I’ve just come back from seeing an out of hours GP who confirmed I most likely have a return of AF after nearly four years since my first ablation. I feel completely devastated. As I am still on Rivaroxaban and bisoprolol she didn’t class me as an emergency to get a heart trace done at the A&E hospital, and said to get one organised in the morning with my GP, as well as an appointment with my specialist.My pulse is being kept down by the bisoprolol but my rhythm is all over the place and I feel EXTREMELY anxious.
I have read so many times on this site about this happening to others but now it is happening to me.
During my ablation my phrenic nerve was damaged and took months to recover, so I don’t know whether they’d do another ablation. I’m full of trepidation for the future, and need some words of comfort right now.
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Tessybear
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.....my rhythm is all over the place and I feel EXTREMELY anxious.....
OF COURSE you do - pretty normal IMO.
The good news is you have been afib free for 4 years. It shows the ablation has worked until now - more importantly treatment has worked for you. Your heart responds and that can only be good news. This implies help is at hand.
You also wrote
.....she didn’t class me as an emergency to get a heart trace done at the A&E hospital.....
More good news - you`ll be OK I feel. Of course panic and disappoint will set in but I`m sure it will be sorted out. You have done the right thing seeking medical help. I`m sure it can only get better from here on and you have taken the first step. It`s a distressing time but it won`t kill you - remember that when you feel your heart beating out of sync.
These things happen when you have afib - you`ll beat it I`m sure.
Enjoy your Sunday and try to relax as much as you can. Bet you will be OK and get through it.
Thank you so much for your reassurance. It has been really helpful.
I ended up giving in and going to A&E as my anxiety was so immense- I really felt I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. The ECG showed ‘a few ectopic beats’ otherwise normal sinus rhythm. It was so odd because my heartbeats were so irregular, even during the ECG. It has calmed down a bit now but I’m still getting some intermittent little episodes.
I will be going to get things checked out with a cardiologist anyway. I know I must try to relax and distract my mind from it.
Sorry to hear you are having a tough time. The anxiety is awful and comes with the condition sadly I find. Good you have seen a medic and they are reassured for you.
Get the ecg tomorrow and take it from there. It is so disappointing for you when the ablation had hitherto been helpful. All is not lost you will be back on track, I so understand your anxiety and despair and hope things settle soon for you. Best wishes.
Thank you so much for your reassurance. It has been really helpful.
I ended up giving in and going to A&E as my anxiety was so immense- I really felt I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. The ECG showed ‘a few ectopic beats’ otherwise normal sinus rhythm. It was so odd because my heartbeats were so irregular, even during the ECG. It has calmed down a bit now but I’m still getting some intermittent little episodes.
I will be going to get things checked out with a cardiologist anyway. I know I must try to relax and distract my mind from it.
You did the right thing in going, always better safe than sorry. Given people turn up at a and e with tiny ailments which I have witnessed often, I think attending with heart issues is extremely valid.
Good luck with your cardiologist visit and I hope the awful anxiety eases, little wonder we get anxious when our hearts go off on one and of course our body goes into overdrive as our whole system if thrown off kilter and anxiety becomes a part of the bodily and mental reaction. What a lousy condition we are dealing with. Best wishes.
Hi Tessybear, I know exactly what you are going through as I am going through almost the same scenario. I had to come off my antiarrhthmic tablets as they were doing me some harm and start some different ones. As soon as my trusty meds were out of my system i went back into AF at quite a high rate. I was devastated as I guess I had hoped my AF had gone....not so.
I cant have another ablation as like you I had a complication that was potentially life threatening. I couldnt see where it was all going to end and like you felt anxious and frustrated. However my new meds are finally doing their job giving me some thinking space. You will also be ok when you have seen your consultant and have a plan. Remember that if your heart rate is being kept down and you are on anticoagulants you will come to no harm while you are waiting to see your Doctor. It shakes us up when our hearts start playing up again after a period of normality, that is completely normal.
I know how disappointed and anxious you must feel. So sorry this is happening. Perhaps your cardiologist will agree to fit you with a loop recorder soif it happens again, you will know if it is really AF or just a run of ectopic beats. At least that way, you might feel more comfortable.
