AF at night

[austin21]

Hello, am new here and I have AF every night once laying on or just sitting down, does anyone else have those symptoms? Is there any reason for having those at night ? Can anyone feel the same as do?

[Hidden]

Historically food triggers my AF, however on one occasion earlier this year I was asleep on my left side and I woke up with my heart banging away and my devices both detected AF.

[CDreamer]

Yes and yes there is a reason and it is called vagal AF. There are certain body postures, exercises, foods and sleep disturbances such as sleep apnea which will trigger the vagus nerve into a reaction. The vagus nerve is part of the Autonomic Nervous System Which regulates heart, digestion, blood flow and to a certain extent breathing and all non cognitive functions within the body.

There are several things you can do to help yourself and I would start by asking your GP for a sleep assessment, especially if you are known to snore as sleep apnea is one of the main reasons. It can be easily treated and certainly I no longer have night time episodes. I still have AF but the burden is much less and no night time episodes so sleep is much better = less AF and feeling much more energetic.

Look at your diet and your exercise - I’ve been posting videos from Dr Chaterjee Which help with suggestions of how - why it’s important for improved health. Some people find certain foods are a problem and they need to avoid but the only way of truly knowing is to keep a strict food/symptom diary. I have found eating mainly organic mainly plant based foods helped me the most and that is all vegetables - I have been recently been challenged to eat 50 different foods in a week - and it’s not difficut. The most common culprits are alcohol, especially binge drinking, smoking - obvious one, artificial sweeteners, sugar, very hot or very cold foods, dairy or certain types of dairy and certain food groups.

The last I would suggest is to improve your vagal tone - Deep breathing techniques, Mindfulness, Yoga, moderate exercise, addressing stress.

The 4 Pillars to better health are improved nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress.

You may find that it also helps to prevent yourself from sleeping on your left side, try sleeping with the bed head ellivated about 15degrees - prop a few bricks or books under the legs, use extra pillows.

There is a small book available on kindle called heal your vagus nerve with good suggestions on improving vagal

tone - or just google and you will find lots of suggestions - often quite simple ones but they do need to be practised regulary.

Also google Dr Gupta’s videos on vagal - I’ll try find the link for you,

Best wishes CD.

[CDreamer]

There are several but this is the most recent. Dr Gupta is a Cardiologist in York and regularly posts videos here and he also has a FB page with live hangouts when you can ask questions directly.

youtu.be/ivof8UUKW3M(Not working as expected?)

[doodle68]

Hello austin welcome I have had episodes of P-AF in the day and at night. I used to find the night time episodes the most scary, when you live alone and all is quiet at night a fast chaotic heart beat can 'feel' very loud.

I used to worry I wouldn't ever wake up again during night time episodes, now it doesn't bother me. I had one a few weeks ago, I needed to get up about an hour after I went to bed to 'spend a penny' (something that happens to many people in AF due to an enzyme BNP) and found I was in AF so I put the radio on low to distract from the AF , did my slow breathing exercise and went back to sleep. I woke a couple more times in the night for the loo and AF was still there but was gone at 6am so quite a short episode of 5/6 hours for me, they can last 15.

Some people say don't lay on the left side but it doesn't seem to make much difference to me.

Try not to be anxious, that can make things worse. I am happy to say my frequent episodes of P-AF have decreased/changed considerably thanks I guess to a combination of beta blockers and lifestyle changes which include weight loss/attention to diet/ avoiding stress/ regular excercise/getting a good sleep.

This article is about weight loss and AF

consumer.healthday.com/card...

[austin21 in reply to doodle68]

Thank you for your thoughts, I am already doing all of those things, eat better, exercise, Very healthy otherwise, no alcohol and nothing works out. I am on bystolic 50 mg and I have no clue how to get better. Great job for you!

[austin21]

I want to thank you so much for your info, it is helpful and somehow reassuring.I will check his web site today. I ad another terrible night and could not sleep and feel that I am always alone with this condition.Do you have some other magic trick to sleep?

[austin21]

Thank you for your answer, I appreciate your thoughts. Best to you too!

[Alan_G]

I often get that feeling in my chest that warns me there is a possible AF episode in the offing when it is bed time. I'd feel fine all day, and then as soon as I lay down in bed I get that feeling. I used to wake up about 4am in AF, and although I've not totally eliminated it, I have a solution that has worked wonder for me. I bought one of those triangular bolster pillows. When I get to bed, I'm actually sat up and that's how I now go to sleep. It took a while to get used to it, but now I'd having difficulty getting to sleep if I lay down. Sometimes, I may slip down during the night, and that's when I'm most at risk. I do occasionally wake up and if I feel good, I will go to sleep on my side, but I'll never start off that way. If I ever get those dreaded feelings, I find the solution is to resist the urge to get or move, but just employ slow deep breathing until the feelings subside. I also have to be careful how I get into bed. I've even found doing it too suddenly can bring on the impending AF feeling. I just slowly slide into bed into my sitting position, and usually all is well.

[Aprilbday]

Hi Austin,

I am sorry that you are going through this sort of thing. I would get flutters and also A-AFib readings on my Kardia device whenever I was ready for bed. I started taking magnesium and within a week I did not have any issues anymore. I don’t know why it worked for me but grateful that it has. I take a magnesium citrate and before sleeping I spray magnesium on my arms and neck-4 sprays.

Maybe it will help you? I learned about it on here.

[secondtry]

Hi Austin, I can't add anything to CDreamer's excellent reply.... except that it does work as I have done all of that coming from 9 AF episodes a month and enjoy excellent QOL with no AF, albeit I did need 100mgs x2 per day Flecainide as well & still taking it.

[jeanjeannie50]

Hi Baraba, could your heart rate be dropping very low when you sleep and causing your AF? I think I saw a video of Sanjays Gupta's recently where he said that can happen.

Jean