I know I post on here a lot. I'm newish to the site, and newish to afib. Last night something scared me out of my sleep and my heart was racing, then it suddenly slowed down and I immediately felt scared. I thought I was surely going to have an afib attack because this is what happened the first time I had one. I sat up and just took some deep breaths. There's a chance that I was in afib but I'm not too sure. I took an Ativan and just tried to be in acceptance about it. This is my current state. I'm alive. It could be afib but I don't know. Try to just relax. I fell asleep after that.
I get the feeling my afib or what feels like afib is vagal in nature because I do feel weird in my chest when I eat certain foods or when I eat too late. So I'm looking into how I can take care of that.
Anyway, just thought I'd share
Tomas
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We are so tuned into our hearts once we have a problem of this nature that we feel absolutely everything heart related. We all have strange experiences from time to time. Some need checking out with our medics and some seem to be passing fleeting moments.
The trick is in learning which is which and the more experienced we become with our own condition and reactions the easier it is to tell which is which.
If in doubt ask for medical advice and get checked out if you feel things are amiss. Take care, be calm.
Well done for recognising how important keeping calm is and thinking of your breathing. It is a scary and you will find these experiences will help you in the future as you will know the feelings and feel reassured that you have felt the feelings before and everything was ok. Try taking your pulse to see if you are in AF. If you struggle with that or you want evidence you could consider purchasing a Kardia device.
I agree learning to take pulse is important. Acceptance is key. I use to have dreams, where my heart raced, and that was just anxious thoughts, when I realised I had afib I worried more and so forth. Get a good doc to offer reassurance, and then slowly work on breaking the cycle of anxiety that tends to follow afib.
I know how you feel. The first three or four episodes of AF would send me into a panic which raced my heart even more. In retrospect, the best thing I could have done was try to deep breath and relax and roll with it. But if anyone would have told me to to do this back then, I may have wanted to fire back with, "that's easy for you to say." But, for those of us who have struggled with AF, it is the best approach and so try to cultivate just going with the AF and it will pass. Take care.
So sorry you're going through this. I had an ablation within 7 months of having My first Afib attack. It's been almost 3 months and so far so good. I heard an interesting theory that Afib originates in the liver and the liver is taxed with our high fat diets. Prior to my Afib I couldn't get enough butter, cheese, nuts, and meat so maybe? Anyways you may wish to limit your fats and other things rough on the liver such as alcohol and ibuprofen and see how that works. Also, milk thistle is healing on the liver so you may want to run that supplement by your doctor to consider depending on other meds you are taking. Best of health to you!
Thanks for sharing that. Over the past 5-6 years my liver numbers have been very weird and the doc doesn't know what it is, nor seems worried. But now I wonder if there's any connection with my afib. I'll have to ask
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granmawendy
Root Cause of A-Fib. 
Can Anyone On This Forum Please Explain
Ablation. Perth. Western Australia.
