My problems with my heart started when I was very young and have always coincided with my period and ovulation. I have other triggers too but mostly hormones. This theory of mine was laughed at by every doctor especially when I was younger but as I've gotten older it seems to be more accepted, acknowledged but still mostly ignored 😉
I was just wondering if there is anyone else that has seen a correlation between their afib and their menstrual cycle or sudden onset at menopause or worsening of episodes during pregnancy?
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Kellyjelly
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That's interesting Kelly. My attacks have usually occurred about every 4-6 weeks, so there could be a connection for me too. I'm looking forward to seeing what other responses you get on here.
Hi jean, that is interesting. I use an app on my phone to track my period, ovulation and episodes of afib and around ovulation my heart is very unpredictable then again the day before my period. When I was younger the doctors totally refused to accept what I was saying but now I'm in my 40s they seem to accept that women "my age" get palpitations???!!!! I'm also really interested to see how many people under the age of 50 present with afib or svt especially women? All through my experiences with my heart I've been repeatedly told this is a condition more prevalent in the over 60s which has been very isolating.
Hi Kelly. My arrythmias started after i had my first baby and worsened when i was pregnant with my second. Like you, my cycle DEFINITELY affects how symptomatic i am...one cardiologist did tell me that having your period often makes periods worse. So yes...definitely definitely hormones affect my arrhythmias and i don't care what anybody says..that is a A FACT for me!!!! Dread to think what i will be like in the menopause lol. I also empathise with you about feeling isolated as i also get told when i am in hosp this is very unusual at our age. Best wishes
I had very bad episodes with my heart when I was pregnant with both my girls too. I'm 43 now and menopause is a word I'm hearing more and more and like you I'm quite fearful about how my heart is going to react?! I'm hoping that as the hormones drop off my heart will get calmer, fingers crossed!
I am like you, no matter what anyone says I know that my hormones are the biggest trigger if not the reason I have afib. I have found it very frightening having this and not being able to talk it over with anyone especially people my own age. considering everything I read says it's the most common heart problem I've never met anyone that has it?!?!?!
Kelly, my AF episodes first started at age 48 and almost always coincided with same point in menstrual cycle.I mentioned this to Cardiac doctor and she said that this was probably because one is more vulnerable during this time.
Before AF became fully recognised , women who were probably having episodes were just thought of as ' having one of her funny turns '(!!)
Thanks Sandra, I don't personally believe it's because we are more vulnerable I believe it's being driven by changes in our hormones. I know completely what you mean about "funny turns" it's been very interesting to me that over the age of 40 women are almost expected to complain of palpitations and the word menopause gets mentioned with more frequency but under the age if 40 it's all panic attacks and anxiety related!!
Absolutely. I now know af started when I was about 30... after a really busy, stressful but exciting time. Doctors said it was stress, I believed them, and any time I had a 'turn' put it down to being overtired. Male friends who had 'turns' shot off to the hospital but I tended to put up with it thinking it was my fault! Don't think it is that rare. My cousin has been diagnosed at 38 and I believe my grandfather was diagnosed at 30. Def runs in the family. It took a worse turn 6 years ago, but nothing showed up on tests until a 5 day monitor. Bingo! Slapped on to warfarin and the rest.....
Yes, cyclic estrogen fluctuations can trigger AF. I think it is no coincidence that many women, me included, have the first episode at the onset of menopause.
Hi Grandma, my PAF certainly started when I hit the menopause. I had taken HRT from the age of 33 due to hysterectomy and then an ovary removed at the age of 44 . Doctor took me off HRT when I was in mid fifties, then the fun started. I did go back on my HRT as I was convinced that the withdrawal hadn't helped.
DX in 2001, tried meds then an ablation in 2008 so now with PIP.
Have to see dr each year and state my case for staying on HRT but as it is a very low dose up to now been allowed to stay on it.
Would be nice to see if there is a case for more research into to hormonal effects in women and AF.
