What is an AF episode? Please describe yours and how you know.

You may well have episodes that you know nothing about, especially whilst you are asleep. A 7 day monitor might well show episodes if that is the case. Some people have no symptoms whatsoever - they probably don't realize that they are functioning below par.

Since my ablation my episodes are mild. I can feel that my heart is irregular, I may feel a bit breathless, hot around the face, listless and generally rough. I can quickly find my carotid pulse in my neck to check if it's irregular.

My main trigger is stress. Currently I am suspicious about intake of sugary foods causing a "sugar rush."

PS I do not have a major rate problem. I think the maximum ever clocked was 140. My problem is all to do with rhythm. My blood pressure is low- normal.

AF makes me feel as if I have just very narrowly escaped hitting something catastrophically with the car. I feel shaken, with my heart noticeably fast. I can function almost as usual, but the heart is hammering away. I don't get breathless or sweaty or needing to pee and can appear to be fine as long as I'm wearing something that hides the palpitations.

Like jennydog, I don't have a major rate problem and rarely go over 140. My AF tends to slow and calm over the next few hours and I find it hard to tell when it eventually stops.

AF is a very mongrel condition and few commonalities exist as WE are all different.

AF presents as a highly irregular pulse , either fast or slow but usually fast, easily felt on the wrist which is why pulse checking is so important in primary care. Rarely it may include chest pain and fainting but normally just palpitations which of course can often be felt more when laying down to sleep.. A shortness of breath, fatigue. exercise intolerance. dizziness etc are all possible as is excessive Peeing. Many people find during events that they have to go to the loo every ten to twenty minutes. This is caused by an enzyme which the distressed heart produces telling the body to get rid of salt.

AF is easily recognised on an ECG.

Hi susan I always know when my af starts i get a feeling in my chest whilst breathing and i quickly check my pulse at the wrist and then i know yes its back!!my pulse is regular but fast and its roughly around the 130 b.p.m..episodes last anything between 5 mins. And the longest in recent times 2 hours.i can tell its stopped and back in normal bpm of around 60/65

Its as if a switch goes on then goes off when its had its evil way with me.!!

Its not the easiest thing to descibe its just a weird experience which continues to pee me off but from being on here i know lots of folk get it worse than i do.

Regards

Richard

I'm never aware of AF unless I'm wearing my heart monitor chest strap and I'm exercising on my rowing machine. It's not so much the high heart rate but the amount of change and the time span between changes. Downloading the results shows a relatively smooth heart rate if I wasn't in AF, whereas AF produces a spikey line.

I have slow AF and the only time I am aware of symptoms is when trying to exercise I get exhausted very quickly, and my HR may be higher than normal. I also tend to urinate a lot more than usual during the first 12 hours of an episode for some unknown reason! I used to confuse panic attacks with AF, but I have them both worked out now, and they are quite different.

Hi. I have PAF and don't take any medication apart from Apixaban. When I have an episode, my heart rate is usually between 140 and 160 with 180 being the highest I have recorded. I feel very breathless but so far, the longest it has lasted is 2 minutes. I feel a bit wiped out when it stops. Other times, I just get what feels like a missed beat and a thump.

Hi Susan my P-AF like yours is 'under control' with medication at the moment in other words I am no longer experiencing the horrible symptoms which suddenly started to develop with alarming frequency after years of infrequent episodes....

They were ...

Pulse 'chaotic' no rhythm 155+ bpm, heartbeat fast/chaotic and pronounced, breathless, shaking, cold sweats, dizzy, feel faint odd sensation of being grabbed in the throat, blood pressure soaring to 210/110 then dropping within minutes to 119/80 which I think may be the main reason for my symptoms and feeling so ill. I was like my body was going into shock.

Now I occasionally feel the odd sensation in my throat and a bit breathless but having asthma the latter could be attributed to that. At these times a quick check of my pulse and the irregular beat (or an ectopic beat) is there but no longer rapid. I can also pick up that there is an irregularity in the heart beat on my BP monitor .

I know this period of calm may not last, AF is progressive and the old AF could break through at any time. For now I am doing all I can to prevent that progression by losing weigh/more exercise/not letting myself become stressed. The beta blockers have brought down my blood pressure to a more acceptable level and this too may be helping to keep my symptoms in check .

The first and second episodes I had were by far the worst. The first time I had chest pain which I thought was bad indigestion. The second time I awoke and couldn't work out whether I had hurt my back or my chest. I felt really ill and was pale and clammy, but strangely enough didn't notice my heart racing, but it actually squelched as my daughter was driving me to the doctor. When I saw him I was still in AF but didn't feel as bad as when I first woke up.

Hi Susan...if you feel for your pulse at your wrist you will be aware of the irregular beats.I liken it to Morse code .

I'm in no doubt at all when I go intoAF....usually preceded by a brief feeling of impending doom and then a rapid escalation of a crazy heart rate..anything up to 240+ bpm..Last time 6 months ago it started as this and then settled at more respectable 140/150. Unfortunately my episodes do not usually abate without intervention in the form of dc cardioversion.

Sandra

The ones I know about cause a spike in my HR, like I would feel had I ran for the bus "back in the day" only not settling.... and exertion causes light headedness, and sometimes shortness of breath/crushing sensation on the chest like I've just eaten a massive meal and I'm feeling very "full"

These replies are very informative and Thank you all for taking the time to reply, from your replies I realise now after thinking about what my consultant said that my heart rate is under control but my rhythm is not and never will be, several medical people have said I have a very regular, irregular heartbeat .

From time to time when walking I can be more out of breath, but I really wonder if I do get episodes like some people have described, some of them sound most unpleasant and some frightening. I am sure I am lucky 🍀 in that digoxin does not work for everyone. I have been on it for about nearly 4 years now and know a pacemaker is the next step.

