I hadn’t had any AF since 17th Oct, but after a pint and a half of beer (alcohol doesn’t normally affect my PAF) started getting runs of ectopics and went into AF. As it hadn’t settled after an extra I called an ambulance.
After about half an hour the paramedic said I was out of AF; however, my heart is beating at about 94 per minute albeit fairly regularly. This is at rest. I am sitting at home wondering whether I will get another bout later on ...
Guess beer is going to be "off limits" for a while Sam. Did it revert with or without medication.....just try and stay calm and keep hydrated and hopefully it will settle.
I did have rather a mixture of foods before. Also noticed recently that decaf coffee induces ectopics whereas it never did a month or so ago. Seems to have settled now and am going to bed. Thanks for your reply.
It reverted after an extra Sotalol but was fast and regular afterwards. Took another (regular nightly) Sotalol which seems to have stabilised it. Just disappointed that after a month afib has come back for no very obvious reason. Thanks for your reply.
I did have rather a mixture of foods before. Also noticed recently that decaf coffee induces ectopics whereas it never did a month or so ago. Seems to have settled now and am going to bed. Thanks for your reply.
The mind has a big role in AF, in the circumstances you describe I would sit quietly and listen to a slow steady heartbeat on YouTube for 20 mins - it worked for me when AF was trying to get established. Good luck!
I went back to normal rhythm fairly soon after taking the Sotalol, but I was taken aback by the timing of the Afib which didn’t seem to have any obvious cause- I’ve drunk several pints of beer before without any problems.
I feel for you Sam but now in same boat as you ! I had AF 10 & 15 years ago , had the ablation twice and was brilliant! then last year it come back with a vengeance! If I drank anything cold I went into AF, alcohol into AF, sudden movements AF. Last week I had my third ablation, after three days of pure heart lovely beats , I am now back in AF every night ? Nightmare! I am going to try Magnesium as someone has mentioned! Try that yourself maybe? Steve
If your third abalation was last week there is still a good chance that it will turn out ok , no? Particularly if your earlier ablations were successful.
Maybe, hopefully, but this time i feel they touched some nerves resulting in vertigo and short of breath feelings, feeling weird but got to get on with it. Going to try magnesium tablets as i was in AF all night last night, feel whacked out this morning. Phew...
Have you discussed with the consultant what he thinks the outlook is? The Afib could be a short term effect of the procedure or not. Probably only the consultant could shed the light on this.
Yes Sam saw him today ! He said give it another 10 days see how I go! Because of other symptoms I feel he fobbed me off a little ?
Difficult to say. Post-ablation the heart can be quite inflamed, so the suggestion to wait for 10 days is not intrinsically unreasonable. And you have to wait several months to discover whether an ablation has been successful. On the other hand, unless he provided significant detail this could be seen as “I don’t know” or, as you say, fobbing off. Why not ring his secretary and ask for some more detail? Why , specifically, 10 days? And what does he think might be causing the surge of Afib?
Will do Sam thanks
I too am trying to avoid alcohol and limiting myself to a small glass of organic red wine in social circumstances. So far every alcohol free beer has tasted like that “beer substitute”....BUT Adnams have brought out Sole Star. Its .9% so technically can’t be called no alcohol but low alcohol. Its the mutts nutts. It tastes just like a real beer, the first one that I have tried. Its benefits are that a) its brilliant if you’re driving as you would struggle to even get to the drink drive limit b) if its the alcohol that triggers the ectopics and the AF it may not do so. I rowed rather enthusiastically on Sunday afternoon and then had four decent glasses of non organic red wine in the evening as we had friends staying. HR up and the Kardia while registering Normal asked if it was me using the kit and the pattern of the spaces in between the beats was certainly not regular. I am coming to the view like many, alcohol is a trigger, and I have never been more than a “Health Guidelines drinker”.
Easier said than done. But I suppose if it becomes a trigger -I will have to give it up too. Oddly, I also get ectopics after decaf coffee
Its not always the alcohol - zero achohol,Moretti gives me AF due to the additives involved.
Alcohol is one of the most common triggers and it was the first luxury I dropped 20 years ago. Like you I used to be able to drink beer and have zero effects but as AF changes so does your tolerance to certain stimulants. I have not touched a drop of alcohol for years now and it doesn't bother me at all, my health is more important.
I will have to experiment to see if this was the trigger or something else.
P.S I found the most realistic tasting zero % drink is Heineken...
If you have managed without it for 20 years then have solved the problem. It’s part of a trend, too, with around a quarter of under 25s not drinking at all. For my part I could probably get by on , say, 8 units, but would find it difficult to stop completely.
Still, I may have it imposed on me...
It may not be drink or caffeine? Sometimes the Vagus nerve gets damaged during catheter ablations, this results in a multitude of symptoms. Doctors love performing these operations but i think they touch all sorts of things in your body., First op was a pain in my buttocks seering through my sciatica, second op was pain in my upper back behind my heart for 2 years had that and also throat infection as they put a tube down my throat to see if there was any clots on my heart before they cardioverted me back into AF to carry on with op. I am so glad i found this forum the other day as i thought i was the only one suffering for years with AF, just horrible, i would rather have had a bypass or stents than this AF. Anyway, just had a normal coffee sod it. I have to admit though alcohol must be a trigger?
It might be just that the beer was very cold. Cold drinks (even water) have been the trigger on every occasion I have had an episode of PAF. Some episodes have lasted up to 24 hours.
Another factor might be that I had drunk very little water (or any kind of liquid during the day.
True. I had an episode after returning home dehydrated and then drinking cold tapwater and eating a banana and a yoghurt.
Basically, I have never really understood this dehydration thing. Alcohol is supposed to cause dehydration, but wouldn’t the pint and a half of liquid be plenty have the opposite effect?
This article (among others) explains the link between alcohol consumption and dehydration:
Adams also do "ghost ship" 0.5% hich is also drinkable. Open gate brewery (guinness) or "flat tire " are probably the best lagers with no alcohol unless you like german weissen beer in which case all the o es I have tried are fine. For those that don't know the trick with zero alcohol beers is to change the brew every second drink to keep the interest up. They all suffer from a lack of alcohol which is what normally keeps you attention! Real ale fans may disagree as they also now swap brews frequentlynowing to the range available
It’s difficuit to pin down what caused it. The day at work had been a bit stressful but not very stressful. The drink was cold and I had eaten rather a mixture of foods immediately before. Yet on previous occasions I had been more stressed, had drunk more alcohol and had eaten more food without Afib.
Hi, reading these posts seems to suggest that drinking cold water can trigger AF. I think I have SVT (not as bad as AF I think). Anyway every now and then my hr shoots up to about 150. Sometimes it drops on its own. If not I can usually get it to drop by lying on my back for a few minutes. I have been told to try drinking cold water to try to stop the SVT though. This seems directly opposite to what these posts are saying. Anyone have any comments?
Another afib episode 3 weeks post ablation
Atrial Fibrillation Bout
When having surgery for another issue how were any afib issues handled at the time of surgery? 
Afib, palpitations and ectopics
Afib
