After 11 months without an episode of AF suddenly it returned yesterday.
Not sure if this is significant but I was working quietly on my computer all day and at about 16:00 I decided to go to my allotment to pick produce and to lightly hoe any new weeds. So I suppose I went quickly from torpid to active
As my heart rate is normally very low just a few minutes of hoeing was enough it seems to set my heart racing followed by AF.
As you can understand after all this time it was a bit of a shock.
I then irrationally went straight into a panic attack which as you all know makes matters worse. Tried all the whale music and meditation which helped but was shaking all over and having to have a pee every 15 minutes.
You would have thought that after 30 years experience I would take it all in my stride. Sadly AF plays mind games with my head and I cannot control my emotions.
The good news is that after taking extra Flecainide and one small 1.25mg Bisoprolol my heart returned to NSR after about 4 hours.
Bad news my heart rate was down to 38 when I woke up this morning.
Feeling a bit better now but very delicate.
Hopefully it will be another long time before it happens again.
Pete
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pottypete1
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So sorry to read this Pete but glad the drugs worked and you are in NSR again. Bending and straightening repeatedly would cause my heart to race and wobble and I wonder if you were doing this when you picked your vegs/fruit.
I don’t think an attack of AF out of the blue would be something I could take in my stride either - but - you coped and got through it,
I feel for you. It happened to me too. As we are long sufferers we should be used to it. I don’t think it’s ever far from our minds waiting for us to feel ‘normal’ what ever that is and bang. As you say panic disappointment and p.... off.
Still you knew the drill and it worked. So keep calm ..... ! And carry on. Feel sad for you but your naughty heart is behaving. May it last a long time again. 🙃🙃
Aw Pete 😒 I am so sad for you, I know that awful sense of disappointment when the beast returns uninvited .
I wonder, were you hunched up over the computer because I suspect that sitting hunched up for a long period of time and the shallow breathing that comes with it can precipitate an episode. If you are sitting for a long time try to drop your shoulders and lean back expanding your chest and breath slowly and deeply.
I've had a good swear for you Pete. Pleased you are ok now, though it was odd that your heart rate was so low
I just went from sitting at my PC to cutting a back hedge and got soreness in my chest, radiating to my back and had to stop. So I guess I did the same as you! Not sure if it's my gallbladder or heart.
There's a lesson there we've learnt. Stay well now.
Slow heart not so unusual for me because it is slow anyway these days with my conductivity disease. Because I took Bisoprolol as well as Flecainide it has put the brakes on.
Hopefully I will feel better.
It will teach me to feel smug because I was approaching a whole year without AF for the first time.
Sorry to hear that Pete. Still it's good news you are back in sinus.
For the record my HR is always different for a few days after afib (although it goes higher rather than lower). I find it returns to normal after 2 or 3 days - I'm sure yours will too.
You are still in panic mode for week or so afterwards as I'm sure you aleady know - it does pass though.
I do know delicate Pete. Had a new boiler installed today which was really well planned and organised. Didn't stop me waking at 3 am in panic with stratospheric HR. All done and dusted now but feeling the after effects! Think a curry is needed! Well the AGA is a bit low after being turned off for a while today. lol 😁
. After 26+ years I still get an awful shock when AF turns up out of the blue. I'm just 7 months from my last cardioversion following some quite frightening bouts of AF. Apart from A/tach no AF to speak of since but would be surprised if I reached 12 months ! ( have ablation no 4 pencilled in circa Mar 2021....)
Hope things stay calm for you now.
G'day PP,
Sorry to read of your plight.
Forgive me if I am brutally blunt ( a perhaps a tad mercenary) .............. get used to it this is the way this mongrel works. Its playing games with your heart electronics. Tricks, game playing, playing emotional tag . One way or another it wants to win - i.e. trip you back into AF !
Just about every time I have had long spells of being AF free .... it hits me at night, usually around 2 am, and tips me into AF. Mine usually lasts 5 to 7 hours. The AF bit then disappears and the BP remains very high for another 12 to 18 hours, sometimes even more.
So - you were bent over your PC for hours ......... I wonder - when you were at your allotment - how much bending did you do. Are you telling us all you did was to hoe ? No bending at all ??
Sadly, you talk about AF playing mind games ....... that's just what it's doing .....messing your mind up so it can get an 'in' to your heart electronics ....... you let it in ....... bingo it's won ! Job done.
PP, its not about understanding and dealing with the AF -its about understanding the mind games. Get that under control and AF is banished to its rightful place ..... at the back of your mind. Liberty and freedom are then at the forefront of your mind - everything balanced and in its place.
And ........ after your allotment work, you came home and what was your evening meal, and what time of evening did you finish it ?
Forgive my brutality PP ........ I hope you are now back to normal .... whatever is normal for an AF'er ....... may the force be with you.
I do stress though, what ever AF thingy happens to me always is around 2 to 3 am .....NEVER during the daytime
There is nothing you have said brutality that tells me anything new as I said I have endured PAF for 30 years, had 7 ablations and > 20 cardioversions.