Jackie
Hi Kelly,
Your autonomic nervous system controls your heart beat and as the name suggests that controls a lot of the automatic responses in your body. I'm not too well up on hormones and how they are controlled, "glands" controlling hormones, rings a bell...but again even these I think are controlled from nerve centres in the brain ultimately.
Anyway...if your emotions and hormones can have an effect on your autonomic nervous system, I would imagine this could affect your heart beat too!
Hi Kelly, my problems started when I tried to reduce my HRT which I had taken since I had surgery at the age of 33 that was in 1976. My doctor wanted me to come of the HRT at the age of 55 so I cut back the dosage and eventually stopped it for some while. I did recommence HRT however but In 2001 I had my first proper AF episode and eventually had an ablation in 2008. I did ask if the hormone therapy reduction / menopause was related to this but dr didn't know. I took the decision to stay on hormone medication and I have since stayed on a low dose patch and it does seem to keep me on the straight and narrow so to speak.
Our systems seem to be hormone led so any help is a bonus! I still have little episodes infrequently but I have a PIP to sort this out.
Thank you for sharing your story Jay10. I've also been suffering from AFIB and SVT since the age of 33. I was 8 weeks pregnant when my heart started to race out of nowhere, and it lasted all throughout the entire pregnancy heartbeats as high as 225 bpm. After delivering a healthy baby, my symptoms got worse. I was in and out of the ER every other day, at this point, I was referred to a cardiologist, who had put me on Bisoprolol for a while. Bisoprolol did nothing for me, then I was informed about a conventional ablation to study the right side of the heart. That only worked for about 7 days, symptoms free and then I ended up in the ER getting a cardioversion. They had shocked me 3 times and nothing, until they tried the IV cardioversion using Procadamaide. That worked right away, however I was left with a week long of vertigo and weekness for about 10 days. Eventually, I was changed meds from Bisoprolol to Sotolol, that helped a bit for a short period of time. But again, I needed to be referred to another EP doctor who performed a much complex type of ablation, Pulmonary vein ablation (left side of the heart). that second ablation helped a bit more that the other, but eventually my meds were not helping and was changed from Sotalol to Amiodorone. That drug had kept me "stable" for a while, until I felt all the side effects from taking it. I decided to go ahead and have a 3 ablation, again left side of the heart, that again helped again, with less current episodes, and was switched back to Sotolol. I was able to do my normal life again, like going up and down the stairs without being short of breath, started driving again ( had to stop for a while in the past due to recurrent afib episodes) etc. I ended up having 3 ablations in one year, Jan, July and the 4th and last one in November 2016, the very first one was in May 2015. I must say that with each ablation, I have been able to feel better, but unfortunately, every time there's a hormonal change, ovulation or menstruation, I feel afib symptoms, way more manageable than before, but still annoying to me twice per month . I've tried to go on vagifem, a local estrogen tablet, but that did not help me either. I am now 38 yrs.old and have been told several times that I am 'too young' to go into perimenopause, even though I have been dealing with night sweats, hot flushes, an other unpleasent perimenopause symptoms for a while now. Hope this helps.
My first prolonged, true afib episode occurred shortly after GP took me off HRT (at age 65), and later when I asked cardiologist if going off estrogen could be why I began to have afib, he answered "probably". Unfortunately, by then, the tipping point was passed, and returning to HRT didn't help. Ablation sure did, though.
Yep.... didn't know I had AF when younger; just thought that my blood pressure dropped around the time of my period. Actually it did and made me feel very tired. The effort my heart had to make to keep me upright and functioning during that time would set off palpitations if I 'pushed' things. (which I always did and do!) Now I am older, I realise that one key trigger for af is getting over-tired.... so it all makes sense now. Yes, at menopause, hot flushes would set me off too. The secret.... don't over push your poor body when it craves a bit of rest!
I am 66 years and suffered palpitations around my period. I remember as a young woman sitting on the couch with my baby with my heart pounding out of my chest. Dr wrote it off as reaction to coffee, etc but I always knew it was something more.
