Iv often wondered whether anxiety, ocd, depression, fear, over worrying etc can set the foundations for afib to manifest at a later date.? The reason I ask for is because as a child I had a eye removed due to a accident at age 8 at school. It was then drilled into me by the doctors and my parents that I had to go very careful because if another accident happens to my remaining eye I could end up blind.!!! So I wasn’t allowed to do any contact sports or the likes and I became obsessed with the fear of accident/ mishaps etc. As I grew older I was a nervous wreck, nail biting, stammering, racing around like a cat on hot bricks, little concentration etc, but then I found myself worrying about everything in life rite up into my late thirties +. Total stress head with anger issues. Example my car broke down after going through a puddle and because I couldn’t get it going after 10 minutes of other road users giving me grief I opened the boot took out a hammer and smashed the car up. lights,windows, the lot. I was constantly in fight or flight mode and It was around this time in my very early twenties I realised my heart was constantly beating really strong and fast always in sinus rhythm never missing etc. . Fast forward another 20 years and get I diagnosed with lone afib at 45 after palpitations had been hanging around a while too.😳 I do always wonder if I’d have been more chilled out and things had been different whether I would have gone on to develop AFIB as I’m sure it’s had something to do with it. I live totally different now and have done so for a good while and my attitude in life is also totally different, counselling, medications etc have also helped of course. Iv always worked and still do and also even find work easier since Iv learnt to chill out in life. Be good to hear from anyone who can relate to my story
Anxiety nervousness and mental health... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Anxiety nervousness and mental health link with afib.?
Anxiety has always been a part of my life from being a small child. I often wonder if the constant emotional and physical upheaval of anxiety has played its part in my afib in later life, all of that constant adrenaline and cortisone coursing through the body cant have helped. However i also found a familial cause for my afib so probably a whole lot of things come into play. Glad you found a way to become more chilled out and your af is under control.
Yeah I think it’s probably a mixture of things that can prone people to develop afib later in life but especially if there’s been stress anger nervousness involved for a long time because like you say it’s the adrenaline and cortisone that gets produced. And that surely can’t be beneficial in large prolonged amounts over time.
I've often wondered too. I was an anxious child ( remember watching Coronation street party from front window as I daren't go)hated birthday parties even my own, temper tantrums, lots of upset tummies meaning a day off school etc etc. Always seemed confident as I grew up, coped with stressful situations at work ( nursing). frequent migraines rarely when at work.
Then when I retired, anxiety, panic attacks. It was a huge relief to get diagnosed with AF as it was something physical - weird I know. Now AF well controlled but anxiety remains. Hey ho!!
Interesting story bagrat, and can relate to that and know how you felt/feel.? Even though I’m more settled with life and situations than I used to be I still have the anxiety thing lurking around.!!!!!
Hi Bagrat, just picking up on your last comment 'AF well controlled', may I ask have you had the Virus jab and if so did it cause an AF episode?
secondtry Strangely I am having my second Astra zeneca vaccs this afternoon. I had no reaction apart from sore arm.I haven't had a "proper AF episode for 8 years. I have reduced flecainide with GPs help to 50mg bd ( 2 years ago) But last month or so getting odd flutters of irregular heart beat which settle with deep breathing. But then anxiety kicking in more with physical symptoms arrrgh! No probs from jab though. Keep well
Thanks Bagrat that's good to know that your jab didn't rock the AF boat.Re the odd flutter, at least at your low Flec dose you have more scope to increase if necessary, I am still on 200mgs/day. Re your comment 'I was an anxious child' maybe it is because of your parents war experiences - my mother was in Germany during the war and there was a BBC programme on how it can affect your children, sorry I can't remember the term given to this.
Interesting. My mother was unmarried ( heinous crime back then) and my Dad was a GI. Adopted as baby. Can imagine pretty stressful pregnancy!!!
I think it might be vicarious traumatization? And also it has been proven that when someone has suffered Tauma of any kind it can change the DNA and this affects future generations.
That’s very interesting raja. I can understand how things can imprint or alter DNA to future generations because that’s how living things evolve and adapt to changes isn’t it and there’s got to be a starting point and a time period of loose ends and problems to fix before it works without problems which may take many many generations to get rite.???
I think when we hold tension in our body it can often be in our heart area. So yes I'm sure that excessive anxiety, ocd, depression and fear could well be what set the foundation for our AF to flourish.
Hearing your story, made me think of mine and all the things that caused me anxiety throughout my young life. I always lived in the peaceful wilds of the countryside, but had lots of brothers and sisters, so didn't need anyone outside of my family. My first and I guess everyone's earliest stressor was having to start school aged 4 and leave the side of my lovely mum - well it was miles from home and I cried every day when I got there. There I was left with all these strangers! Anyway from starting school onwards I think life is constantly stressful, more so perhaps as we become adults!
