Trigger?

Has anyone else noticed that chocolate is a severe afib trigger? I'm guessing theobromine is the culprit for me. It is used as a heart stimulant for some people. So I avoid any type of chocolate and caffeine.

[RobertELee]

We do hear this on the forum however on at least a couple of occasions I have found that eating dark chocolate has, within a few minutes, ended an AF session.

Probably a coincidence....both ways.

[BobD Volunteer]

Some people may be lucky enough to discover a trigger or two but they are just triggers and AF will happen anyway once you have it. It is such a mongrel condition that no one size fits all.

Bob

[jossikins]

This is interesting. I have suffered from AF for several years and have now had a pacemaker implanted, followed by an AV node ablation. This leaves me still in AF but unaware of the symptoms. So, maybe I am not in a position to properly judge the effects of eating dark chocolate. However, dark chocolate contains a high proportion of magnesium, which, in turn, has been shown to have a positive effect on heart rhythm. 100 grams has about 176 mgs of magnesium, about half the normal daily requirement. So, I do eat dark chocolate occasionally, in small amounts. (I am not a chocolate devotee.) And, as a North American, I drink strong coffee. This never appeared to have a deleterious effect on me, even in the pre-ablation days. Maybe I am just lucky. However, I am scheduled to have a one-year post-ablation check up on the 24th, when I will also have an ECG. I will be interested to see whether the extra (quite a lot!) magnesium I have been ingesting over the summer has had any positive effect. So, watch this space!

Jos.

[seasider18 in reply to jossikins]

Try eating a bar before you have your ECG!

A friends wife treated him to a health check at a private hospital for his birthday. He went through parts of it before there was a delay and they offered him sandwiches and coffee while he waited. He had a second cup of the strong coffee before going for his ECG.

It took them a while to realise what had skewed his results and he had to go back for another ECG the next week.

[jossikins in reply to seasider18]

I detect a note of sarcasm in this! I can only say what has happened to me and what I have learned from a lot of research, I don't saturate my life with things relating to AF - there is too much else to do and too much real life to live - I only note things that make sense!

Anyway, however your input was intended, I will have my ECG next week, and I will keep to the routine I now have, which includes extra (lots) of magnesium, and a fruit smoothie, daily, and OCCASIONAL dark chocolate. And, yes, I drink strong coffee. But I am alive, and I am enjoying my life. I am not het up with what could be or might be but what is, now, in this moment. I will let you know.

Jos.

[seasider18 in reply to jossikins]

May we both stay alive for a long time yet continuing to enjoy our treats.

[jossikins in reply to seasider18]

I sure second that!

Jos.

[Barry24]

Hi,

As Bob says, I am one of the lucky ones in respect of triggers, I know for a fact that "Dark Chocolate" starts a flutter in me, I don't know about plain chocolate,

but to be safe I keep away from it all. Coffee I don't drink, so I don't know, however I was told on my discharge paperwork from hospital to limit the amount of coffee, tea and alcohol.

Best Wishes

Barry

[Rellim296]

I hardly ever eat anything chocolatey because if I do, twenty minutes later on I wish I hadn't. The same goes for drinking hot chocolate and coffee. It doesn't start AF. I just feel unwell and full of regret.

[CDreamer]

I found dark chocolate always ended in AFib - could have been a blessing as since AF was ablated am hooked on the stuff! Coffee, coka-cola, tea and alcohol were also triggers so I guess it was any stimulant such as caffeine so I avoided anything with caffeine in it - chocolate has a very high content.

[PeterWh in reply to CDreamer]

I wish that dark chocolate stopped my AF!!!! Would quite happily eat a bar a day if it did!!!!

[Tobw]

Not a severe trigger in my case, but I've gone into AFib after days where I have eaten chocolate, then again there have been plenty of times I've eaten it and stayed in sinus rhythym. If it is a trigger for me, then it's one of many because, eight years down the line, I still can't identify the one or two things that I know can definitely lead to an episode.

Interesting to read about dark chocolate stopping an episode though because the only thing that seems to work for me is climbing hills and, even then it only works about 40% of the time - my AFib seemingly has a mind of it's own and only decides to stop when it's good and ready to!

[Hidden]

I can't have coffee only decaf, what I don't understand is that I can drink coke and have no problem or orange lucozade , really don't make sense .

[crustychin]

The absolute worst AF trigger for me has been Coke and Diet Coke, I have had AF for over 30 years, and am now 75. My longest episode of this awful condition has been 15 hours, and always seems to hit me about an hour after going to bed.

[Finvola]

At the beginning of my AF, I suspected Cadbury's creme eggs (along with practically everything else!) and I now avoid milk chocolate. Instead I eat a daily chunk of Green and Black's 85% cocoa dark choc - without problems so far.

[Julie10051]

I have always had to avoid chocolate, caffeine and alcohol as they really messed with my af, the only thing I can't avoid is adrenaline which acts as a trigger for me.

[NooNoo14]

I no longer drink normal coffee or cola - just the occasional decaf coffee but I do think, if drunk late at night, it did have an effect. Not sure about chocolate. I have stopped eating it anyway because I am trying to lose weight but I was eating plenty before without apparent effec!

[cassie46]

Never been a great chocolate eater - husband is but it does not tempt me when he is indulging! On thing it does do to me is that if I have any in the eveing I do not sleep well at night - I become hyper - same with coffee when I used to drink it. When I had my first bad AF attack and heart failure it was xmas 2013 - new year 2014 - I did rather overindulge in a large box of scrumy choc from the Choclate Hotel over a three day period - I do wonder if that started the whole episode. Ended up in hospitol for11 days. Fizzy drinks also have a hyper effect on me, but very rarely drink them. my main fluid intake is water.

[Fooey1955]

I find that choclate really triggers the gibrillation. I become aware of the abnormal heart beats. It feels really scary. Not much chocolate does this.