43 male likes his beer

[knox510]

My Dr said I have AF Im currently taking eliquis 2times a day. But I drink beer I guess heavily. No more than 18 maybe on the weekend. Is this wise? Cause I really enjoy my relaxing time

[Hidden]

According to the many cardiologists and EP's I have heard talk about AF, alcohol is always mentioned as a major cause. Many members say how much better they feel when they take steps to stop alcohol, improve their lifestyle to lose weight and take sensible exercise to maintain the benefits that have enjoyed.

I'm afraid you are unlikely to find many on the forum who will support "drinking beer heavily", so I guess the answer is no, it is not wise..........

[Hidden]

I can appreciate that you like to relax over the weekend with a pint or 18 but you must know that this is a bit foolhardy with AF.

It's your choice at the end of the day but see how you feel cutting back for a start and take it from there.

[UScore]

I don't think any health related website will advise you that drinking 18 beers in a weekend is 'fine', regardless of what condition you have or haven't got.

But we're all adults. You make your own decisions.

I'm one of the fortunate ones on this website; I can go out and drink a skinfull without going into AF. That doesn't mean I do it every week, I think the last time was back at the start of December. If I did it every week I'd probably have more health problems than just AF.

[Jhcoop55]

Sorry Knox. 18 beers for someone with AF is not a good idea. You may need to adjust your lifestyle accordingly with an occasional beer rather than what you are doing now. As noted, significant amounts of alcohol will further aggravate your AF. It’s not worth it.

Best of luck

[JulesAF]

Mr Knox 510

I commend you on your honesty regarding the number of beers you enjoy. As others have mentioned, alcohol will often bring on AF and from my personal experience, it certainly exacerbates the problem. I love enjoying a drink with friends and it was a major adjustment to cease. But my heart responded badly whenever I drank and my doctors advised against it. I still have chronic AF, And 14 Years down the track, I have gradually learned to tolerate a few glasses of wine on special occasions. I often have a glass of wine with my evening meals and I’m content. It’s an adjustment but you will feel better for it and your heart will certainly appreciate it.

Best of luck, Jules 💓

[CDreamer]

No - not wise if you don’t want AF.

I think you know that really.

[WendyWu20]

Most of us have our 'weaknesses'. For me, it's eating loads of lovely food - regularly and in amounts that give me too many calories.

Being overweight for most of my life has definitely contributed to having AF. As can drinking alcohol, for some people.

But the good news is, developing really bad AF made me 'have a word with myself' and get the eating habits under control and eating very healthy food. So now as a result of losing weight I have less frequent, shorter, episodes of AF and am feeling MUCH happier and in smaller clothes sizes :o)

Still got a way to go, but hopeful the AF can be reduced to an acceptable level this year.

So the choice is yours - do you carry on the same and risk the AF getting much worse... or do you make a choice to live a healthier life and look after yourself?

If you want to make healthier lifestyle choices and explore other options for relaxing at weekends, you don't have to struggle by yourself. There are lots of informal support groups available, or charities, and also medical help available.

As the advert says... 'You're worth it!' Good luck :o)

[Hidden in reply to WendyWu20]

Hi Wendy. I can relate.Lost a lot of weight slowly which got me off all diabetic meds-no more insulin/YEAH;good A1C numbers and have been well-controlled with diet for almost two years. I still have my occasional little binges but without very much effort on my part, these lapses have gotten further and further apart.Mainly because now when I eat too much of the wrong foods I feel so physically unwell, I think."Never again." (Whatever I ate) isn't worth feeling this sick (including brain fog) for the next day or two. It's a battle, isn't it? I heard somewhere years ago that food is a hard addiction to control because,unlike alcohol-for instance-where you can choose to stay out of bars and situations that have it around, with food, you have to take your tiger (addiction) out of its cage 3 x /day and confront it. Good luck with your food journey. irina1975

[WendyWu20 in reply to Hidden]

Yup. A continual battle, every moment of every day! Years ago I had hypnotherapy to help me make healthy eating choices and I lost five stone. Kept it off for years with regular exercise, but then it crept back on when I broke my ankle and could no longer run.

May try the hypnotherapy again now, to make things easier, as I can't do any exercise without bringing on the AF :o)

[Hidden in reply to WendyWu20]

Hi Wendy, I can relate. Walking is difficult because of my knees. knee replacement has been advised but I have to think that one through and I won't do it til I'm completely off my anticoagulants. My favorite exercise is swimming- grew up in South Florida and we had a pool. Now getting to the swimming pool involves going out in the cold to my fitness center to swim. Lots of preparation for an hour or so in the pool. And I am a baby about cold water. In Miami Beach sometimes the ocean was warm like bath water. Here the pool is heated but not by my standards. I guess I'm spoiled and looking for excuses. Maybe when winter is over!!! (I can procrastinate with the best! !!) irina

[Hidden]

My hubby is very like you, beer and wine and whatever - fortunately he doesn't have AF, but he has high blood pressure and I'm sure the alcohol doesn't help that either. What I also know is that unless you really want to cut down, you won't. He won't, pure and simple. No amount of words from anyone will help.

Having said that, I hope you can summon up the willpower. I have to do it with food as I'm sure being overweight contributes to my AF. We're our own worst enemies, aren't we?

