Can anyone explain what this may have been?

[bcrouse]

I’m 28. Normal BMI. Had one bout of afib that went to Normal Sinus Rhythm on its own. ECG at the Hospital caught it. I have slightly high BP. Echocardiogram was normal. That was in March. Now Fast forward the other week I was driving and I had drank a Medium coffee (my usual in the morning) My heart fluttered for a good two minutes then stopped. I have Kardia but didn’t use it in time to catch it. My question is.. can a fib last for two minutes ? Or was this like something else? I’m still new to this. Was it a PAC? Or PVC?

[SpritzerAce]

Hi there. Hope you are well. I can only answer your question based on my own experience with AF and PVCs and PACs. On the incident that you didn’t manage to capture on Kardia I would not know what could that be. But on your question on whether AF can last for few minutes YES it can. I had this happened to me, caught it on Kardia and sent them to my EP who confirmed that it was indeed short burst of AF. I have also had incidents of atrial flutters for minutes and they did not turn to AF (caught them on Kardia and sent to EP too). I have also had episodes of atrial flutters/tachycardia that led to AF. Hope this helps.. Rest assured that you can count on members of this forum to share good advise and words of encouragements to keep us going. This is definitely my go to site whenever I need to know something about AF or just to rant whenever I am in AF. Can’t thank the members enough. All the best to you in your AF journey!

[Hidden]

Hi, can't really improve on Spritzers answer, mainly because 1) I tend to be asymptomatic and 2) I have things generally well controlled and so when I do feel my events they are infrequent.

I wonder if you have any sensations or feelings in your chest when you have an event? I can tell the difference between flutter and fibrillation - with Flutter it is like squadrons of Butterflies having a dogfight in my chest, whereas, with fibrillation it is like a big bag of earth worms wriggling away furiously trying to get out of my chest.

Hope this helps.

John

[RoyMacDonald in reply to Hidden]

First event could have been caused by a virus. Coffee event maybe it was too hot? Caffeine is a big no-no for me.

[Gowers in reply to Hidden]

That's a good description

[Hidden]

Yes think it can, I've had one episode this week, literally 5 minutes then reverted back to normal

Andy

[JonathanPittsCrick]

Many of my patients with intermittent AF also have brief episodes of arrhythmia which have been caught on Holter recording or using AliveCor/KardiaMobile or ApplePhone ECGs and they are almost always atrial arrhythmias often of different kinds in different episodes.

1.The most common look just like AF though it is not clear if they are exactly the same as the sustained type.

2. The second kind, which is quite difficult to distinguish from AF is MAT (multifocal atrial tachycardia) – this is also irregular and can come and go with periods of normal (sinus) rhythm in-between.

3. The third is EAT (ectopic atrial tachycardia) which is fast but regular with rates anything from 100-220 beats per minute; that can last a few seconds to an hour or two.

4. The last is atrial flutter which can be regular (usually at 150 bpm) or irregular. It may continue until treated or progress on to AF. It can also drop to a rate of 75 bpm regular giving the impression that it is back to normal but jump back to 150 bpm with any activity.

As RoyMacDonald said, they can be triggered by a virus infection or caffeine; other causes are alcohol, a very heavy meal, hunger or stress. They are more common when your normal rhythm is on the slow side, either due to athletic training or mild sinus node disease.