During the time of perimenapause around age 48 I went through a life changing divorce and at same time my younger sister was battling breast cancer. The stress my body was under was so severe that my GP put me on an anti anxiety medication and told me when things calm down not to be surprised if I get sick. Sure enough with all the stress the palpitations got worse and sure enough a few years later I landed in the emergency room in AFib with a 168 HR. The moral of my story is that yes our hormones play a major role with us ladies but the stress of life can set us into a tail spin. My advice to any younger women on this forum would be to take the time to nurture yourself and get support for stress before the stress makes you sick. Gracey
Yesssss finally I found something. I'm 35 years old no heart issues nothing. I get afib/svt maybe svt but so far there sayinging afib. I've noticed around my cycle I get episodes HR 185+ I was getting every two years but wasn't sure what it was no that I stopped my BC it's worse. I don't know what to do. It's like the week to 10 days before my cycle so fR it starts with extra or run on pacs/pvcs.
I had several episodes of palpitations when I was in my late 20s when I was having my children. Always at night always gone in the morning. I then had nothing for over 20 years until I started the menopause. Again palpitations always at night gone into the morning several Doctors misdiagnosed them as a menopausal symptoms. Was only diagnosed just over a year ago after a different doctor suggested I contact an ambulance next time I had one so they could catch it. Did that for my diagnosis, lone afib. Have mentioned the connection with hormones to cardiologists, one said maybe but seemed to not be interested. Have tried to find if anybody's carried out research on a link but have not found anything yet.
Hi I am 37 years old and i have been diagnosed with AFib (lone) since August 2015.
Already had my first child, suffering from secondary infertility, dealing with the heartache that comes with that , and the everyday stresses of life. Went for my morning exercise walked in the door and my heart was racing. And that was the beginning of my story , so for the last two years i have been on Multaq which for me works amazing with little or no side effects.
i cannot accept the diagnosis and so i have been analyzing my health in a great detail.
so i smoked donkey years ago stop a very longtime ago not a big drinker, suffered with acid which i think that contributed. eat like crap, no fruits and veggies
long story short i try to clean up my act, i went vegan and gluten free for 9 mos, try to reduce my stress and yoga ( apparently it cuts afib by 50% , now that is amazing)
Doctors never wanted me to check my vitamin D (because i am from the caribbean) i am vitamin D deficient, vitamin b 12 was also ridiculously low, so i started those thing
I started spraying my body with Magnesium. Basically i think my body was suffering from mistreatment and poor diet, low cortosol (hormone) and i think i am going through perimenopause.
August 2017 i started weaning off Multaq to see since i am trying to treat my body better if my AFib is gone
This is probably the most satisfying thread I could've found.
I've been grasping at straws trying to figure out what the connection is with my heart- to- daily life.
At 33 i had my 4th daughter(in August 2018) my gallbladder was blocked and festering(by November 2018) 3 days prior to my surgery my heart went into afib(December 2018). They refused surgery for fear of blood clots And sent me to a cardiologist. I was cleared and in normal sinus rhythm. I was told my heart was perfect. And that this is common for 60-80y/o. "Could happen again. Could never happen again."
Needless to say, come March 2019, it happened again. And has intermittently been doing so since.
I've been assuming thyroid (as 5 aunts, my mom, grandmother and 1 sister all have either hyper or hypo) but my levels were normal (minus 1 time it showed hyper.) They said that didn't match up And ignored, tested normal again (back in March following an exam to 'figure out' heart stuff.) I wad told anxiety, even tho, I kept saying this is different.
Im exhausted 90% of the time. And background anxious/ nervous of future episodes. It happens while sleeping, working, cleaning, driving, bathing.
No commonalities.
Until the last 3 bad bouts. It clicked.. I have a pattern!
1 on day 1 ovulation,
next in day 1 menstruation,
next (tonight) day 1 ovulation.
I'll be 35 come March, and I'm wondering If I'm in perimenopause..??
Im so thankful to have found this thread, to at least feel United with alike women.
I feel like I'm going nuts.
Has anyone experienced dry skin, and lip/ chin zone tingling??
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