Ever just get jarred by a 'strange feeling' in your chest?

[DaveT81]

Hi guys,

Appears to me that I'm asking questions all too regularly lately.

I've had atrial fibrillation for 3 years now and I'm still struggling to come to terms with all of the weird feelings and sensations that come hand in hand with it.

My heart as been playing up a lot lately with ectopics, palpitations, etc. but last night I woke up in the early AM and I was just lying in bed. After a minute or so I felt a really weird sensation in my chest and I've no idea what it was but it just felt 'off', so I jumped up and it remained. Meanwhile, my heart was beating very.. the only word that properly describes it is 'urgently'. It wasn't particularly fast or hard, it just felt like it was beating because something had just happened.

I got up and went to the bathroom to pee, then got back into bed. By then, the sensation had more or less passed and I fell back asleep quite fast.

Does anybody else ever get this with afib? Just weird, random, unsettling sensations, followed by some ectopics or may be palpitations?

One thing too, is that I have digestive issues, so I'm often having to try and figure out whether it's gas, acid reflux or indigestion as well. I've just no idea.

I have a chest echo tomorrow though, so hopefully if there's any serious issues that will show up right away.

[Finvola]

You have described it perfectly Dave - beating urgently is better than my own description of beating deliberately. It is a strange feeling but it usually goes away quite quickly.

I don't know what it is - my Kardia shows nothing when it happens and I've put it down to being dehydrated or being low in salt. (I have lowish BP so have to be careful to keep my salt level up) Another possibility is incorrect breathing - is sleep apnoea likely?

Sorry I can't be more helpful but it helps to realise that someone else has another of our multiple symptoms too.

[DaveT81 in reply to Finvola]

Thanks for your reply Finvola! Yes, funnily enough, I have breathing issues at the moment which I've had for over 12 months and we've not yet got to the bottom of them.

I'm 38 and have COPD-like breathing issues. Sleep apnoea like symptoms too. I often wake up in the morning with my heart beating really hard and a frontal headache as well. I'm being conspired against by my body to stop me from getting a decent night's sleep!

Oh, and I was recently diagnosed with ME as well haha.

I have a slightly elevated BP too. I often check my HR and HB before bed with my Kardia too and it rarely shows anything. I'm usually too caught out to think enough to use it during these short events.

[Finvola in reply to DaveT81]

Sleep apnoea is a cause of AF so getting the breathing issues tackled should help your heart rhythm. There are other members with this problem and you may find it helpful to search for posts on the topic. Use the box at the top right to search and then click the AF Association button on the next page.

[Auriculaire in reply to DaveT81]

Can you pinpoint any event that might have precipitated your COPD like breathing issues such as an infection?

[DaveT81 in reply to Auriculaire]

Yes, I had a strange virus-like spell of sickness last July just before it began.

I've recently been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome but the ME specialist said the breathing issues are not normally something associated with it.

[heartmatters1]

Gas, indigestion, reflux & heartburn give my heart the ‘flutters’ - very strange sensations. This settles down when the digestive symptoms pass. All connected due to the vagus nerve I believe.

[Lewis1234]

Yes I get those too. I have PAF with fast episodes every few weeks lasting between 3-15 hrs, self correcting , but also wake up in the night sometimes with the 'urgent' heartbeat approx 100bpm but regular, I normally sit up and do some controlled breathing, it usually lasts about 5 mins then back to normal. I also get occasional heart 'wobbles' and 'thumps' to be technical.

[Tomred]

hi sometimes if i lie down in afternoon through exhaustion for about an hour i alarm my clock but sometimes i awaken quite abruptly and with my heart racing so i have to lie on until it calms itself down this has been happening more and more as time goes on as you describe as urgency is how i would feel also

[Hidden]

I often get an "anxious" feeling just before my Afib starts, and feels a lot like yours. I have found how to put it at bay (assuming you are not on too many meds). Try this:

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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