Morning all.
I’m a 31 year old otherwise healthy male.
I’m taking verapamil 40mg twice a day for my AFIB. Have any of you guys experienced vibrating or shaking when you wake up in the morning. It’s only in the chest area but it does start to ease after I take the medicine.
Sounds like normal arrhythmia/AF often described as a box of frogs in the chest.
Hi BobD. Thank you for the comment. I am new to this and tbh I haven’t really had anything explained to me greatly! Thank you!
I am not a medic but 40mgs of Verapamil x twice daily sound so small as to be ineffective .Iwould check back with 'the powers that be' concerning such a small dose and esp. if the 'frogs 'c ontinue to jump.
Hi! I'm so glad that somebody else has the same feeling in the morning, as I do! When you feel the vibrating of your body (my whole body vibrates, in such situation, with about 120 BPM), it is very likely that you are not in AF but in A-Flutter, where both atria contract together, but not synchronized with the ventricles. If the heart is "strong" enough, it is able to cause the vibrating of the whole body. Nothing to worry about, it is still better than full blown AF.
Hi steel. It’s madness ain’t it and such a strange thing to wake up to!! Hopefully it’s not causing any harm!! Thanks for the message
Hi John. Yes I’m working. And quite a high pressure job. I get woken up constantly at the same time. My doctor has just told me to take a verapamil as soon as I wake. I was diagnosed with AFIb. Never said about the flutter
That sounds exactly what I used to have before the Flecainide put a stop to it
It is probably the common AFlutter called Atrial Ventricular Node Reentry Tachycardia or AVNRT.
The signal from the sinus node in the Atrium gets to the AV Node and instead of continuing to the ventricles some of the signal goes back to the Atrium and pulses it again. This feeds itself continuously and sometimes needs external intervention to halt it.
Thanks for your response. I will have to mention the flecanide to my consultant
Does it ever get any better? Do you get headaches with it or is that unrelated?
With a treatment that suits and works for you, but it can be a while getting there. Keep on going back to your doctors and pushing, difficult in these time we know.
Oh my word ...I thought I was the only person to have felt this! Where in your body did you feel this? Some years ago now I actually had this sensation for over two weeks continuously but in my lower abdomen area ...not chest. It was as weird as hell.
Hi Astrofish. It’s mainly in the chest area but it can spread to the abdomen. It’s strange ain’t it
Thought it was just me as well. I had it happen a few times when my AF kicked off again in June. I felt like I was trembling.
Unfortunately it does not get better. Antiarrhythmic drugs combined with rate control drugs such as beta blockers can help.
Aflutter is easier to ablate than AFib and is far more successful.
That’s not great news but at least there’s some positive
Yes I used to get it haven’t had it for a while in fact you saying that has made me realize I hadn’t had it for ages . It fekt like the heart was shivering.
Sue
Hi sue
It’s such a strange sensation ain’t it
Ash
Yes and same as you it happened when I was waking up. Even say if I had a nap in the afternoon it would happen, the vibration was so fast but just like the heart was shivering. It was quite brief. But enough to me you think what’s goung on....in fact I never mentioned that to the cardio as I’m in France and describing that in French was a bridge too far.....but it hasn’t happened for ages. Gosh I shouldn’t say that as it’s bound to happen now eh!!
Sue
It would be very typical. I have an appointment this afternoon with my GP. I’ll mention it to him when he calls me. Hopefully he will have more of an idea what exactly it is. Did you suffer headaches too?
No headaches
I used to take 120mg verapamil slow release
I also had 40 mg tablets standard release to boost the dose if my heart rate began to climb (i always had high rate if I went into afib)
I understood the equivalent to a 120mg slow release was 3 x 40 mg ( Not medically trained) . I understand the minimum dose recommended is 120mg
bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/verapa...
I think you are missing a dose.
Fyi I initially started with the 40 mg pills as an attempt at having PIP rather than a regular dose. 2 x 40 mg releases faster than 1 x 120 mg slow release. It did not work. By the time the dose was absorbed in I had been it on fast rate AFIB for hours!
As regards Afib versus fast rate Aflutter
I have had both and had ablations for both. I am sure you cannot tell which is which from a vibration in your chest unless you have had both previously and recently . You need an ECG. And someone expert to read it TO confirm what you have.
I developed the reentrant atrial flutter 9 days after my succesful afib ablation.
I went to a&e after communicating with my EP. An ECG was taken and afib diagnosed and communicated by the doctors to my EP. He agreed to up my flecainide dose to try to cardiovert me.
30 hours later after in bad spent the night in MAU, and as I was having an echo cardiigramme the operator made a comment about flutter. I said i have afib. She said no I think flutter. Another ECG confirmed flutter.
Was very important as flecainide promotes flutter, and we had upped the dose when it should be reduced!
Hence why I say if it can be difficult to establish with an ECG it is impossible without.
Hey Robbo. I had the conversation with my doctor yesterday after reading this and he is agreed that I take 40mg three times a day to see how I go! See if I start to feel better. So today I start my 3 a day course
Thank you all. I was thinking the same KMRobbo. The doctor is trying to keep me on a lower dose really. I’ve contacted my cardiologist secretary as I am due to see ny cardiologist in February. She said she will email to see if she can bring it forward
Yes I've been getting it since a failed cardioversion almost like a Buzz in the chest area also if weakened early by someone suddenly i get feeling af is kicking in but have to lie on a few minutes to calm down anyone else get this
I was diagnosed with permanent AF when I was 44 years old. I was asymptomatic for 6 years until a cardiologists suggested that the AF was probably having an effect on me and he persuaded me to have to have a cardioversion to see how I felt in sinus rhythm. He said I might feel like “super man” and if I did Then I should consider an ablation. Well, the cardioversion put me in sinus rhythm for less then 5 seconds before going back into AF. Worse still, I then felt dreadful for the next two years or more. My energy levels were less and I would wake up everyday in the early hours of the morning unable to relax. One of the oddest experiences was when I was in my car and stationary I felt that the car engine was vibrating and rattling much more than usual. When I turned off the engine, the vibrations were still there....it was me!!! Or rather my heart clanging away. This was something that I had never experienced before the cardioversion. I’ve since come to tolerate the sensations and symptoms that I was left with after the cardioversion, but for some time I was very angry that I had gone from being largely asymptomatic. Anyway, that was just a very long-winded way of saying that what you are experiencing can be very “normal” for someone in AF. Getting your head in the right frame of mind is very important in order to cope with the condition. It’s typically not something that the cardiologists are very good at helping with. It’s hard for other people to understand that you just feel like “rubbish” a lot of the time, because from the outside you look fit and healthy. I found that seeing a therapist for CBT helped a lot. I think I also struck lucky in that the therapist had also suffered with AF until she had a successful ablation, so she really identified with my difficulties. Anyway, good luck with coming to terms with your symptoms and stay fit and healthy.
Hey sykesie. Sorry to hear what you have been through. I am feeling quite down at the moment with it all. I have phoned my cardiologist to request an earlier appointment. I don’t really have any idea what is wrong with me. They haven’t explained anything really.
When can I return to normal?
2.5 weeks after ablation 
Did or didn't I take my medication this morning 