My subconscious rules my emotions and telling me to toughen up, hours of counselling and numerous sessions of hypnotherapy have changed nothing.
I love gardening but forget sometimes I have AF and get stuck into chopping our olive trees and doing a lot of bending down picking up logs going back and forward to the bonfire it's only later when I get an attack of A fib that i remember i cant bend over without setting it off
Same with eating I have to sit at the table when I would rather curl up on the sofa and eat my spag bol in front of the TV so bending overs my trigger try not bending to do anything it might just be that.
Hi there, how are you. Isn’t it crazy and spiteful that things that we like doing all upset out heart. I have gone from gardening, walking my dogs and doing my housework which is one I don’t resist to someone sitting in my chair scared to move too quick and. It going out the front door. It’s like your heart has been wounded I suppose and it has to be nursed. 😢
This is so good to read, I was the shopper, cook, housemaid in the home. I swam five×60 lengths on a good week, pilatesx2 a week walked 5-7k once or twice a week. I loved my gardening and looking after my great granddaughter at weekends. Now I do a lot of sitting and supervising and get very emotional about it all. Meds seem to be sorted now but still very lethargic and able to move about more but still very limited. Trying to build up to walking and mini exercise regime every day. Xx
That’s interesting to read people think bending over can set off afib, does anyone know why it might happen? I definitely have to be careful about sitting hunched over at the computer and shallow breathing, my heart soon starts to show it’s irritated with a few unpleasant ectopics. Hope you’re feeling better Pete!
There is no doubt that awareness of the heart beat increases when bending forward. Nausea also becomes apparent.
This time my AF started when I increased my heart rate by hoeing. There must have been some leaning forward but also picking running beans is stretching up.
Now the last time I had AF October 2019 I had just gone out to my garage and stretched up to open my garage door.
However to disprove all this I did a survey of my incidence of AF occuring a few years ago when it was as it's worst and over 50% of onsets were when I woke in the morning and had not even got out of bed. Many more had a gardening theme but it was when I was sitting in a chair all comfortable watching Gardeners World on the TV.
No rhyme nor reason I gave up alcohol but alcohol was rarely a trigger. Stress was another trigger so I try my hardest not to get into stressful situations.
It seems to me that even doing nothing is not an answer after all we all have to live somehow.
I am working on my computer right now and am taking your advice not to lean forward too much.
My first confirmed episode of afib started just after I had switched on Gardner's World! , 5 years ago now. The beast reared it's ugly head again yesterday after a nearly 8 week gap. I had had some ectopics after dinner Weds evening but managed to banish them with deep breathing. Yesterday early evening I was lying in the garden reading and I felt them again but this time the deep breathing did not work. Strangely this time I did not get the constant weeing. I managed to make and eat dinner and got to sleep ok but I woke up at 5-45 feeling sweaty and not so good. Kardia said my heart beat was about 145 so the 2.5 mg Bisoprolol taken at 7-30 pm had not done much good. I took another 5mg , went back to bed and 2 mins later went back into NSR. Sod's law! Today I feel wiped out but that's probably as much due to the Bisoproplol . Hope you are feeling less delicate now. I am doing nothing much today. I often get the afib attacks when I am very tired as if my body is saying "You need to rest completely". I was supposed to accompany a friend for her mammogram in order to translate as her French is not up to managing herself. Then we were going out to lunch as it is her husband's birthday. Had to leave it all to my husband .
I know someone who bent over to the floor beside her bed and had a severe stroke and is in a wheelchair now. It's made me really cautious when picking anything up from the floor. My dad had a stroke when getting out of bed in the night. It's recommended that as we get older we sit on the side of the bed for a few moments before getting up - I do this in the middle of the night too.
After losing 4 stone and having 3 blissful AF free years on meds then 8 blissful AF and medication free months, my AF kicked back in in June and I was distraught. I was on my exercise bike, which I had been using for 3 weeks............and they say exercise is good for you. 🤣. I didnt get much hassle with just the AF but mine is always acommpanied by RVR, even when lying still in bed . Had cardioversion number 3 on Weds so fingers crossed that the resting pulse stays at 56 and not 160 again. I've had 2 nights of waking with cracklely breathing since the DCCV and last night it did cause me to shiver and shake, probably with anxiety so I know what you mean........no whale music here, just hubby's snoring and trying to do some hand reflexology which did help.😊
During Lockdown I have not needed to be on my computer as much. I have felt so much better doing 90 mins more exercise in the morning and afternoon......and I intend to make this pattern permanent. Sounds like you need to up light exercise (to increase your HR a little) and take extra care with a possible Vagus Nerve which needs rebalancing i.e. the sympathetic and para sympathetic levels. Maybe allotment in the morning and work with breaks in the afternoon; I haven't had an AF episode for a while now but I know late afternoons was always a tricky time when my AF was more prevalent. Good luck.
Thanks for the suggestions they are much appreciated.
