Hi crowd, greetings from a hot and sweaty Bangkok.
The last 2 1/2 years since my abltion in 2017 were pretty ok. Always had my ectopics but that was not so bad. Did sport, swimming, walking, did ride my HD, got energy back, all pretty fine.
Over the last couple of weeks my ectopics increased, saw the cardiologist, did holter, nothing significant, blood test showed that cholesterol went down. All happy.
And yesterday evening, well, it started out with the usual ectopics, some flutter feeling and I knew something is coming. As I live just 10 min away from the hospital I thought lets visit the lads and see what is on. Doc did an ECG and all was fine, said lets monitor 20 min and then you can go home. Well and then the monster hit home. HR between 80 and 140 all over the place, a spike to 210 and the usual urge to pee.
Doc said, stay here and lets see, hoocked me up to the monitor and for the nex few hours I could self monitor my Afib dancing around. By 9 am. I got sleepy and was almost in dreamland when I realized this calm feeling after the storm Back in NSR.
By lunch time I was home with the usual "run over by a truck" feeling. Even before my ablation it never lasted that long.
I hope it was a one-off, see the cardiologist on Monday to talk about ajusting medicine currently on 50 mg metoprolol, 2x80mg Diovan and Pradaxa. He wants me on concorn2.5 but alone the side effects sound scary. Reckon I will be reasoning to change his mind.
I know I need to lose weight, at least 30 kg. Well keep cracking on.
Damn did not realize I wrote that much, sorry for that fellas.
Wish you all a great weeken, I am now off for a few pints.... naa that was a joke
Cheers, John
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JohnEagel
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Bangkok! Wow. I hear quite a few Americans retire there and enjoy a lovey
lifestyle.
Sounds like you have been active after your ablation. Even on your Harley! Congratulations on the lower cholesterol. That pee dump during A-Fib is something else. The body tries to help out as much as possible during these events. I am on Pradaxa as well. I have never had an ablation. I am not in constant A-Fib, and I hope to never be.
I’m rambling now because I have no advice to offer. I just enjoyed how you wrote about your experience and wish you the best.
Your body is trying to protect you. It’s a hormone that goes into gear to push out as much water as possible to keep so much water away from your heart and organs from my understanding. When you go to ER, the hormone is found in their urine test they give you
Sorry to hear this buddy! Let’s hope it’s a blip, but that won’t stop you wondering when it’s going to strike again! I had my ablation last May and aside from a couple of SVT episodes lasting less than a minute, I’ve done ok.
Like you been getting the ectopics but we all know they are harmless so dismiss them mostly. I’ve always thought that at some point the AF will return, even though it’s the last thing I want. I’m not one to panic or worry, but when it affects you like it does it’s hard not to worry.
I hope you do ok and fingers crossed it was a one off
Yeah indeed, its the bloody worry before, the if, when, maybe, that gets to your nerves.
Tomorrow we do the Distinguished Gentlemans Ride, need to polish the crome on my Softail Heritage Classic 98, put on my best outfit and enjoy the ride.
When you go into Afib and the heart pumps hard and fast, a chemical mechanism kicks in, and the body gets rid of as much salt and that urges you to pee on and on. I did nothing, was in bed. Had dinner before, not much. No stress, all relaxed. But with increasing ectopics over the last month I had this feeling something is building up. That of course increases anxiety and the parasymphatetic nervous system acts up and that could lead to an episode.
But reckon we won't know for years until the secret about Afib is lifted by advanced research in the future.
Whats also interesting is as I guess- a connection with the vagus nerv. When I got my episodes and I turned to the other side, they stopped and I got back into NSR for a minute or so, then it started again. Turned to the other side and it broke the cycle again. Sort of turning every 2nd minute to the other side. So my guess it could be vagal related. Also think too much belly fat pushing up and squeezing in the heart. There is a massive weight reduction on the plan now.
Na thats too easy and wont encourage me to change my life style - well actually I did - no alcohol no coffee no tea. Just the bloody sweets, damn, hard to get rid off. But a serious reduction of weight is needed.
Since you are overweight, this might be your problem (hope so, because it's fixable):
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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
Sorry to hear it - hope its a one off. I know its a worry with the 'what ifs' - I've live with it since my 2nd ablation and worry that the increased ectopics, heart rate bursts and other peculiarities that appear to have cropped up since the 'successful' ablation ae my heart trying to get back into PAF. The weight loss seems like a great strategy - I've struggled with it but have had some (albeit slow) weight loss trying intermittent fasting - sometimes the 5:2 Diet and other times ther no eating for 12 - 16hours every day one, Best of luck,
I so empathise. Almost a year with nothing, off the meds three months after the ablation all good. Then three AFib episodes in a month. Interesting all at the same time around 12.30 am when fast asleep. The original flutter also started in the middle of the night. Consultant reckons its when I go into autoneumonic or some other term, state. Doesn’t explain why perfect for a year. The weeing is amazing, I get it sometimes when in normal rhythm with no explanation. I could work as a stand alone fire tender.
Have you seen the UCLA / Harley Davidson video about how good riding a motorbike is for you. Best cure for stress there is.
I am now taking 100 mg Flecainide each evening as an experiment to see if it stops the night time trigger. Seeing my consultant later this week for a catch up.
My Afib always started in the late evening as well. Found out that it took nearly all day of eating sugars before I exceeded my "sugar threshold" for the day. Then, an hour or two later, Afib started. Try the following and see if it works for you:
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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
John, I think you may be right as a trigger a bloated stomach certainly triggers my ectopics which are back with a vengeance as well. Trying Sanjay Gupta’s five seconds in and five seconds out breathing as often as I can remember.
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Back in NSR.
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