Get out of AF

[George60]

Hi all, curious to know if any AF sufferes out there have there own way of getting out off Fibrillation. I've read that some hold there breath or cough etc etc, I have tried these methods but to no avail,

[BobD Volunteer]

Realistically there is no solution but in a few cases, relaxing the vagus nerve by slow deep breathing can help. Breath from the diaphragm and slow down to no more than six breaths a minute can help ectopics this way.

Valsalva manoeuvre (hold your nose keep your mouth closed and blow hard ) can reduce tachycardia in many cases but AF is a different ball game. Since we are all different what works (or not) for each person but in the vast majority of cases it stops when it wants to or not. End of as they say..

[George60 in reply to BobD]

Hi Bob, just tried the above, Oh well it was worth a go lol. In my case so far nothing helps

[Goldfish_]

I'm a fan of pill in the pocket flecainide, seems to work quite well for me. Usually I only need 50mg and get back to sr in less than 1 hour

[George60 in reply to Goldfish_]

Yeah the pill in the pocket method works a treat, in my case I had to take the maximum recommend daily dose 300mg. Unfortunately this would only be short term and AF would return sometimes, good to hear you only need 50mg

[ultramarine]

If the breathing doesn't work after you have given it a go for at least three to five times in a row, the best thing after that is blowing into a small syringe (lower half) tube, you should be able to pick one up from the Chemist.

This is the same concept as the breathing except the tube regulates the breath out, you can feel the force in the blow more.

Next step is quarter to half of medication if its continuing and dangerously high like over 150 to 170 in peaks I used to wait for at least 2 hours before taking an extra dose and if that didn't work I would either call the ambulance if it was continuous and not righting itself, or I would just do my muscle relaxation and meditation if it was going in and out of arrhythmia until I went to sleep. Next step is Emergency hospital if its really bothering you, for me if it was over 3 hours and the above methods did not work. I didn't like to try anything else.

Keep track of events even when in AF if you can and try to do muscle relaxation from head to toe, naming the parts of your body as you go, it will give you something else to think about. Don't just concentrate on your heart muscle, concentrate on your stomach muscles plus all the rest.

Mine was paroxysmal with different types of arrhythmia so it was ok to up medication with the consent of Doctors of course, and it was Ok to go to emergency because you get tired after a long bout, and you have tried everything.

[LindaDaisy]

I find bearing down and drinking an amount of ice cold water can sometimes change my arrhythmia from fast PAF to regular tachycardia of about 100. Then after a few minutes or hours it reverts back to my normal 60. This seems to work about 50% of the time. Obviously a vagus nerve element there.

[Bagrat in reply to LindaDaisy]

LindaDaisy , My now retired GP told me to suck ice chips. Have never had a chance to try this though

[LindaDaisy in reply to Bagrat]

Paramedic told me. I now keep a bottle of water in the fridge especially.

[netpi]

I have had several attacks of the paroxysmal variety that in all likelihood would have terminated on their own (longest lasting one with no intervention was about 2 hours) but I have been able to terminate more quickly, sometimes within a couple of minutes, sometimes within 30 minutes - immersing my face in cold water seemed to terminate 1 episode in 5 minutes - stopped cold then I had to clean the floor - straining as if trying to simulate a bowel movement also stopped one within 10 minutes - all the others were terminated with the pill in the pocket approach - a combo of ativan .5 mgs and inderal .20mgs

[KingAlf]

I'm quite new to AF and had a bout that was going on for about a week. I seemed to get more tired as the week progressed but then slept for 12 hrs and normal rthymn had resumed in the morning. My heart rate when in AF was 85 so not unduly worrying.

The key might be what is giving you AF in the first place. I am yet to meet up with specialists for a clinical diagnosis but suspect mine is primarily from doing to much exercise.

All the best for finding what works for you.

[Geza10]

30mins of sex can set it right for me thats what i told the wife 5 years ago just haven't got round to telling her it dont work now

[lulabell58]

I've taken regular Flecaneide for a lot of years..100mg twice daily.mine always seem to start after I've taken my evening tablet..and within an hour of going to bed. I'm odd in that I'm so tired. .I usually fall asleep. Sometimes if it's really bad I wake several times for the loo..and mine last from 7/10 hours..I'm usually shattered afterwards..despite a night's sleep.

[Gracey23 in reply to lulabell58]

Lillabell, I have felt for awhile that after my evening dose of Flecanaide I can feel my heart. I'm not exactly sure of what's going on but I've done Bobs recommended breathing exercise and then calms down. I think I read something somewhere that Flecanaide can cause other arrhythmias. Who knows, but interesting that you experience what I do. Maybe others will enter the conversation, Gracey

[ILowe in reply to Gracey23]

In pre-AF days I was on Flecaine, for months/years, not sure now. I had permission to stop it during the holidays/relaxation. During term time, the Flec no longer worked, so I doubled the dosage. That made it worse. Willing to eat humble pie I went to my Cardiologist, and with a smile, he told me I should have known better! Had I not read that sometimes Flec makes things worse, therefore the solution is sometimes to reduce/stop? He counselled me to stop. Sure enough, I found I did not need it.

Recently, Post AF, normally not taking anything, with two incidents in 2 weeks I decided to have a spell of Flec daily. I had discovered that I needed a higher priming dose (150mg instead of 100mg) and decided to do daily, 100mg, taking it once, at night, since the problem started in the night. A week later I noticed too many runs/trills in the night when at maximum level, but not in the day. Time to try 50/50, then possibly only 50.

I think we have to feel confident to experiment, within reasonable limits.

At least with a lower dosage, a small PIP is likely to work quicker, since the system is already primed.