Losing an eye at such an early age, must have been really hard for you to cope with mentally and I can quite understand why you became very anxious and at times angry.
Life can be very difficult at times and we do tend to let our minds take over with thoughts that add to our stress levels.
I can relate to your story, but in a different way. Emotionally, life has put some awful things my way, but they are things that I never talk, or give much thought to now. Just writing this and thinking about them has made me agitated and sad.
My life is calm and peaceful now and I hope that yours is too.
Jean
I think you’re absolutely rite Jean. Emotions do affect the heart/body. How many times have you had a skipped beat when you get surprised with a shock etc.?? It’s the chemicals that gets released.
On the other hand, it could be that asymptomatic afib or AFlutter contributes to making us anxious. Heart racing, adrenaline flowing: hard to tell the difference from a panic attack. There could also be a strong correlation between childhood anxiety and afib without there being a causal relationship. It is all very mysterious!
I was told my AF was probably caused by exactly that. As an only child my Father suffered terribly with M&S, which as a young child caused me to have anxiety. I used to pull strands of my hair out causing patches of baldness. Sadly he died when I was 20 and I struggled with grief. Fast forward 30-years later, I lost my Mum in a traumatic manner. She was my best friend and the grief was overwhelming. It caused a huge AF episode - the start of an even more worrying time. My EP feels for sure my autonomic nervous system the root cause.
Anxiety and stress are well known triggers for AFIB .... among many others, all detailed in The AFIB CURE book by EP John Day.
Hi awful to hear of your childhood trauma lots of research and knowledge now into how these can impact upon everyday life in adulthood . I am similar to you in that my mother was an anxious person and would never let us play on swings or roundabouts etc it does affect you but I feel my Af diagnosis came about after a workplace accident and taking anti inflammatory medication and the stress of work following a year off . I took early retirement and af seems to have settled so agree with what everyone has said so far that it is reduction of adrenaline in the body that has helped me . Thanks for sharing with us
Thank you for writing this post - V anxious child here - overbearing protective parents. I remember being admitted to hospital as an emergency at the age of 2 having drank a bottle of medicine (I climbed on the kitchen side to reach top shelf) & had to have my stomach pumped. I was hysterical being left at the hospital. I had a deep routed fear of my parents dying & at the age of 9 my uncle at the age of 31 died of a heart attack - this only proved to an anxious mind that people do just drop dead. At the age of 28 diagnosed with a congenital atrial septal defect (hole in heart) that I have had surgically closed. Fast forward to age 47 last year diagnosis of AFIb.
I had a let’s call it ‘crisis’ in 2017 when I was exhausted as a senior nhs workaholic manager.
I decided to take some control 3 years ago & retrained as a hypnotherapist & coach. I needed to understand ‘me’ & to help others like me.
I’m just reading a book on PTSD (the body holds the score) that is very fascinating about early trauma and how it is held in the body & can present itself - like you smashing your car up, many years later.
I have acupuncture & she said that I will have overused my adrenal system which impacts on the mind & body. I am work in progress!!
We all have a story to tell don’t we!
That’s a really interesting story pigleywigley. I love your pigleywigley name it always makes me smile when I see it.😂 and yes stress fear all the strong emotions must have some affect on us especially if they’ve been running overtime for a long time.?
My doggies are pigley wingleys - white Staffies with pink spotty bellies remind me of pigs 🐖😀 I totally agree with you i must have spent at least 40 years anxious but nobody talked about anxiety & mental health until recently. Certainly as a child It wasn’t picked up - just a nervous 😬 child 🧒😓
It wasn’t talked about at all was it. I can never remember anyone ever picking up about all my anxieties I had even though It was clear to see that I was a worried bag of nerves most of time.!!! I remember running for cover in the late seventies and early eighties if a jet plane flew over playground because I was sure I was going to be killed when he dropped his bomb.!! I must have looked a proper sight.? I can look back now at some stuff and grin about it but at the time I was totally petrified 😳😳 and your dog looks really nice and spoilt.😂👍👍👍👍
Hypnotherapy helps my anxiety.
