Learn about atrial fib

[Beaterbear]

Don’t understand atrial fib heart rate usually normal but get hollow feeling, burping. I thought atrial fib was high heart rate or fluttering

[Hidden]

Hello and welcome to the Forum. AF is what we tend to call a mongrel condition which means it tends to be different for different patients. The common denominator is that it is an irregular heartbeat which is often fast (over 100 bpm) but can be slow (under 60 bpm) or anywhere in the middle. It can be there all the time (persistent/permanent AF) or it can come and go without warning (paroxysmal AF).

The best thing for you to do first is to take a look at the pinned post to the right of this page headed “Useful links for Newbies and Oldies”. From there you can easily navigate through a lot of useful information which will help you to find out more about “your” AF. Make a note of any questions and then just ask, there are a lot of folk here who will be pleased to help and share their experiences........

[Desanthony]

My heart rate has never been fast and when in AFib is actually lower.

[rosyG]

to add to Flapjack's post, the burpy feeling may be because the vagus nerve, which connects heat gut etc is being irritated by the Af.

[Ppiman]

My elderly friend has been in permanent afib for many years, yet has a normal-seeming heart rate and, lucky him, hardly any effects from his arrhythmia.

The hollow feeling is what I got before my ablation and I've felt it since. I think that is from the stomach and diaphragm, myself, which can push up against the bottom of the heart.

Fibrillation occurs when one of the upper chambers of the heart (the left atrium) loses its natural, controlled contraction and starts to quiver randomly instead, thus failing to adequately pump blood down into the lower chamber. The pulse rate (that we can feel and count in the wrist, say) is from the lower chamber (the left ventricle). In afib this is irregular and can also be high (>100), but needn't be.

Steve

[Swimsyroke]

Hi Betterbear

It may be related to digestion.

I have poor digestion and when it is bad I get that hollow feeling and some burping and very often at some stage it triggers the AFib. I find that taking a course of Esomeprazole, Lanzaprazole or Omeprazole whichever works best can calm the system down followed by fewer episodes of AFib.

Hope this helps

[10Snut]

it is all about beat in sync. Does not matter fast or slow both cause less blood being pumped. Can lead to clots. To slow and you can black out and fall, So take care

[Shrek1974]

I recognise that feeling, I can get that when in Afib & recently noticed it worse when having ectopic beats (observed on my Kardia device) which have been present since my last cardioversion in March. It seems to be settling a little now (fingers crossed).

I’m currently looking for the trigger but not having much joy, the last bad one was after a few squares of chocolate late at night. I’ve had little caffeine, no alcohol, eat well & thankfully exercise, stress and night shifts don’t seem to be a trigger. Does this seem familiar to anyone else? Also could I be looking for a trigger that I’ll never find?