My episodes happen every 8 days, they were due on Saturday but they did not start until last night and last about 2 days. I don't know what my heart rate is because I can't count my pulse it is all over the place missing and going fast and slow etc. I don't think anything triggers it, it just seems to happen on its own. I don't feel any different because I feel terrible all the time, ever since I had a TIA and this AF in feb just over 8 month ago.

I feel as if my heart is jogging up a mountain without the rest of my body. By the time it has done a 12 hour marathon it's all a bit tiring. I used to have pauses afterwards but now a pacemaker stops that part.

I was sometimes alerted to the start of an episode by a few ectopics which make me conscious of my HB. How I felt depends on how fast my HB was and what I tried to do. I have sometimes had chest pain, usually had the frequent peeing, and have had an upset stomach and nausea. Certainly felt a bit weak and faint. The main test is your pulse. If there is no recognisable rhythm it is AF, if there is some kind of rhythm it isn't!

There is a hilarious demonstration of various arrhythmias on YouTube where scientists do an Arrhythmia Dance. Do watch it!

AF for me caused a very fast, chaotic HB and the feeling of being unable to get air into my lungs. My normally low BP plummeted even lower, leaving me gasping for air. Episodes were accompanied by the dreadful peeing of gallons every 20 minutes, gurgling, bloating and diarrhea (sorry - I was the dinner guest from hell).

Severe ectopics - every other beat (bigeminy) and every 3rd beat (trigeminy) can be very debilitating too but may have a lower heart rate than AF and feel less chaotic.

I find it easier to take my pulse at the carotid artery in the dip of the throat either side, just below the jaw. Ectopics can be felt as an apparent missed or late beat with a certain degree of rhythm and pauses about them. AF is just generally beats all over the place fast, slow, pauses - the lot.

My PAF episodes were never short, maximum was all day and all night and this in turn caused me to have a stroke. I have to agree that it could have been stress related although I thought I was coping very well, I didn't feel stress but was constantly flying high at work achieving projects and so on but my heart new different, there were several symptoms, mine used to start in the evening mainly when I was at rest and of course into the night, couldn't sleeping constant peeing leaving me exhausted at times. I found if I could regulate my breathing pattern to that of my husbands sleeping peacefully beside me I could eventually get off to sleep and in the morning the AF had finished leaving me in sinus. After the stroke I was retired on the grounds of ill health, took me time to recover fully (if I ever did) and the PAF was always there in the background even though supposedly drug controlled. After a few years it got worse and prolonged and eventually I was sent for catheter ablation which was a disaster for me and caused dangerously low heart rate so consultant recommended a Pacemaker and for 3 years now I have had peace from the wretched condition, I still take anti coag/heart drugs/statins but the symptoms now controlled and I am hoping remain so.

From memory.

Why do I feel out of breath but, I have not moved from this chair? Why do I need to go for a leak every 15 minutes?

Checked pulse, unable to count it was so fast and irregular. Almost like there is an echo beat in the background.

I get the thump and it feels a little like my heart turned over. Then it goes off at speed for a minute or two. I give a couple of strong cough outs and that usually knocks it back to normal rhythm. If Im in a stressful situation my heart can slip into palpitations without my knowing. Its harder to cough it back into nsr on those occasions.

When I had Paroxysmal AF, the episodes, when untreated lasted up to 19 hours. When diagnosed and treated they'd usually knowlingly lasted until I could get to bed and go fast asleep. That was the time it takes to get to bed and fall asleep. If I was at home 15 minutes; if in a neighbouring town an hour or more.

I now have asymptomatic persistant (for all intents and purposes permanent) AF. My resting heart rate today at the doctors was about 80. I was at the doctors for a check-up and 'flu jab. My BP was 120/72 which I was pleased with.

I have periods of intense tiredness, and also have asthma, plus lymphoedema in both lower legs, yet most of the time I'm active. Eleven months ago I managed to get myself off daily steroids as tratment for polymyalgia which lasted for 3 years and 7 months.

An AF episode for me, at it's worst is powerful chest thumping palpitations that scare the life out of me. At the other end of the spectrum, I can simply feel that my heart is out of sync / irregular and this coincides with me feeling poorly and tired, until it gets back in rhythm. Since diagnosis 2 years ago when I started taking flecanide, I have not had the chest thumping palpitations, but the 'triggers' can sometimes put me into the 'out of sync' episodes. Triggers can include, alcohol, spicy foods, lack of sleep or more often or not, a mixture of all three. I have however this year become a triathlete and I find that rigorous exercise and training helps my symptoms no end, plus all the other mental benefits that come with physical exercise.

One of my triggers is constipation,the food backs up and pushes my diaphragm up. I keep telling the medical profession but no one seems to liste,I also pee more than normal

I am exhausted after a paf episode

An interesting read. Roemheld Syndrome

Its a little expensive around 90 GBP but the Kardia alivecor.com/?gclid=EAIaIQo... device is a small pad that works with your smart phone and actually does an ECG. I was recommended by a rhythm specialist to try it out. This was how I was finally diagnosed with AF as I was never able to get to the hospital to get a reading when I had a racing heart. I am now using the system to tack the events which can then be emailed to your GP or specialist. What I have found that initially I can pick up the event myself however the duration is much longer that I thought.

Triggers, Stress, Heavy Exercise, and Alcohol are some but sometimes there is no direct trigger ?

I have rare episodes now at times and dont feel quite right. So check my heart with an app on my iPhone called Heart Rate Free. Which gives you heart BPM and rhythm. I just take 25mg of Attenolol to steady it down and rest or sleep for a while which is possible when you are retired as I am now 76.