Afib and anxiety

[actionteddy]

Have had afib for 4 yrs along with a lifetime of anxiety. Whith the latest news my anxiety is of the scale. Any words of hope would be very kind thank you take care to all xx April

[Globe-J]

Hi April,

Do not despair, there are a few ways dealing with this affliction. Please keep on searching for an answer, right for you.

There are a few of us who are now afib free. The Maze Procedure, ablations are a couple of options. While ablation did not work for me, it had for others. The Maze procedure allowed me to be free of AF for over three years now.

Best wishes

J (-:

[CDreamer]

I could, I have written reams on anxiety and AF but it comes down to this - there is plenty you can do about relieving your anxiety - which will then may very well reduce you AF symptoms.

Breathing is most important and breathing through the nose so learning how to control your breath is probably and universally the best thing you can do. Simply focussing on your breath is the basis of many relaxation techniques and when you do that - it stills the mind which is THE most troublesome part of anxiety - getting into unhealthy thought patterns and catastrophising with the ‘what ifs’.

CBT techniques are excellent for countering the catastrophising.

I would suggest you check out these links and then perhaps some of my old posts and replies.

Be curious about your anxiety - don’t just accept that is how it is because you have the power to change it - but it does need information as to how and lots of daily practice and the most difficult thing to do of all - change the habit.

One of the things that helps me most of all is the thought that I have no control whatsoever about external events but I have full control of my thoughts and how I react.

humangivens.com/publication...

This is a post I wrote some 2 years ago. healthunlocked.com/afassoci...

I also follow the Dr Chatterjee podcasts - excellent recent one on how important it is to breath through our nose - someone posted it on here about 10 days ago - I thought it sad that so few people responded as if there were one video which explains the importance of correct breathing - it’s this one

drchatterjee.com/how-breath...

Only you can master your anxiety but lots and lots of help and support out there if you look.

[actionteddy in reply to CDreamer]

Thank you for your reply I will follow up on your information. Much appreciated regards April

[CDreamer in reply to actionteddy]

You are welcome and remember that we do support each other here so don’t ever hesitate to post, have a rant, express your specific concerns or say what is on your mind (as long as it meets the forum rules).

Doing anything you enjoy counters stress hormones as joy releases endorphins which counter stress hormones in your body - you would laugh yesterday as I was dancing mostly naked around my kitchen to Dessert Island Discs when Daniel chose the Lear song - We will all go together when we go........

Laughter really is the best medicine - OK I know you don’t want to imagine me naked....🤭

[actionteddy in reply to CDreamer]

This is so lovely to hear you speak in a positive way

I have become a nightmare to my husband over the last few weeks and have probably overthought and over read the situation. And thanks for the image of you dancing in the kitchen in your birthday suit ! A good start to Monday !!

[7164 in reply to actionteddy]

April

I have had paf for 18 months and apart from the trips to A&E the worst part is the anxiety of waiting for the next episode. The ‘what ifs ‘ and ‘I can’t do that be because ‘. It is hard to accept how much your life has changed. I am a health care professional and an ex police officer and have dealt with peoples problems all my life nothing was not ‘fixable ‘. So af a big shock that I could not deal with it by myself so you are not alone.

On the positive side. This forum will tell you most that you want to know and reassure you that you are not alone: ask questions from the medics and don’t just accept (I did that at the start); get to see an EP (I had never heard of them and the plumbing cardiologist didn’t refer me): take notice of the people on here that have walked the line and finally gone down the ablation route for QOL: breathing really does help but when you are scared and anxious it is hard to do it😬.

We are on this journey and there is light at the end of the tunnel 😊😊👍

Rod

[actionteddy in reply to 7164]

Thank you so much for you reply. Am very worried about this horrible virus and it is making my anxiety worse. It's good to know that there are lots of people on here that are all in the same boat 😀😀April

[actionteddy in reply to CDreamer]

I hope you are feeling better thinking of you x😊

[secondtry]

The antidote to anxiety is best self prescribed, one of a few methods I use is to write down in the evening the top 4 positives of my day, can be as mundane as watching your favourite TV programme.....over a few months it provides an interesting diary as to what's important to you.