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[mikeonfire]

I often browse what others share but have rarely shared myself as I've been extremely settled health wise until last night! For context, I've had momentary palpitations for years but 2 years ago had an episode of AF with irregular heartbeat and needed a cardioversion to fix it. Since then I've been on 5mg Bisoprolol and Amlodipine daily to also keep high blood pressure in check. Last night while sitting watching TV I suddenly became aware of almost blacking out and my heart rhythm went all over the show. I got on my bed while my wife called an ambulance and fought for nearly 2 hours by breathing hard to not blackout. (It took that long for the ambulance to arrive). I had cold extremities, ringing in.my ears, sweaty palms, serious shakes, was totally grey in colour, an overwhelming feeling to blackout, slight pins and needles in my extremities and the most instant severe dry mouth I've ever experienced. I genuinely thought it was my time. The hospital have checked everything over, I'm still there as I write, and I have a clean bill of health while waiting for the final enzyme results, aside from the probability that an arrhythmia was try to go full steam ahead but my meds stopped it. I need to see my GP next week who may tweak what I take but I'm still here!! It's been a horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I wanted to share this in case others have experienced similar and wanted to encourage if I could. Take care all

[SpritzerAce]

Oh my! Sorry to hear that and thank God you are OK. Hope you will only get better and that’s one off experience that you will never have to encounter again. Keep us updated on your condition and what the GP says. Stay well and take care !

[CDreamer]

That does seem a wee bit extreme, wishing you speedy recovery.

[Hidden]

Hi,

It seems Bisoprolol is used for both heart rate control and for blood pressure control whereas the Amlodipine is solely for blood pressure control. Also the two are different classes of drugs, the former is a beta blocker and the latter is a calcium channel blocker and both act in different ways to deal with your conditions.

Some of the symptoms you describe can be attributed to Bisoprolol.

So, and I assume, in the two years you have been on these drugs that (until your latest hiccup) your condition has not deteriorated, if that is the case then I'd be really asking for a review of the use of both drugs AND the doses which you are on at the moment.

By way of information, I've been on Bisoprolol (5mg) for 10 years and in the early days some of my problems were the same as yours, particularly cold extremities. I am also on Ramipril and Felodopine for blood pressure BUT I was told Bisoprolol was purely to control heart rate.

Good luck.

John

[Bagrat]

Even if you have been stable on a drug combo for years YOU can change. My OH passed out a couple of times having been on several heart and antihypertensive meds for over 14 years. Dropped 2 and all good now

[MrSkins]

I know how you feel, been to A&E for my last 3 episodes, last one was Friday morning after a night shift, I don't know what the usual heart rate is but mine was 158bpm the 104bmp when they discharged me. I used to be in 2.5mg biosprol and 180mg Adizem, had a review and now been off biosprol for 1 month with lots of twinges and 2 episodes. I'm starting a 200mg Adizem dose today and some diazipam if needed,

[baba]

Do you what you pulse was doing at the time? (I realize you were probably too ill to check).

Or did the paramedics/hospital see anything on your ECG?

Very slow pulse (bradycardia), or long pauses between beats can cause unconsciousness. This can occur when in Atrial fibrillation.

Hope they find out what caused your symptoms.

[reinaway]

Know just how you felt as that's what happens to me too when an episode starts. I always try to think through to the other side that it will stop and that gives me courage to see it through. Hope things are better for you now and wish you well.

[Hidden]

Try to remember what you ate the day of your attack. If your foods contained a lot of salt or sugars, try this to keep afib down to a minimum:

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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 (this is why all doctors agree that afib gets worse as you get older). 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 (afternoon) 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?? I also found that strenuous exercise does no good – perhaps you make yourself dehydrated??

I'm pretty sure that Afib is caused by a gland(s) - like the Pancreas or Thyroid - or an organ that, in our old age, is not working well anymore and excess sugar or dehydration is causing them to send mixed signals to the heart - for example telling the heart to beat fast and slow at the same time - which causes it to skip beats, etc. I can't prove that (and neither can my doctors), but I have a very strong suspicion that that is the root cause of our Afib problems. I am working on this with a Nutritionist and hope to get some definitive proof in a few months.

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

PS – there is a study backing up this data you can view at:

https//cardiab.biomedcentral.com/a...

And Oh - if you find that your sugar threshold is lower than 50 grams a day - it's nearly impossible to eat less than that each day, which will keep you in permanent Afib. If this is the case, try going to a Nutrition Response Tester. I am doing this and she has improved my gland processing such that we have increased my sugar threshold from 48 grams a day to about 75, which is high enough to stay under - and keep afib from happening (unless I indulge in a sweet something – which I do too often). Hope this helps.

[mikeonfire]

Following on from my recent post, thank you all who replied, I wanted to give an update as to what's been happening. I spent 16 hours in A&E, eventually being discharged after being told all my results were in normal range.

I'd had loads of blood taken and initially was told my enzyme count was 3 and then possibly double that!

Ultimately there was nothing more to do at the hospital, I was exhausted but felt okay so went home.

My palps had not returned since early morning too.

I contacted my original Consultant who I'd been under 2 years ago and explained what had happened. He agreed I'd had a second arrhythmia and is arranging for me to see him. (I know many people have frequent episodes but I'd been settled for such a long time).

This episode was very different to the first in that for the first arrhythmia the only symptom I'd had was a racing heart, 200 bpm. This time I had an overwhelming feeling of blacking out, (didn't thankfully), along with ashen colour, ringing in my ears, very very dry mouth, sweaty palms. After around 90 mins I was slowly getting back to some kind of normal. I genuinely thought I was dying.

I've taken on board that sugar could be a trigger so have made a lifestyle change and am giving it a go to see what happens!

What I'm left with other than my usual daily momentary palps is I guess similar to panic attacks, whereby at night when I'm sitting watching TV I'm very aware of every beat of my heart and feel I could easily flip the switch into another episode. I seem pretty normal through the day, it's mainly at night this happens. I've had brief physical sensations as if the feinting was about to start but in standing up and taking a few deep breaths, trying to occupy myself in some way too, it's faded quickly.

Anyone else have anything similar and do you combat it with some form or relaxation techniques or anything else? Thanks

[Bagrat]

Many people use various breathing exercises. My favourite is in for 7 out for 11, count as fast as you like. Lots of mindfulness you tube videos.

I love these youtube.com/playlist?list=P...

You can also try grounding yourself by noting 2 smells 3 things you can touch 3 you can hear 4 you can see or similar.

I also enter an imaginary house and start planning changes!!