I've recently had a bad cold with a cough that triggered a long episode of AF, and have been left with a fast resting heart rate of 100, whereas when it was controlled by Flecainide and Bisoprolol it was about 50. Even though I've increased my medication I still have it, interspersed with episodes of an uncomfortable pausing pulse. I've been referred to Cardiology again, but it's a bit depressing as I don't know when I'll get an appointment and it's hard not to dwell on things. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Fast heart beat: I've recently had a... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Fast heart beat
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Hi
I would try and get an earlier appointment, not because I think there is anything serious ( I'm not medically trained) but because you may need good advice re your medication. Flecanide is good but can cause problems and if you feel your heart is behaving oddly it meeds checking
Give this a try and see if it helps:
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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, Thyroid (sends signals to the heart to increase speed or strength of beat), Adrenal Gland (sends signals to increase heart rate), Sympathetic Nerve (increases heart rate) or Vagus Nerve (decreases heart rate), Hypothalamus Gland or others - 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...
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Thanks for your reply sugarisit. I know dehydration triggers my AF, and I try not to eat much sugar, but I do crave salt and probably eat too much of it.
My heart rate always goes up when I am sick. My resting heart rate is currently 85 to 90 bpm, but it was up to 100 to 107 when I was down with a bad head cold at the end of November. . Doctor was not concerned as the beats were regular and were not causing any fatigue or dizziness.
No, but heart rate should be between 60 and 100 beats per minute. A heart rate of over 100 for long periods of time, like in AF, can lead to dizziness, fatigue and in the long term, heart failure.