Feeling like i’m going to faint sometimes in afib

[Glb1948]

Has anyone felt like they are going to pass out or actually faint while in afib?I am on eliquist and flecainide.

[meadfoot]

I feel terribly faint with Afib and svt. I havent passed out completely though and my EP was very clear that actually passing out made a difference to diagnosis.

[Glb1948 in reply to meadfoot]

Thank you. My head feels funny like the blood is rushing out of it or to it right before I kind of blank out for a second. Weird and scary.

[jeanjeannie50]

Yes, I used to get that. It would come over me like a darkness and then just when I felt I was going to lose consciousness, back I'd come to normal. It didn't happen too often, perhaps a couple of times a year.

I haven't had it since my third ablation, which was five years ago. I can only guess that my heart must have been doing something odd, but I had no evidence of that.

Jean

[Glb1948]

Did your head feel funny , like a tightening or blood rush?

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Glb1948]

Yes, it was a most peculiar feeling, just like that. I have never passed out though, as I've said when I felt I was almost at that point - back I'd come to fully conscious.

[baba]

Yes, lost consciousness a few times and eventually approx ten times in one night, including in ambulance and A&E. My heart was pausing too long between beats. Result I've got a pacemaker.

You need to inform your doctors and shouldn't drive in the meantime.

[SingingT]

I used to get that and ended up in A&E where it was captured on ECG and Cardiologist kept me in hospital until I had a pacemaker fitted. I haven’t had it since. I was diagnosed with AV block but there may be other reasons so I would mention it to your Cardiologist when you can.

[Golfer60UK]

Good morning, yes I passed out on the golf course and since have had a pacemaker fitted, after two ablations for AF. Thought that was it, but no passed out, in A&E for 10 hours they could not find anything. So waiting for further tests and a meeting with the Cardiologist

[Maggimunro]

Yes indeed, the fainting was my primary symptom. I very conveniently passed out in the cardiology department whilst wearing a holter recorder. I was immediately put onto the full size ECG and they quickly diagnosed SVT. They ablated me for the SVT and then discovered I also had Afib, so I then proceeded onto another two ablations. That was 4 years ago and not a bilp ever since.

Best of luck on your journey.

[AussieHeart]

Yes twice ... first time was a slow slink to the floor preceded by palpitations, sweats, nausea, couldn’t breathe, dizzy and the second was a dead drop on standing but had experienced palps previous night and woke to them. Afterwards felt like I’d had a seizure, very low BP and brain fog. Went to Emergency and told apart from low BP all ok. Not once did they investigate aFIB and thought it was migraine... took another 6 months to get dx!!!!!

[Rosemaryb1349]

Yes it was the almost passing out incidents during AF episodes that drove me back to my GP for a referral to my Cardiologist. He diagnosed syncope and I went in for a Pacemaker quite quickly. No more syncope since but it took 3 ablations to get the AF under control.

[Dozer5]

I'm on Bisoprolol and the only way I seem to be able to know when i'm having trouble is when I feel slightly light headed (the heart used to race but the Bisoprolol seems to have knocked that on the head). I've never actually fainted or actually felt close to fainting but the light headed feeling is, for me, a sign that I might be in Afib. My heart rate is generally between 60 - 90 bpm so most of the time I'm fine. I suffer from a fairly erratic heartbeat at the best of times but the Cardiologist didn't appear too concerned about ectopic beats.

[BobbyGee in reply to Dozer5]

My experience is almost identical to Dozer5's. Light-headed at times (getting up suddenly, for instance) but not fainting. Am in Permanent AF and on 5mg Bisoprolol and Edoxaban (anti-coagulant). The Permanent AF has now prevailed for a period of approx 16 months. Age 73. "Learn to live with it" seems to be the medical "advice" given to me.

[Crystalbowl]

I passed out once. I had gone out for an evening walk a couple of years’’ ago and we had just set off when I felt a bit odd. Next thing I knew, I was looking up at the sky! I was lucky to fall on my back with my head landing in a grass verge. I had had a few other episodes when I felt like I might pass out and I think all this contributed to me have a pacemaker implanted. Have not passed out again but often feel dizzy when I stand up. I am now in persistent AF asymptotic and moderate HF.

[Barlick43]

I had two years of felling faint before bradytachia was identified when I had a turn on a 48 hour heart monitor. I then had to have a pacemaker fitted and I no longer have such episodes. Check for Brady tachy as a result of AF

[daysyday1]

Yes, quite frequently when I am in AFib. My heart rate can go so high that it is not able to actaully squeeze the blood out the chambers so there is reduced supply to my brain and I just pass out. On occasions I can only just sit up in bed as I get dizzy enough to make me pass out as soon as my head goes above my heart.