However, I have been working throughout the lockdown and I work on my computer not play on it. I am aware that breaks are necessary and also I do not hunch over my computer.
Throughout the period since Covid struck I have had a walk of over an hour each day with 2 hour walks at the weekend. I cannot raise my heart rate due to my Bradycardia, I get severe breathlessness and Bradycardia. I am unable to do any more exercise as it is my wife has to keep waiting for me when we are out for our daily walks.
The point of my post was that I went a full 11 months (best for 30 years) without AF it was all a bit of a shock to have a bout of AF out of the blue. I posted to highlight the fact that AF plays mind games and to be honest no amount of being told to toughen up will make any difference.
My AF has always had a mind of it's own. Often early morning when I wake up, sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night and almost every other time out of the blue for no apparent reason.
Yes it is a devil! I work on Lifestyle changes daily and maintain motivation by telling myself it is worth it because the changes will help my overall health and have no side effects....I also am much more grateful for every AF free day! I am currently working on improving my breathing and hope to be able to report some positive news here in 3 months time.
Sorry to hear your news and I totally sympathise. I have had 15months free after an ablation last June. I woke up at 3.30 two nights ago and was back in A fib. Fortunately after an ice cold drink and a lot of calm breathing mine settled, but it threw me totally. I have had two days feeling anxious, sick and trembly which was always an after effect for me. It seems my road is starting again. I do hope you feel better soon, your posts are always so helpful.
I so sympathise with you. I'm exactly the same when I have one. I get so anxious and panicky. I wish I could be more psotive about it and calm myself down. Fingers crossed its a long time before you get another one x
It’s very disheartening when this happens. I went for 6 months during the lockdown with no PAF (previously the longest period had been 2 months without PAF since I was diagnosed 2 years ago). I haven’t had anything for 5 weeks and am hoping it won’t come back for another 6 months at least- but I
don’t know if this will be the case. It’s alwaya tempting to look for a cause- I had eaten a bit late when Inhad the PAF, but I cannot day for sure if this caused it. The same with the digging.
You didn’t say what medication you are on usually. If the AF returns, it might simply be a case of a need to increase the dose a bit. For sure, you should try to relax as much as possible, eat lightly, exercise etc. (easier said than done). Time will tell whether this will tame the AF
It probably isn’t possible to say if you will go another 11 months or not- it’s simply unknown (the same in my case). The best that can be done is to maintain good lifestyle patterns, keep a diary to try to spot recurrent patterns and stay as relaxed as possible.
I know exactly how you felt! It never fails to be a scary experience - I think because you never knows if it will ever revert back. It always feels like it’s going on longer & makes you feel very delicate, as you say.
Thank you for you post, Pete. You have always been and continue to be so inspirational and so informative.
Your experience of "I have endured PAF for 30 years, had 7 ablations and > 20 cardioversions." is most enlightening for the reality check that when one gets AF, one has AF no matter what one does.
In your case "My subconscious rules my emotions and telling me to toughen up, hours of counselling and numerous sessions of hypnotherapy have changed nothing."
I am 15 months post third ablation with one episode because I stopped my medication, over-confident that I would not have an episode. Back on medication, I now get up every morning wondering if I WILL have an episode. Your post is right on target:
"The point of my post was that I went a full 11 months (best for 30 years) without AF it was all a bit of a shock to have a bout of AF out of the blue. I posted to highlight the fact that AF plays mind games and to be honest no amount of being told to toughen up will make any difference."
Medically, the only band-aid currently available is to block the rogue signals via ablation. The science is not advanced yet as to how new rogue signals develop and get through, though reconnection is the pathway for old rogue signals. There can be no labelling of these signals such as the alcohol path, the stress path, the food path, the exercise path, etc. As patients, we do diagnose ourselves that I have stress electrical signals or alcohol signals or combinations. But, a new pathway may develop that we are totally surprised by and certainly unprepared for. I believe that may have happened to you as you say your bout was "out of the blue."
Thus your post is a reality check that when we have AF, it is not a matter of "if" it will come but "when." For that awareness, I do thank you again.
Sorry to read about this and I hope you are returning to normal. Your post is very informative, providing a useful account for me and others. Thank you.
Hope you are well and remain so, I already had anxiety disorder and depression so afib made it three interlocking horrible conditions which today I feel quite despondent. Sorry for the gloomy mood, I m not any help but am new to this and am devastated that it has happened especially now.
Yes I am well and have had no more AF since my post 2 months ago.
I totally understand the mind games that AF plays on you as I have had the misfortune of having Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation for over 30 years.
My best advice is to do your best not to let your anxiety take the better of you.
Not knowing your condition it is difficult to advise otherwise but I can assure you that there are some wonderful helpful people who are resident on this forum and you only have to ask a question with your own post for you to get very supportive responses.
Talk to your Cardiologist and if you haven't got one ask to be referred to an EP Cardiologist who can help you. The science has improved significantly since I first had this mongrel condition and there is a lot that they can do for you so do let it make you despondent.
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