Afib

[juulharch]

Is it a bad idea to go skiing in very high altitude when having Afib?

[Dawsonmackay]

For me, I didn't even have to go skiing. I had gone to Telluride in Colorado, where that is in the mountains and high altitude and felt like I was going to faint. I had constant pain in the bottom of my foot. Didn't realize at the time I was in permanent Afib but upon arriving home went in for a check up and put on warfarin and metropolol immediately.

[juulharch in reply to Dawsonmackay]

That's exactly where I'm going next week and I'm worried to even fly and be up there so I might cancel. Thanks so much for sharing your story! I am on 325 mg aspirin every day.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to juulharch]

Here in UK and Europe aspirin is no longer used in AF due to the harm it can cause whilst doing little for stroke prevention.

[dgilyde in reply to BobD]

Actually it is not advised in the US either

[HiloHairy in reply to dgilyde]

Some US doctors still recommend aspirin for lower risk patients.

[Dawsonmackay in reply to juulharch]

Aspirin is no good.

[CDreamer in reply to juulharch]

No problems with flying - just keep very well hydrated.

[djmnet in reply to juulharch]

Hate to see you miss out on all our snow in February. You'll be glad you went, as long as you take it easy and drink lots of water. The skiing in Colorado is fabulous!

[Paulbounce]

A rock and a hard place springs to mind.

For me personally I'll still go for things - afib won't beat me (I think - for now anyway). However be aware that if you need medical attention it's going to longer to arrive. If you are on anticoagulants there is an added risk if you have an accident. I think that's the biggest consideration.

As far as I'm aware a high altitude doesn't affect afib. However I'm not a doctor so best to check with a medic.

Enjoy your skiing.

Paul

[CDreamer]

I do think everyone is different however this subject came up a week or so ago & the consensus of people who have skied with AF was :- take time to acclimatize, keep very well hydrated - I found I had far more problems in Colorado then the Alps because of the much drier atmosphere; sleeping at altitude can be problematic, certainly was for me at anything over 1500m - and was a problem for everyone who posted.

I just found I spent so long waiting for my HR to reduce before taking the next lift I missed so many runs I got fed up & gave up which I was very sad about so haven’t been skiing now for 6 years.

Your decision but have really good insurance cover.

[Slim2018]

I went skiing about two months after ablation and was on Flecainide and rivaroxaban and was absolutely fine. That said I wasn’t in Afib at the time.

[secondtry]

It may depend on physiological make-up. I certainly don't go skiing any more as I found it triggered AF and I believe the basis was lack of sufficient oxygen; due to narrow nasal passages and lung efficiency/breathing habit I struggle to get my oxygen levels up to what they should be at sea level let alone the mountains.

[estrennen]

I went skiing at Lake Tahoe 4 months post ablation and didn't have any issues. The altitude is a little lower than Colorado, base about 6500 ft and peak about 8500 ft. As always, I hydrate a lot when skiing at altitude, no alcohol and get a lot of rest at nights. Additional background is I have not had any Afib since the ablation (5 months ago), I'm a fairly fit (runner) 59 year old male and an expert level skier (I coach ski racers). Take precautions, listen to your body and you should be fine.

[daved525]

I snowboarded in Colorado (10,000 ft base) while in PAF. Family had to wait on my frequent breaks to catch my breath, but still fun. My cardiologist was worried about blood thinner, in case I took a hard fall, but not the afib.

[Lien-Ju]

Hello there! I went skiing last week and I noticed my heart beat was more elevated 90-100 at 1600m altitude. I took 1,25mg Bisoprolol for 2 days and issue solved!

[Hidden]

Hope not. I'm doing it all next week. (have done it many times in the past years and no problems).

Just be careful of what you eat and drink. This might help:

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

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...