That overwhelming anxiety feeling is what comes with the AF. It’s horrid. My cardiologist says they go together. I never know which comes first!! However, I do know now that the overwhelming anxious feeling is a sign you’ve skipped into AF. The fact that you are settling down is really good news. And you are already taking your protective meds. There are. I easy answers. Just keep hold of the positive thoughts that you have been all right again before, and you will be again. Try some calming activities. Nothing too strenuous. Walking is good. Even just round your garden. But out in the fresh air is the best thing. Try not to sit worrying. Be reasonably busy - no need to go at things frantically- just things you need to do as it stops you concentrating on every heart skip and anxiety. See friends. Do things that distract you a bit. Gradually, your equilibrium will be restored. Hope you feel calmer soon. 😃 in fact, I know you will. 👍
So sorry you are going through this! I agree with others that it sounds like you are going to be ok, but I know the anxiety that AFib brings on and it is no joke. Keep us posted!
The quivering anxiety seems universal to us lot ! I thought I was so tough after getting diagnoses of MS and Malignant cancer, (both sorted now), but the heart flobbles are of a more urgent/frightening nature. You will feel all the more relaxed once it is reliably resolved... I just packed my betas and anticoags for the high pressure trip Chicago to London & South coast this week. Now there is confidence ! Yours will return too...
Don't know how old you are, but you might try to make the Afib go away by yourself. Here is how I did it:
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After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar (and to a lesser degree, salt – i.e. dehydration) was triggering my Afib. Doctors don't want to hear this - there is no money in telling patients to eat less sugar. Each person has a different sugar threshold - and it changes as you get older, so you need to count every gram of sugar you eat every day (including natural sugars in fruits, etc.). My tolerance level was 190 grams of sugar per day 8 years ago, 85 grams a year and a half ago, and 60 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer. If you keep your intake of sugar below your threshold level your AFIB will not happen again (easier said than done of course). It's not the food - it's the sugar (or salt - see below) IN the food that's causing your problems. Try it and you will see - should only take you 1 or 2 months of trial-and-error to find your threshold level. And for the record - ALL sugars are treated the same (honey, refined, agave, natural sugars in fruits, etc.). I successfully triggered AFIB by eating a bunch of plums and peaches one day just to test it out. In addition, I have noticed that moderate exercise (7-mile bike ride or 5-mile hike in the park) often puts my Afib heart back in to normal rhythm a couple hours later. Don’t know why – perhaps you burn off the excess sugars in your blood/muscles or sweat out excess salt??
Also, in addition to sugar, if you are dehydrated - this will trigger AFIB as well. It seems (but I have no proof of this) that a little uptick of salt in your blood is being treated the same as an uptick of sugar - both cause AFIB episodes. (I’m not a doctor – it may be the sugar in your muscles/organs and not in your blood, don’t know). In any case you have to keep hydrated, and not eat too much salt. The root problem is that our bodies are not processing sugar/salt properly and no doctor knows why, but the AFIB seems to be a symptom of this and not the primary problem, but medicine is not advanced enough to know the core reason that causes AFIB at this time. You can have a healthy heart and still have Afib – something inside us is triggering it when we eat too much sugar or get (even a little) dehydrated. Find out the core reason for this and you will be a millionaire and make the cover of Time Magazine! Good luck! - Rick Hyer
Thanks for this info, it is really interesting to note, as I have long suspected an underlying reason other than simply the electrics of my heart playing up!! I intend to put this idea into action. I’m 62 and otherwise in reasonable health, but need to lose some weight, and have recently been cutting down on sugars / carbs and fats a lot. The night before this onset though, I went to a dinner party and had a dessert for a treat. I hadn’t eaten anything sugary like that for some time, so wonder if it jolted my system!
62 is fairly young. I would think if you cut down on sugar and stay hydrated that you might be able to avoid any Afib, even without medications. I have avoided medications for 15 years by watching my sugars. I often go over my limit, but the Afib only lasts a day or two, or three and by then the sugar is all used up in my body and my heart goes back to normal. Hope that works for you - those meds can be worse than the Afib.
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