What's happening: Hi I would be so... - Atrial Fibrillati...

Atrial Fibrillation Support

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What's happening

7 Replies

Hi I would be so grateful if someone could tell me what's happening. After initial diagnosis in Feb this year my af seemed to have settled down with a virtually trouble free two months. Last night and again tonight at around he same time whilst watching t.v my heart started to palpatate quite strongly, HB was ok for a while and the it went from 40 to 88 quite rapidly. The whole episode lasted for under an hour. After it settled down I felt completely washed out. Is this something I should expect in the future? Or is it as a result of something I have done, GP changed my medication for heartburn from esmeprosol to ranitadine. Only started taking it yesterday. 

Sue

7 Replies
meadfoot profile image
meadfoot

I take ranitidine and had similar experiences to you when first taking it.  Not sure if this was coincidence.  My GP did not have an answer.  Af is a strange condition and affects us all differently.  Check with you doctor it's worth giving them a call in the morning.

Do you take meds for af you don't mention them in your post.  I assume you have acid reflux or similar hence the ranitidine.  Ask your doctor about any connection between the af and stomach.  

My af starts to make its presence felt when my hiatus hernia plays up.  The connection between the vagal nerve and af is widely recognised.  There is a similar post today on the forum have a look at it and people's responses it might help.

Have a word with your doctor tomorrow to see if you are on the right meds regime overall or if you need some amendments.  Good luck hope you feel better tomorrow.

in reply to meadfoot

Thanks mead foot, yes I am taking zemtard and apixaban which I thought was controlling the af not so sure now. Will ring g p in the morning

Sue

BobD profile image
BobDVolunteer

Sue, you need to learn how to take your pulse so that you can feel if or not it is regular. AF is a chaotic heart beat with no discernible rhythm regardless off how fast or slow it may be. This may well be a slight tachycardia( Fast heart beat) but anything between 60 and 100 is considered normal anyway. 

Since you have AF then you will experience arrhythmias from time to time as we all do . The secret is not to dwell too much on them and whilst accepting that you will have them , don't worry too much as this really will not help. I doubt it is anything you did although digestion does make the heart work  a bit and this could be all you felt. We AFers do get overly aware of such things.

Bob

in reply to BobD

Thanks Bob, I do try not to panic and mostly I have been doing o k, but those two short episodes did appear to be different to what I now expect to be the norm. I downloaded an app on my phone to check my pulse and the wave line on that was quite scary with lots of irregular patterns.  

I can only relate it to the Ranitadine as I have had nothing like this before. My husband reminded me  that I was given this about 5 years ago and had a reaction to it but can't remember what the symptoms were.  Truth to be told I hate being on these PPIs, have tried many times to stop them but the acid reflux is so bad that it actually affects my throat and ability to eat without coughing throughout the meal. 

After two fairly good months I thought that I had excepted it and was just getting my confidence back.

Sue

davee profile image
davee

Hi Sue, I've felt proper poorly for a time. I saw my EP today and was told my af is under control. At the hospital my HR was 97 and BP was 110/64. I now don't know anything that's going on. I've started to feel totally disgruntled by the doctors being told one thing when they mean something else. Is it to protect my feelings??? 

in reply to davee

Hi davee, from all the help and advice that I have found on here I have to accept that af affects all differently. Also in my own case I know that I canwind myself up a state of panic. 

I saw my g p today who is fantastic, as soon as I spoke to him on the phone and explained my episodes over the last few days he gave me an appointment for an hour later for an ecg

Which was o k, also going to be given a monitor to use at home if another episode occurs. So I think I'm getting good care. It's all scary but I keep holding on to the fact af won't kill you.

Hope you feel better soon.

davee profile image
davee in reply to

I saw my EP on Tuesday and was given fairly conflicting news. I have a loop recorder fitted to record permanently and he said there was only mild AF showing on the printout. This is a good sign but I still get very strong ectopics, to which he pointed out that nothing could be done to. As far as passing out he thinks my BP is the cause. Next appointment will be November. Thanks for your concern, take care yourself. x 

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