Drinking with AF

[Pamuella]

Hi everyone drinking a glass of beer or wine can start my afib but if I have a drink when I have afib it stops it, does this happen to anyone else?

[Londongul]

My HR in AF goes as fast as 230-250BPM and involves a great deal of chest pains. I struggle to put the meds down my throat and hardly can imagine the scenario sitting down and having a drink lol

It would be interesting to hear the other responses

[Hidden in reply to Londongul]

Make sure you are hydrated and keep sugars to a minimum. Here is what I found out:

---------------------------------------

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

[Pamuella in reply to Hidden]

Well done sugarist i will try your theory but beer is full of sugar all very confusing

[Hidden in reply to Pamuella]

It's not a theory. I have 9 years of documented data showing sugar and dehydration trigger Afib. Problem is that, as you get older, your sugar tolerance changes and I don't know how old you are or what your tolerance is. You will have to find that out yourself. If you are young enough and your sugar tolerance is over 120 grams of sugar a day, you should be able to ward off Afib for the next 10-15 years or so without medications (I am working on 15 years). Once your sugar tolerance gets below 60 grams a day your screwed - you have to eat that much or more to live. Then medications and ablations might be the answer. Have fun!!

- Rick.

[Paulbounce]

Hello Pam.

Interesting question. I can only say whats to happened to me in the past. When I go in to afib med`s / beer or anything else won`t put me back in sinus. Only having a spark does it.

The point though is this. When I`m in afib my HR goes much higher. Let`s say it`s 90 - 100 BPM in the evening. As soon as I have a beer it drops to 75 - 80 every time. A drink relaxes you - I think this is why.

You wrote

........if I have a drink when I have afib it stops it.........

Stress can be a major trigger for afib. Maybe having a drink makes you feel much more relaxed and less stressed and this helps. If so it might be worth you considering other options to reduce stress - yoga for example.

Maybe I`m on the wrong track but it sounds like stress might be your trigger.

LG wrote

.........My HR in AF goes as fast as 230-250BPM and involves a great deal of chest pains.......

If that lasted for more than a few minutes LG I would get off to A&E there and then. It happens so don`t panic - play safe though.

Best,

Paul

[Ridley60]

I was thinking the same a Paul, the relaxing effect of Alcohol may be your cure. It could also be a Vagal affect of a cold drink flipping you out of Af. Personally I found a couple of cold beers helps me relax if I’m in Af but doesn’t stop it. Hopefully no longer an issue as I had a 2nd ablation 3 weeks ago.

[Pamuella in reply to Ridley60]

Thank you Ridley good luck with your ablation

[secondtry]

The point of the same thing putting you into AF and bringing you out (or using another known AF trigger to bring you out) has been mentioned before here and is very interesting; as Ridley says possibly more relevant to those of us with vagally mediated Lone PAF. e.g. I don't go in the sea or even a pool for a swim but if I got AF second on my list would be to dive in. The theory being that the mind tells the heart (via the Vagus Nerve) you better get ready for this and the adrenalin restarts a regular beat. Keep experimenting as it is the little discoveries that could one day help many.

[Pamuella in reply to secondtry]

Thank you secondtry I quite agree

[djbgatekeeper]

Only ever have 2 drinks and you've cracked it 👍