Heart rate in A fib

[KateS10]

So I was curious what everyone’s episodes of A fib feel like and for how long they last for ? What does your heart rate get to , and for how long does it stay at that rate for ?

[Jalia]

My current episodes have been truly awful.....peaking at 230+ bpm for 1-2 hrs and then returning on slightest exertion. Feeling was akin to having run around the hockey pitch 3 times on a frosty morning ( school memories of 60 + years ago.....)

I had cardioversion for this just 48 hours ago ...( 20th..) Resting heart rate now 63. I have been tachycardic continuously for 7 weeks at 115/120+ bpm with increasingly frequent episodes of AF.

J

PS...I'm not normal 🙄😃.....😃

[Buffafly in reply to Jalia]

Pacemaker booked?

[Jalia in reply to Buffafly]

Will see in 2 weeks !!!

[Buffafly in reply to Jalia]

Good luck 🌠

[Buffafly]

My rate is very variable, from almost normal to much higher - last time I went to A&E the nurse who did my initial ECG told me in an almost accusing tone that my HR was 168. I don't think I should have been walking around at that rate! My episodes have varied from a few second to a few days. I am very lucky in that I don't have very extreme palpitations but I do feel light headed, sick and have slight neck/chest pain at high rates - my max HR should be 145 but I feel uncomfortable well before that.

[absolutepatsy]

I feel rotten when in AF. Walking a few steps is amost impossible due to lethargy, it feels like when you are reaching up high for a few moments and your arm feels drained and you have to drop it back to normal to let the blood flow back, my whole body feels like that. It usually lasts 3 day or more and my heart rate goes haywire like 179, 54, 265, 89, 129, 260, 68 and on and on. This happens over a period of seconds on the heart monitor (i am normally in A & E after a couple of days of waiting it out). I have had an ablation and been AF free for 2 years but alas I had a couple of episodes at Xmas and although they reverted after 6 hours, I am thinking if it happens again I will be going for another ablation.

[Madscientist16]

My heart rate would be around 190. It felt like a frog flipping in my chest. I would break out in a cold sweat and become so tired and fatigued I could barely stand. It would take 8 to 12 hours of additional medication to revert back to NSR. My episodes would come months apart but became more frequent regardless of my medication doses increasing until I was practically a zombie.

[7164 in reply to Madscientist16]

Madscientist

How are you feeling now ?

Did you consider/have an ablation.

Rod

[Madscientist16 in reply to 7164]

Hi Rod. Yes, I had an ablation on November 5. Almost at the 4 months mark. I have been doing great. I have not had any AF episodes. I am off all heart meds. I am back to work and working out. Taking good care of myself. Hoping for many AF free years to come. Only time will tell.

[Rubymurray25]

I use the free Cardio app and also the HeartRateFree one on my phone and they are remarkably accurate and good as they actually work during an AF episode as opposed to my Omron blood pressure machine. It records figures from 40 jumping to 175 within a split second and during that I would feel awful from the classic frog feeling to breathing issues driving also by extreme anxiety which is actually the worst aspect which I am getting better at with the help of breathing exercises.

[Hammerboy]

I must be very lucky, PAF for 2 years and mild symptoms with HR not going above 100. Since my ablation just before Christmas I've had multiple episodes lasting up to 12 hours or so. More symptomatic but HR still under 100 and a lot of small runs of missed beats. My review is in March and I'm hoping things wil settle down before then

[Morzine]

Mine was a heart rate around 140. It fekt like I was a beached whale....so bodily tired even in bed ......also it wS as if I wasn’t getting enough oxygen in my body......it was just an overwhelming sense of body tired, nit sleepy tired......pulse racing.....

[Barb1]

My recent monitor showed that my heartbeat was around 150 for most of the time, 85% in 24hrs, that I was in AF. At sleep it was 80-100.

[Hidden]

As long as I keep my sugar intake below my sugar threshold (about 65 grams a day) I don't even have afib. If I go over that amount just a little (which is so easy to do), my afib is hardly noticeable and I can exercise pretty much any way I want. If I really enjoy myself and eat over 120 grams of sugar in a day, the next day I feel weak, lightheaded and cannot do much of anything. So it depends on how much I go over my afib trigger. My afib lasts 1 or 2 days if I cut back on sugars right away, or last indefinitely until I cut back. Here is what I have found on sugars:

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

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...

[Restcfo1 in reply to Hidden]

I had an ablation a little over two years ago and would be classified as PAF currently. My HR during Afib episodes generally ranges from 70 to 90. They last for as little as 30 minutes to about six hours if I use my pull in a pocket (i.e. flecainide). Without the flecainide, they could last as long as a week. My symptoms are less severe than most, so I have been able to carry on fairly normally when they occur.

[KathFrances]

I'm PAF and just taking 110mg Pradaxa daily. I have an episode every 2-4 weeks with HR up to about 170. After taking PIPs of 2.5mg Bisoprolol and 200mg Flecainide, heart rhythm goes back to normal in 2-3 hours. Feel terrible during the AF - weak, faint, hardly able to move and strange, like I'm not quite in my body - then tired with low heart rate (50-60) for a few days afterwards. Find it all quite scary.

[whiteface]

AF is permanent. Heart rate 55bpm

[GarrBo]

Hi. My Afib was quite debilitating with a rhythm very much like syncopated jazz. It is now better controlled after a surgical maze procedure and medication.

[Hidden]

Was having an episode which lasted 48hrs, then a day off then back to the AF again for months with hr below 100 each time. EP said I would become permanent but that never happened. However, am giving Flecainide another try and so far I am under control. 🤞