Difference between AF - palpitations - flutters etc.

[canadiananna]

I all - I was told I had AFib a few years ago and on the usual drugs. However I have never been told or understood the differences that I read about here. Is there a document I could read or can you explain the difference between the different types of AFib.

[jedimasterlincoln]

Flutter is from the right atrium whilst fibrillation is in the left. Flutter is a fast regular beat A fib has no rhythm and is just chaotic and fast.

Both are electrical "short circuits" in effect.

For me personally, my flutter presents as short fast beats on a heart trace, high peaks but not prolonged or far apart. My atrial fribrilation cannot usually get a reading on my device. I've likened it to Afib being a toddler scribble and making no sense whilst flutter is the same thing being drawn over and over and over again the same way at constantly high speed.

The main AF association website has lots of fact sheets you may find useful.

[canadiananna in reply to jedimasterlincoln]

thank you I will have a look on the site for the info.

[grandmadogs in reply to jedimasterlincoln]

Thanks. Your reply to Canadianana is really interesting. I had a successful ablation for afib last September but recently I seem to get exactly what you have described as flutter in bed, especially when lying on my left side. I am due to get another follow up in June and will be wearing a holter for a week beforehand. Do you know if this will show up? My afib seems to have completely gone!

[BobD Volunteer]

To further expand on jedi's post ' Palpitations just means that you are aware of your heart beating. What rhythm or not is irrelevant .

[Hidden]

I'm not sure whether you mean the different types of atrial fibrillation(AF) or the different types of supra ventricular tachycardia (SVT).

Some cardiologists recognize adrenergic, vagal and mixed types of atrial fibrillation.

Four types of Supraventricular tachycardia are described, these are atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter(AFL), atrial tachycardia (AT) and AVNRT or atrioventricular nodal re-entry tachycardia. In general, I think most people see AF and AFL as separate from other types of SVT.

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

richardbogle.com/blog/vagal...

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sup...

On this forum most people have atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. AFL is sometimes described as regularly irregular, which I think means regular but varying in rate, and AF as irregularly irregular. Both can be very fast, fast or slow with an range of 50 - 300 at the extremes.

[canadiananna in reply to Hidden]

Thanks I will have a look at these sites.

[Aus19]

Good question, canadiananna. Apart from the scientific difference between different arrhythmias, there is also the subjective question of how you feel (e.g. how you feel if your heart is in AF versus how you feel when you have other palpitations/ectopic beats). In my case, I don't always feel when I'm in AF.