Hi everyone my name is Francis.
I'm new to this just been diagnosed with AF, don't know what to expect.
It was defiantly a bit scary when it first hit me, but luckily I have a mate that has AF to, so I was able to find out quite a bit of information about it from him.
I am a 57 year old keen cyclist, and a regular gym goer too. Having read some posts, overtraining could be the one of the reasons for my problem.?
I have been put on Bisopolol for the time being.
Thanks for reading.
Francis , Had the same thoughts a s you when I developed fib. Did I bring this on myself by intensive exercise(biking and swimming). Hindsight is always 20/20. You got it now.Once you find the treatment that works for you you'll be back to doing what you were doing before. I learned a lot of things from the people on this site. Listen to your body. When it's had a enough it will tell you. I kept pushing and well didn't work well for me :-). You may be able to go back to the same routine as before then again you may not. I had to make some changes and accept a lot of things. Your life has changed but it's the beginning of a new path not an end. Hang in there.
Many thanks Paul, only 1 week into being diagnosed ☹️ but as you say a new beginning for the way ahead.
That's where I must start by listening to my body, and not do too much.
Thanks Goldie, still early in my diagnosis, awaiting to see Doc in the week for the way ahead. Still slightly nervous thou.
Hi Francis, welcome to the forum, 10,000 members and some seriously well informed folk here.
Early priorities are to get as well informed as possible, particularly in the matter of the importance of anticoagulation. Start with the links to the AFA top right.
To answer your question, yes chronic overtraining can very occasionally damage the heart and lead to AF. It may be a cofactor with hypertension. It is commonly a trigger in paroxysmal AF, along with many others.
Right now, get off your bike for a while, work out your CHA2DS2-VASc score and discuss anticoagulants with your GP.
You must have loads of questions, fire away.
Hi Badger, thanks for the welcome.
Still trying to get to terms with AF, also trying to get my head around the condition. At the moment I'm only low rate, but you never know.
I shall be trying to find out as much information as possible, through the links and also others input.
I was recommended this forum by a friend who also suffers.
Many thanks
Hi Francis - welcome and ditto the above.
Welcome Francis.....You are amongst good company and will be well supported on here!
Ask questions and read about AF as much as possible......you can't beat chatting to someone else who has the condition and UNDERSTANDS!!
Get on to anti-coag's as soon as you can!
Regards
Fellow cyclist aka as Wightbaby!
Thank you
Get an electric bike Francis? Then you can take it easier but still get exercise / pedal as hard or not as you want. Not so much street cred though 🚴♂️ 😟
...and welcome ... you'll get some great help and advice on here when you ask.
Oh I don't know about that mate, street cried out the window, thanks.
Koll
I'm putting money on you not having an electric bike to round up those sheep of yours. Quad bike more like. ☠️
My collie Jessie does everything Badger, I just watch and wonder 🐑🐑🐑 🐕.
Street cred surely depends on where you cycle and your point of view. We have a steep hill both ways between our house and the shops, station and doctor's surgery, and when I'm driving up, it's a treat to find the cyclist ahead has an electric cycle on turbo setting.
Welcome to the forum Francis. You've certainly done the sensible thing to come and join us here. We're the people who really understand what it's like to have AF and will always be here to give you any support you need.
I see you've already been given a lot of good advice. Any questions that pop into your head, well just ask here and remember there's no such thing as a daft one.
Jean
Thank you, both anxious and nervous for what the forthcoming weeks might bring.
I was a very keen runner in the 80s - 90s, trained most days and ran approx 40 marathons. AF was diagnosed when I was 52, continued running until my hip gave up in 2010. I now cycle and the AF doesn't seem to affect me too much during exercise apart from occasional dizzy spell when I stop. Reading the site it seems there are many different levels of AF, I consider myself one of the lucky ones with mild symptoms.
Plenty of bike riders on her who are still at it. See previous posts for how some of us have modified our approach to cope with the condition. 67 year old.
If you think over exercise was the problem read the book The Haywire Heart by Dr John Mandrola.
Hi AFCyclist
I see it something like this, though just guesswork based on the paper linked below.
1000 endurance athletes.
50 develop significant atrial substrate. Atrial substrate leads to heart rhythm problems, mainly PAF.
Another 50 develop PAF but no substrate. They find heavy exercise sometimes triggers their AF.
900 carry on breaking age related records, a few at altitude in Colorado, well into their 10th decade
0 die from AF
bjsm.bmj.com/content/46/Sup...
bjsm.bmj.com/content/46/Sup...
🚴🏿🚵🏿♀️
Re your one in a thousand and ten in a thousand statistics - Are they based on research, or your guesswork? I would have expected them to be higher. (Sorry - that article was too long for me!)
Polski
Me too, I had assumed higher. But athlete AFibbers here are obviously self selecting.
But the conclusions of the article seemed to be in the sort of territory I was guesstimating. The other point was that the answers are not available yet but should be soon.
Worth reading the beginning and the end, I think the article is pretty sound, though I can't vouch for any methodology or stats. Not even sure if this was a paper or a review, just retrieved it from one of my old posts, and no time to reread.
No other data, sorry.
On reflection, you must be right Polski.
I have upped the proportions, which as you say are my guesswork based on limited analysis of the linked paper
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