[momist]

I like my beer too. However, although heavy drinking has not (so far) made any difference to my AF, my AF has made a difference to my heavy drinking. I don't know whether it is my advancing years or the Bisoprolol or the Apixaban, but I am starting to find that beer no longer agrees with me as much. I get a very full feeling and bad digestion problems that I never used to have. I'm drinking far more wine and spirits now, than beer, because of this. Having said that, I still enjoy the odd beer two or three times a week, and only drink heavily at long intervals for special or social events.

[Flyer2820]

Hi knox510

There have been that many people saying drinking is not good for AF, I am sure you know the answer by now. My cardiologist told me to give up drinking and coffee. It was easy to give up coffee and go onto decaffeinated coffee, but not the drinking as I drink very little anyway. I still drink almost the same, a pint of shandy a week, I don't think that makes any difference. Red wine seems to bring me into AF but I limit that to. Don't take chances with your health. You only have one life and it's not worth ruining it.

Regards Flyer.

[Jumper]

As other folks have said. You are grown up and you have to take responsibility for your actions .

Eliquis is an anticoagulant . You would not be on this if you only had AF. There must be other factors in play that your Dr has considered that make it necessary for you to take it. You are taking it to reduce the possibility of a stroke. If you just had AF then an anti coagulant would only be considered when you reach 70.

Do you have blood pressure or other heart issues, diabetes? Here is a link to the scoring system that identifies whether or not you should be on anti coags.

clincalc.com/cardiology/str....

If you wish to play fast and loose with your condition(s) please be aware there are consequences just round the corner that will come back to bite you.

[Hidden]

Hi Knox. I have to appreciate your honesty re your 'beer' numbers. Obviously I'm going to say that is a bad idea but, having stated my opinion I would make a suggestion. Changing any habit (alcohol for you/food for me) is a process. Cold turkey is usually not very successful for some of us. How about trying to spread your beers out through the week so 18 drinks are not hitting your body all at once? This might also help you to cut down the amount. Also, remember alcohol is very dehydrating and dehydration is one of the worst things we can put our bodies through when we have a-fib. Just some thoughts.It's easy for someone who doesn't drink to suggest you just stop. But my 'drug of choice' is chocolate and I'll bet I could go through a box of chocolates faster than you could drink 18 beers! LOL. I still have my chocolate PRN but not all at once. Good luck making healthy changes; do it slowly if it will make youmore successful in the long run. Cheers!!! irina1975

[Buffafly]

You're kidding, right?

[Janith]

Alcohol is a major trigger ... you say 18 ... that’s a lot and you probably have a beer belly ... cut down to six ... then three! Sorry.

[fnurd]

If 18 beers is 18 pints in 2 days that is pretty extreme binge drinking by any standards. Never mind the poassible AF effects, you will have a big extra risk of cancer and liver disease. If you have associated high BMI as well then future diabetes and possible hip replacements could be an issue.

[BevCynfelyn]

Is this a serious post?

I was just about to reply to it when the earth moved - literally! We have just had a 4.7mag earthquake here in South Wales. Very strange experience as the the house and everything in it seemed to shudder 6 inches to the left and then shot back to its original position with an enormous bang which knocked my dog off his feet and jarred my neck!

I think if I consumed 18 pints on a weekend it might have the same effect....

[Hidden in reply to BevCynfelyn]

Hi Bev. That must have been very scary. Hope you are all okay-including the doggie. I was visiting my daughter in California years ago (CA is definitely US earthquake territory). Woke up to tremors with things being shaken off surfaces. My daughter said "Oh MOM. It's just a tremor'" Sorry. When things fall off shelves it's time to go back to the East Coast. I hope it was (as you say) a one off? I wonder why it happened in Wales. Climate change?? Take care. irina1975

[Mejulie69]

Go look up “holiday heart” if you haven’t already. Except in your case, it should be called “every weekend heart”. Your AF would probably clear up if you stopped drinking.

[Janith]

John ... l think that you get my point. Slowly stop your alcohol intake ... do not stop suddenly ... you probably have a beer belly ... pressure on your 💜 ... l can be very harsh, but we all want to behave so that this afib stops ... a friend of mine who is a heavy beer drinker and has persistent afib, ended up in the hospital with blood clots on his spleen! He drinks beer on a daily basis with his buddies. Beer isn’t worth it!!

[rosyG]

In all the medical texts alcohol is said to trigger AF. You need to make choices!! Try and find s non alcoholic substitute.

[BevCynfelyn]

Well that's only 20 miles from here, we not only felt the earth move but we actually saw it move, the earthquake might have been downgraded from its original 5.0 magnitude to 4.4 by the British Geological Society but my dog is still waiting for the next one...... It was an odd sensation to have all the banging going on outside by chest rather than inside from the AF.

[1Jerbear]

I use to love my mixed drinks ,not too much beer and some wine . Since I been on blood pressure pills I quit all that except on occasion a little wine will our evening meal but that is not very often . It's been around a long time that alcohol and drugs is not a good choice . Near beer is non-alcoholic . That's one brand here in U.S. I think there is more ,not sure . I am one Eliquis now too with A-fib also another pill for blood platelets ,two different water pills ,so now when we go to the store I may go in the liquor dept. and dream LOL. I think your asking for trouble if you don't start cutting back ,not easy but doable . Jerry

[Jonathan_C]

I am 44 and enjoyed my beer a lot when I first went into afib 3 years. I still drink in moderation but very seldom have more than 3 in an evening. Progressively work your way down to that level.