Anyone else find they get bad episodes if they haven’t eaten enough?
Trying to work out my triggers, and seem to be worse when I haven’t eaten or eaten too much!
I work with food all day which weirdly makes me not hungry so I’ve never really eaten much during the day but am finding that makes things worse so trying to eat little and often.
Yes. I've found that , in my case strict cutting back on food frequently starts fast AF. I find more frequent small food portions help.
Thank you, I do tend to feel better after eating as long as I don’t eat too much. Will try little and often. It’s tough as I don’t feel like eating much at all at the moment. I need to keep hydrated too as I’m also bad at that!
I think that many of us are guilty of not hydrating sufficiently, myself included, and it is so important!
I think good hydration far more important than regular meals but many people find that grazing rather than large meals helps. Regardless of what you eat you must drink at least two litres of water a day.
Well, keep properly hydrated yes. But drinking 2l of water a day? Not so much.
Yes, little and often is better than big gaps. This is way easier at work as I seem to graze all day but it's much harder to graze at weekends, being out or active. I'm more likely to have an episode of I've been in the garden all afternoon and not eaten a snack or drunk enough.
I have learnt that if I don't have breakfast at 7, lunch at 12 and evening meal at 18.00 I am playing with AF fire so make sure I stick to those time and I'm sure really does help, might be in the mind as well, but that's OK as a cardiologist can't get into that part! I was never a big water drinker but I always have 1.5 litres of water every day plus 1/2 pint of milk and again I'm sure it makes a huge difference.
Sounds a sensible strategy. I found that moving after eating was my main trigger so I have to stay in rest and digest mode for 30 mins or so. We are all so different.
Hydration is incredibly important.
Just a theory, but I am sure you will improve if you:Leave between 12 and 16 hours between the last meal at night and the first the next morning,
Eat regular and often
Eat a banana a day and 2 or 3 avocados a week
Drink between 1.5 and 2 let’s of water a day
Reduce sugar intake, cut out all processed sugar if you can.
Sleep for at least 7 hours - everyone underestimates the benignity of sleep in fixing what’s wrong with your body.
I'm with RubyMurray on this one. Since getting AF I have found it is best to follow a fairly strict routine on meal timings, good breakfast and lunch and light supper; worst case scenario would be not eating much during the day and then come 8pm eat a large steak!
Yes its one of my triggers. I always leave house with bottle of water and a few plain oatcakes plus a couple of magnesium citrate tablets. I am always prepared for an episode
I can understand that. Many of my attacks have been when I didn't eat either the right kind of food or at the right time, and also when I've got too cold for some reason like being under dressed in the evening or sitting still for too long. I resist naming these as 'triggers' though, because quite often they can happen and there is no resulting AF to follow. I think everyone looks for 'triggers', it's a natural human response, but there aren't any. It would be a nice solution wouldn't it, to avoid 'your' 'trigger', and not have any AF?
Thanks everyone. Going to make sure I eat little and often today and drink plenty. Fingers crossed for no episode this afternoon! X
This has been a really helpful discussion with some great tips, thank you
Thanks so much everyone. I’ve made sure I’ve eaten little and often today and also had plenty to drink. Touch wood no major episodes yet today, just a few flutters here and there! X
Yep, if the cardiac samba starts up, I usually feel better after having something to eat.
I fast 20 hours a day without getting AF. (I eat 10:00 to 14:00.)I do get palpitation when I fast for a few days - but I have not taken an ECG to see if I am in AF.
I do get AF after vigorous exercise.
Widge, hope you can duck and dodge your bouts with AF. From my experience overeating was one of my triggers. My Doc said many folks are triggered by “thoracic pressure”, or pressure in the cavity that holds the lungs and heart (straining, overeating, bending over, etc). This pressure in ones chest somehow triggers the bad circuitry that’s developed in and around the area where your pulmonary veins enter the left atrium. Avoid excess pressure here, and maybe triggering, by exhaling while you bend over or when you strain—especially after eating when your belly is full. I went five years figuring out and trying to avoid AF triggers, not really thinking about the underlying condition—what was wrong with my heart?Key here is the understanding that you have an underlying physical condition. AF is typically the result of heart cells that have developed circuitry in the wrong places, that get activated one way or another, requiring drugs or other interventions to get back to normal sinus rhythm. Ultimately, most folks who are tired of meds or whose AF gets persistent, will need PVI to cut off those bad circuits. My doc recommended ablation early on. I opted for meds, but ultimately the condition progressed (abnormal circuits continued to propagate) and I had ablation. Posting this primarily to point out that avoiding “triggers” does nothing to cure the progressive underlying physical cause. Look for an opportunity to get your circuitry fixed, not necessarily for ways to avoid triggering the bad circuitry. All the best to you.
Thank you that’s very interesting. Some of my worst episodes have been if I eat too much. I’ve just started on meds whilst waiting for test results and I have to say they are making me feel worse! I guess they take a while to get used to.
Before my ablation I used to get 2 episodes of AF per week . A full p!ate of food at 7 pm was a recipe for egging on AF. Keeping hydrated is very important. Coupled with the infamous Bisopropol , my AF mostly started at 2.00 am. I know - it's recorded and all data sent to my EP.
I’ve just started on bisoprolol. It’s hideous! Woke at 3am this morning to go to the loo and was so dizzy I had to hold on to the walls to get to the bathroom!
I never leave home without a snack bar of some sort. Get woozy without food, but too much food at once can set me off. I graze through the day. And I try to drink water through the day too. Advice from both GP and EP - make sure you’re well hydrated and well fed!
Thank you this definitely helps
Do you always go to A&E when you have an episode?
More bad episodes of ectopics
INR - increasing by what is eaten
Lightheaded after AF episode