Hey sixtychick hypnotherapy is excellent for anxiety & bringing calm & also learning techniques to use yourself. Glad it helps 🙄
That was a road I did look at a good while back sixtychick actually. but after a lot of different treatments over the years and learning my mind to think in a different way Iv classed myself as normal now in my head and done so for a few years so I can handle most fears sensibly. Don’t get me wrong I still have my moments when something creeps in and for some reason it’s always about health.!!!! Heart/ cancer/ stroke/ MND just because a distant relative died of it.😳 but it doesn’t consume me to the point of making my heart beat fast and strong for ages like it used to do. Unfortunately it’s just who I am. I have always and still do wake everyday and think how lucky I am because my problems are nothing compared to what some people live with.👍
Hi Jetcat -- I too can somewhat relate to your experience. Not that I had the devastating injury you had as a child, but that I was always a "type A" personality, had to get things done immediately, no procrastinating, trying always to outdo my own efforts. I stammer (we call it stutter in the States) as well. In my younger years I had palpitations. By my 30s, I had tachycardia and now a-fib. I had my second ablation 2 days ago. So to the point, I think that yes -- anxiety, or a person prone to it, might develop a-fib. Good luck to you.
Thankyou snowgirl, i wish I could have just been one of the normal plod along folk, to think how many years decades I’d been running on stress and tension isn’t good but never mind no changing how things were.! I hope you’re feeling ok after your ablation and taking it easy. Feet up time, take care.x
Thanks so much for your encouraging words. I think we have to live through the bad stuff to finally get to the good. Some of us just take longer!
Your so rite and that’s a great way of putting it. I’d never thought of it like that before 👍 and I’m glad that mental health issues are mentioned more in our daily lives now too hopefully getting people to be able to seek help in the early days rather than struggling for years and years.
Dear me Jetty...Smashing up your car was extreme, or should I say ‘ super extreme’, to be currently correct. You should have smashed the people’s cars, who were giving you grief. It must have been like watching an extreme scene out of Faulty Towers...CHILL OUT MAAAARN 🥳
Yes it was a little drastic tickerprobs when I look back but it was my normal reaction to things and for a lot of years too. Far too many.!! nothing could change how I felt. I didn’t have the patience or control to sort a problem. Then when I didn’t have a problem I was then worrying and scared about what was going happen tomorrow.? And This ache in my tummy was cancer.? This mole I was born with on my leg was going to become cancerous.? This indigestion was a heart attack that Is guna kill me.? All this was constantly on my mind and it didn’t matter when doctor or any other person told me I was wrong. in my mind I was rite. I knew I was rite and they’d got it wrong.!
Hey Jetty...Sounds like you’ve had troubling times in your life. I’ve always been a bit of a worrier but not to that extent. In truth things that I become concerned about, always turn out a heck of a lot more positively than I anticipated. Having said that, in my twenties, I didn’t think that I would turn into the old crock I am today‼️‼️
Everything I worried about never happened. But at the time I was worrying about it it was going to happen.! I bet you’re not a old crock too.👍x
Well Jet...If you are over the century, I suppose you would class me as a youngster. I refer to Elli86 as SPROG because he’s so young ...and good looking, or so he tells me. Essex chaps tend to bend the truth a little though. 🤣
I’m not there yet although I feel it some days.!! West Yorkshire lads are like Essex lads though.???😂😂😂
Hey Jet ...and they drink a lot of tea. Do you ever have trouble int mill where you live❓❓Eeeee by gum.
Duz tha nor we dunt get no bother or owt int mill rand here tha can tell em. 😂👍x
I’ll take your word for it
Of COURSE it can!!! Anxiety is a root cause of AFIB.
Things just don’t happen out of the blue the heart is a miraculous divine instrument and it’s connected to our feelings and emotions it’s the central sun of our bodies.
Unfortunately Western medicine cardiologists are completely clueless as to the cause of a fib. This is a major gap.
They think the heart is a piece of meat they can manipulate and shock and force and burn back into normal rhythm.
If your heart is quivering pay attention and if you know you have anxiety get to the root cause of your anxiety and love yourself as never before and get help and get down into the root of your fear because anxiety is just another word for fear. Things don’t happen out of the blue they happen out of the oblivious.
Sounds like you’ve been through some major stuff as a child and losing an eye and that had to be terrifying and you may be holding trauma in your body mind unconsciously. EFT and EMDR, Cranio Sacral psych Cay are all helpful modalities. You won’t get rid of your anxiety from taking an anti-anxiety drug either although it can help to tone down your symptoms but cure means going beyond symptoms down into the root of things without that all treatment is merely palliative.
If we want to be well we have to take responsibility for connecting the dots with our own conditions and trace them back to the root of origin. You seem more aware than most and I wish you the very best!
God Bless is everyone and a happy Christmas!
Yes I’m sure that losing an eye and the following decade contributed to my high stress levels and possibly developing afib because you are so rite in saying heart is connected to feelings and emotions 👍
Sorry for typos. That should read “ Psych K” 😉
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