms for a year my GP suggested I come off all meds.
I hear exercise and then I hear its bad....So confusing.
I've kept up my gym excercise, cardiovascular and weights 3x week throughout even when in full time a- fib and since ablation. Had to go easier before ablation but back to normal pace since and get only occasional "blips" during start of cardiovascular exercise. For me the benefits of keeping up with the exercise routine far outweigh the afib worries and I feel my stronger heart, etc., because of it, helps compensate for a lot (including depressive effects of BP medicine).
That's great to be ale to do so, I too kept up weights cardio and plenty golf and managed to keep my AF under control, however that all changed say early January when the AF got out of control, symptoms just meant the exercise just had to stop.
Ablation is Tuesday 17th, so all things x'dd I can get back to where I was .
Get varying opinions medical and from posts on here what can actually be achieved post ablation, so only time will tell.
Are you able to drink alcohol??
I would díe for a beer once my ablation is done, not really drank since last October.
I don't drink alcohol so don't know.
TRY NON-ALCHOLIC BEER I DID .I STILL GET A BUZZ MUST BE IN MY MIND ! LOL !
It's finding it not many bars restaurants sell it
How long after your ablation was you doing weights etc??
I went back to all of my normal gym activities about two weeks after.
I can't comment about weights but my post op instructions were: no more than general pottering for one week. Then easy walking for one week. Then a bit more striding out for one week then week 4 back to easy running. After I saw my EP at one month post ablation, I was back doing normal training. I have to say though that I always make sure I warm up properly (15 minutes minimum) before doing speedwork or threshold runs.
Thanks all for the great advise have taken note and will heed, bar the teetotal one haha
I stopped drinking while I was on warfarin. Now on Rivaroxaban and drinking!
I think drugs have different effects on different people. For example, Flecainide gives me palpitations, so I can't take it. Personally, I'd be looking at what the drugs may be doing. Can't see exercise dropping your heart rate 40% in relatively no time at all ?
Koll
What does pulse in Afib feel like?
Low resting HR on Bisoprolol 
Kardia monitor - if it says ‘Possible AFib is it always AFib?
Pulse Oximeters to help/predict Afib?
